The Mystique Of The No-No

One of my fondest memories from 1990, my first season as a baseball fan, was listening to Doug Drabek pitch a no-hitter for 8 2/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies. The historic context of what Drabek was trying to accomplish was lost on me in real time that night; however, the sound of the crowd, the tension in the broadcaster’s voices as the outs mounted all told me something special was happening. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve actually looked back at Drabek’s near miss with some gratefulness that he fell one out short of history. There would have been something too easy about seeing my team’s best pitcher toss a no-no in my first summer of being a fan. Watching someone...