Don Larsen, age 90, passed away and with him goes the honor of being the only man to toss a no-hit perfect game in a World Series (1956). Pitching to Yogi Berra in that classic Larsen rose to heights that exceed his career 81 - 91 record. His last out was a strikeout of Dale Mitchell. In Casey Stengel's unorthodox method of random pitcher selection, Don was shocked that he was called on after a poor game two. “I must admit I was shocked,” Larsen wrote in his autobiography. “I knew I had to do better than the last time, keep the game close and somehow give our team a chance to win. Casey was betting on me, and I was determined not to let him down this time.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/01/obituaries/don-larsen-dead.html

In today's game he would not have pitched nine innings. Only an old school pitcher like Dustin Verlander this year will insist on having a complete game. Mike Fiers had the other complete game no-hitter in 2019 and two were multiple pitcher games which lacks the same sense of anticipation to me.

There were three no-hitters in 2018, two complete games, There was one in 2017 and one in 2016.

There were seven no-hitters in 2015!

Roy Halladay had two in 2010.

Nolan Ryan threw SEVEN no-hitters. Sandy Koufax had four, Cy Young, Larry Corcoran, Justin Verlander and Bob Feller had three each!

There have been 260 no-hitters since 1901 so those six had almost 10% of the no-hitters over 120 years.

Like Don Larsen, Johnny Vander Meer was an obscure pitcher who reached no hit immortality as the only pitcher to throw two in a row. Others to have two in one season include Ryan, Virgil Trucks, Allie Reynolds, Roy Halladay, and Max Scherzer.

Max and Justin are old school pitchers that I love to watch work a game who will take their place; will others be allowed to take their place? In 1954 there were 840 complete games - 34%. In 2019 there were 45 complete games - 0.9%. No wonder RP are burning out.