Baseball Way Back: Why seeing a no-hitter live is the Holy Grail of fandom

In more than 50 years of attending baseball games, I have been on hand for plenty of special moments.

I have been present for division clinchers and World Series games. I have experienced Comiskey Park roof shots. I have watched Bo Jackson hit a home run with an artificial hip. I have seen Seby Zavala hit three home runs in one game.

But my Holy Grail of baseball spectatorship, being in a crowd watching a no-hitter in person, has escaped me.

No-hitters can be just as elusive for baseball spectators as for the pitchers themselves.

I thought my long streak ended last Saturday when I sat behind home plate at Guaranteed Rate Field, only to watch Luis Arraez spoil Dylan Cease's no-hit bid with two outs in the ninth.

The closest I had come to seeing a no-no before was in the old Comiskey Park on July 26, 1987. Richard Dotson had pitched seven perfect innings and was only five outs away from complete perfection when he struck out the Yankees' Dave Winfield, the leadoff hitter in the eighth.

It would have made a wonderful story, since Dotson, after a glorious 1983 campaign, struggled to overcome arm problems.

But Mike Pagliarulo, the next hitter, lined a single over the outstretched glove of second baseman Fred Manrique (later one of the players traded for Sammy Sosa).

Mike Easler then moved Pagliarulo to third with a double. Both scored when future Sox Dan Pasqua, hitting .199, cleared the bases with a homer into the right-field upper deck. The Sox lost 5-2 after Dotson surrendered two more solo homers in the ninth, by Gary Ward and Winfield.

Over the past week, I spoke with a couple of guys who had experienced similar brushes with near spectatorship greatness.

John Beatty said he was working as an Andy Frain usher at Comiskey Park when he witnessed Billy Pierce's near perfect game on June 27, 1958 against the Washington Senators.

Pierce on the verge of baseball perfection in the ninth inning when, with the Sox holding a 3-0 lead, he induced Ken Aspromonte to ground out to shortstop Luis Aparicio.

Pierce then struck out Steve Korcheck for the second out. And that brought up to the plate Ed Fitz Gerald, pinch hitting for pitcher Russ Kemmerer, the 27th batter he faced.

In sportswriter Richard Dozer's account, "Fitz Gerald, a relief catcher, had a record of 10 hits - all singles - in 32 times at bat for a .313 average when he strode forth. On the first pitch, a knee high curve ball, he swung late and sliced it fair by a foot just out of Ray Boone's reach at first base. Fitz Gerald made it to second for a double."

Beatty recalled, "I had a real good view of the pinch hit double by Ed Fitz Gerald. My section that night was down the right field line, right in front of where that ball came down."

Of that near perfect game, Beatty said, "It just seemed like (Pierce) was mowing everybody down. And I knew it was a perfect game going in (during the ninth). Washington did what they should have, put up a pinch hitter for the pitcher. It was a legitimate hit. I think he, as a right-handed batter, sliced it down the line, but it fell. Nobody was close to catching it."

Pierce struck out the next hitter he faced, Albie Pearson, for the final out. It was one of four 1-hitters for Pierce, who never pitched a no-hitter.

As White Sox historian Mark Liptak wrote in a Facebook exchange, "The Sox won 3-0 but Pierce never came closer to pitching the ultimate masterpiece. On the night the Senators only hit six balls out of the infield. Pierce struck out nine and only went to a three-ball count on two hitters. The game took 1:46 to play and was Billy's third straight shutout."

White Sox historian Rich Lindberg recalled being in Milwaukee for a near no-no on Aug. 25, 1981 by White Sox hurler Dennis Lamp.

The 28-year-old right-hander, whom the Sox acquired that year from the Cubs for Ken Kravec, had allowed only one base runner, Cecil Cooper, on a walk in the first inning.

Lamp was three outs away from completing the no-hitter when Robin Yount led off the ninth.

Lindberg remembers, "I was sitting in the left field bleacher area at County Stadium, and Robin Yount lined a single that skidded off of the glove of Rusty Kuntz, who was the left fielder. And what I will never forget was the exaltation of those Milwaukee fans. They thought it would be the worst thing in the world for a Chicago pitcher to no-hit the Brewers in their own ballpark."

Although Yount would score on a groundout by former Sox and future Cub Thad Bosley, Lamp would not yield another hit, as the Sox won 5-1.

So, my fellow baseball fans, if you happened to be there for Mark Buehrle's perfect game against Tampa Bay or Carlos Rodon's no-hitter against Cleveland, consider yourself privileged. Meanwhile, I will just continue buying my tickets and hoping.