Stuff to Blog About and More: Zambrano pitches a no-hitter

Carlos Zambrano pitched a no-hitter for the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. It's been a long 36 years since the last Cubs no- hitter.

Burt Carlton Hooton was the last Cub pitcher to pitch a perfect game.It was his fourth game pitching for the Cubs when he pitched 4-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field on April 16.

Kenneth Dale Holtzman was the only pitcher since the 1880s to throw 2 no-hitters for the Cubs.
On August 19th, 1969 against Atlanta and June 3rd, 1971 against Cincinnati, he pitched perfect.

FYI. A no-hitter occurs when a pitcher allows no hits during the entire course of a game, consisting of at least nine innings.

According to Baseball Reference, through August 30, 2008 there have been 386,916 MLB games played (this number includes games played in the National Association, the first major league which was in existance from 1871-1875). There have been 257 no hitters of nine innings or more thrown in MLB history. This averages out to one no hitter every 1505.5 games.

As for Zambrano and the Cubs,

"I was feeling too good to do that," Zambrano said with a smirk. "I saw Lou's face. I said, 'No, not today.'"I'm a little confused right now," Zambrano said. "I still can't believe it. It's a great feeling, and it's a feeling that you can't describe. To throw a no-hitter is good, man. This is one of the few things in baseball that you most enjoy."

"Carlos made it special for them and for us," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said.

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For more information on free annual credit reports, read Your Access to Free Credit Reports.