Today in Blue Jays History: Dave Stieb Throws No-Hitter

31 Years Ago Today

Blue Jays starter Dave Stieb had taken no-hitters into the 9th inning three times, so I would imagine that when Stieb walked to the mound in the ninth, on September 2, 1990, in Cleveland, he was wondering ‘what will happen this time.’ The first three times:

• On September 24, 1988, in Cleveland, Julio Franco hit a grounder that took a surprisingly high hope and went over second baseman Manny Lee’s head.
• In Stieb’s next start, in Toronto against the Orioles, Jim Traber hit a 2-out soft fly that landed between the infielders and outfielders.
• On August 4, 1989, in the first season of SkyDome, with 2-outs in the ninth inning,g of could have been a perfect game, Roberto Kelly lines a double up the gap.

But the fourth time was the charm.

In the ninth, Stieb:

• Got pinch-hitter Chris James to fly out (a pretty deep fly out).
• Struck out pinch-hitter Candy Maldonado.
• Walked Alex Cole (Stieb walked 4, unusual for him).
• And he induced Jerry Browne to fly/line out to right fielder Junior Felix.

Here is the final out:

Cleveland didn’t exactly have a ‘murderer’s row’ back in 1990. Their clean-up hitter, Ken Phelps (likely more famous for a mention in Seinfeld than his baseball career), was hitting .155/.288/.198 at the time. Moreover, 5 of their starters had OPS numbers lower than .700.

Stieb didn’t feel he was at his best that day. From the Toronto Star game story:

I didn’t have great control. I couldn’t find my release point in the early innings. I hung pitches but got away with them. They helped me out a few times by swinging at bad pitches. They hit balls right at people.

The win was Stieb’s 17th of the season, against 5 losses. He finished the game with a 2.91 ERA. He would finish the season 18-6 with a 2.93 ERA, his most wins in a season, setting a new team-high.

I was a massive fan of Stieb. He was competitive. He would have been a good match for Jose Bautista, but, unlike Jose, he would stare down teammates that make mistakes. It is too bad that we didn’t have a better team when he was at the top of his game. I’m not sure if he was a bad teammate in other ways, but I’d imagine that behavior wouldn’t endear himself to the others on his team.

But I wasn’t on the team, and I just saw him as the best player on my team and the best pitcher in baseball at the time. I admired his drive to win. And, for most of his career, there weren’t many other Jays worth cheering.

It is still the only no-hitter in Blue Jays history.