On this day.... Terry Mulholland's No-Hitter

Hard to believe it has been 21 years since Terry Mulholland no-hit the Giants. He faced the minimum number of hitters and was a Charlie Hayes throwing error away from a perfect game. It was the first Phillies no-no since Rick Wise's gem in 1971 and it was the first real no-hitter in Veterans Stadium history. It was also the record eighth no-hitter thrown in the majors that season.

Most importantly, as a Phan it was one of the biggest moments of a very dismal period of Philadelphia Phillies baseball. I remember cutting out the newspaper story and putting it in a frame to hang in my not yet born son's room. I like to think this event helped establish a core foundation for the 1993 National League Pennant.

From the New York Times:

Phillies' Mulholland Pitches Season's 8th No-Hitter

Terry Mulholland pitched the record eighth no-hitter of the season tonight as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-0.

The season's eighth no-hitter surpassed the modern record of seven set in 1917 and 1908. Mulholland's no-hitter was the first this century by a Phillies' pitcher in Philadelphia, and was also the first nine-inning no-hitter pitched in the 20 seasons the Phillies have played at Veterans Stadium.

Only one batter reached base against Mulholland. Rick Parker reached on a throwing error by Charlie Hayes, the Philadelphia third baseman, to lead off the seventh inning. He was erased on a double play.

Mulholland finished the no-hitter in the ninth by retiring Bill Bathe, a pinch-hitter, and Jose Uribe on grounders and getting the pinch-hitter Gary Carter on a line drive to Hayes. ''You can't realize what went through my mind when he caught that ball,'' Mulholland said. ''It was such a rush of emotion. I'm not usually an emotional guy, but I knew the significance of that.''

Acquired From San Francisco Mulholland (7-6) came to the Phillies last season from the Giants in the trade for Steve Bedrosian, a reliever.

The only other no-hitter in Veterans Stadium was by Pascual Perez of Montreal on Sept. 24, 1988, a game shortened to five innings by rain.

The first no-hitter this season was pitched on April 11 when Mark Langston and Mike Witt of California combined to beat Seattle. Randy Johnson then pitched the first no-hitter in Seattle history, beating Detroit on June 2.

Nolan Ryan pitched his unprecedented sixth no-hitter to beat Oakland on June 11. Dave Stewart of Oakland and Fernando Valenzuela of Los Angeles made baseball history on June 29 by pitching no-hitters on the same day in each league.

Less than 24 hours later, Andy Hawkins of the Yankees pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox on July 1, but lost, 4-0.

On July 12, Melido Perez of the Chicago White Sox, the brother of Pascual, pitched the record-tying seventh no-hitter of the season, a rain-shortened six-inning victory at Yankee Stadium.

Mulholland was acquired by the Phillies along with Hayes and Dennis Cook, a pitcher, for Bedrosian on June 18, 1989. Mulholland struck out eight and walked none. The Phillies made it 4-0 in the fifth on a one-out single by Dickie Thon and Len Dykstra's double. Darren Daulton then hit his 10th home run of the season.

The Phillies added two runs in the sixth on run-scoring singles by Hayes and Mulholland.