Being selfish is among the worst human traits anyone can have in most aspects of their lives.
There are some exceptions and for me it involves no-hitters. Everyone has their bucketlist of things they've never done and never seen and for me that is a no-hitter, which is what was a distinct possibility when Phil Humber pitched 6 1/3 innings without allowing a hit.
It seemed something special was brewing for Humber when he fanned Russell Martin on one of his 30 changeups but then Alex Rodriguez spoiled it with a single in the seventh. Rodriguez probably caused some if not all in the press box to exhale since writing a no-hitter story takes extra time and work, but even I had to do extra work, I would not have minded.
"The way he threw today, even if we'd faced him before, it was a tough day," Derek Jeter said. "He didn't fall behind too many guys. We had a couple of guys on there, but he was getting a lot of ground balls, especially when he needed it."
Those kind of comments often occur after no-hitters and near no-hitters and it seemed it was going to happen for Ozzie Guillen's White Sox.
By rough estimations, I've attended close to 800 games at 12 different stadiums and have yet to see a no-hitter. I was close to seeing the David Cone perfect game but the humidity kept me inside on July 18, 1999 but that's about it in person. Of course he might not have thrown it had I actually shown up at the Stadium that day.
Over the course of that game, I've seen a few flirtations at no-hitters.
In 1991, I sat in the Loge at Shea Stadium and watched the Mets lose to the Padres and get their only hit in the eighth inning against Greg Harris.
In July 2005, I was in the stands when Randy Johnson retired the first 17 Minnesota Twins. His bid at a second perfect game and third no-hitter ended when Juan Castro singled and Johnson allowed three hits and struck out 11.
In September 2005, I covered a Met-Marlin game for SportsTicker and A.J. Burnett pitched one of his last games with Florida. Burnett already threw one in 2001 in San Diego and reached the seventh inning.
Back in those days when a no-hitter was in progress, you would alert the person managing the boxscores to put a note that would say: A.J. Burnett has a no-hitter through six innings. If it reached the seventh, the editor was alerted and that night it was the newsroom director, who had a unique style.
So when he was alerted, he responded by saying that I had to end it. (I'm thinking well I can't step in and hit Burnett). The no-hitter ended then and the game lasted five more innings and the Mets won.
It occurred in 2006 during a late-September game against the Orioles. Daniel Cabrera, who either had no-hit stuff or batting practice stuff in those games against the Yankees, was within two outs until his good friend Robinson Cano hit an infield single, a little roller down the line.
In 2007, Chad Gaudin actually took one into the seventh during a late-June game when Joe Torre's last team was trying to find its way and get over .500. The Yankees wound losing 7-0 to Gaudin and Rich Harden and the lone hit was a sixth-inning single from Johnny Damon.
Gaudin was two years shy of joining the Yankees and at that time was making his 10th career start and probably another guy the Yankees hadn't seen live before but still Torre seemed kind of annoyed it happened when he said:
"Unfortunately, we were easy for him. He pitched an outstanding game but certainly we're more capable."
The Yankees are definitely more capable but nights like this happen before contrary to the rants and raves of some on various social networking locales and when you've attended this many games without seeing one, there's nothing wrong with being a little selfish.
I believe those are the four closest I've come to seeing one in person. I did write one once when I was an editor in Jersey City.
It actually wasn't a routine one. It was Randy Johnson's perfect game for Arizona against Atlanta. I think I was so nervous in making sure I had a few graphs ready to be quickly sent to the wire that I mistakenly mentioned Johnson threw a curveball when anyone knows he did not.
No-hitters are special. To me, that is regardless of who is pitching, especially since somewhere there is a person who saw a no-hitter in the first game they attended while I've been waiting for one to occur in person since 1983.
