document_title: Statue of Liberty

question_text: who was the president in 1886 when the statue of liberty was dedicated

question_tokens: who was the president in 1886 when the statue of liberty was dedicated

text: Statue of Liberty

text: Design and construction process

text: Origin

text: ]] According to the National Park Service, the idea for the Statue of Liberty was first proposed by Édouard René de Laboulaye the president of the French Anti-Slavery Society and a prominent and important political thinker of his time. The project is traced to a mid-1865 conversation between de Laboulaye, a staunch abolitionist and Frédéric Bartholdi, a sculptor. In after-dinner conversation at his home near Versailles, Laboulaye, an ardent supporter of the Union in the American Civil War, is supposed to have said: "If a monument should rise in the United States, as a memorial to their independence, I should think it only natural if it were built by united effort—a common work of both our nations."[7] The National Park Service, in a 2000 report, however, deemed this a legend traced to an 1885 fundraising pamphlet, and that the statue was most likely conceived in 1870.[8] In another essay on their website, the Park Service suggested that Laboulaye was minded to honor the Union victory and its consequences, "With the abolition of slavery and the Union's victory in the Civil War in 1865, Laboulaye's wishes of freedom and democracy were turning into a reality in the United States. In order to honor these achievements, Laboulaye proposed that a gift be built for the United States on behalf of France. Laboulaye hoped that by calling attention to the recent achievements of the United States, the French people would be inspired to call for their own democracy in the face of a repressive monarchy."[9]

text: According to sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who later recounted the story, Laboulaye's comment was not intended as a proposal, but it inspired Bartholdi.[7] Given the repressive nature of the regime of Napoleon III, Bartholdi took no immediate action on the idea except to discuss it with Laboulaye. Bartholdi was in any event busy with other possible projects; in the late 1860s, he approached Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, a plan to build Progress or Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia,[10] a huge lighthouse in the form of an ancient Egyptian female fellah or peasant, robed and holding a torch aloft, at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal in Port Said. Sketches and models were made of the proposed work, though it was never erected. There was a classical precedent for the Suez proposal, the Colossus of Rhodes: an ancient bronze statue of the Greek god of the sun, Helios. This statue is believed to have been over 100 feet (30 m) high, and it similarly stood at a harbor entrance and carried a light to guide ships.[11]

text: Any large project was further delayed by the Franco-Prussian War, in which Bartholdi served as a major of militia. In the war, Napoleon III was captured and deposed. Bartholdi's home province of Alsace was lost to the Prussians, and a more liberal republic was installed in France.[7] As Bartholdi had been planning a trip to the United States, he and Laboulaye decided the time was right to discuss the idea with influential Americans.[12] In June 1871, Bartholdi crossed the Atlantic, with letters of introduction signed by Laboulaye.[13]

text: Arriving at New York Harbor, Bartholdi focused on Bedloe's Island (now named Liberty Island) as a site for the statue, struck by the fact that vessels arriving in New York had to sail past it. He was delighted to learn that the island was owned by the United States government—it had been ceded by the New York State Legislature in 1800 for harbor defense. It was thus, as he put it in a letter to Laboulaye: "land common to all the states."[14] As well as meeting many influential New Yorkers, Bartholdi visited President Ulysses S. Grant, who assured him that it would not be difficult to obtain the site for the statue.[15] Bartholdi crossed the United States twice by rail, and met many Americans who he thought would be sympathetic to the project.[13] But he remained concerned that popular opinion on both sides of the Atlantic was insufficiently supportive of the proposal, and he and Laboulaye decided to wait before mounting a public campaign.[16]

text: Bartholdi had made a first model of his concept in 1870.[17] The son of a friend of Bartholdi's, U.S. artist John LaFarge, later maintained that Bartholdi made the first sketches for the statue during his U.S. visit at La Farge's Rhode Island studio. Bartholdi continued to develop the concept following his return to France.[17] He also worked on a number of sculptures designed to bolster French patriotism after the defeat by the Prussians. One of these was the Lion of Belfort, a monumental sculpture carved in sandstone below the fortress of Belfort, which during the war had resisted a Prussian siege for over three months. The defiant lion, 73 feet (22 m) long and half that in height, displays an emotional quality characteristic of Romanticism, which Bartholdi would later bring to the Statue of Liberty.[18]

text: Design, style, and symbolism

text: Bartholdi and Laboulaye considered how best to express the idea of American liberty.[19] In early American history, two female figures were frequently used as cultural symbols of the nation.[20] One of these symbols, the personified Columbia, was seen as an embodiment of the United States in the manner that Britannia was identified with the United Kingdom and Marianne came to represent France. Columbia had supplanted the earlier figure of an Indian princess, which had come to be regarded as uncivilized and derogatory toward Americans.[20] The other significant female icon in American culture was a representation of Liberty, derived from Libertas, the goddess of freedom widely worshipped in ancient Rome, especially among emancipated slaves. A Liberty figure adorned most American coins of the time,[19] and representations of Liberty appeared in popular and civic art, including Thomas Crawford's Statue of Freedom (1863) atop the dome of the United States Capitol Building.[19]

text: Artists of the 18th and 19th centuries striving to evoke republican ideals commonly used representations of Libertas as an allegorical symbol.[19] A figure of Liberty was also depicted on the Great Seal of France.[19] However, Bartholdi and Laboulaye avoided an image of revolutionary liberty such as that depicted in Eugène Delacroix's famed Liberty Leading the People (1830). In this painting, which commemorates France's Revolution of 1830, a half-clothed Liberty leads an armed mob over the bodies of the fallen.[20] Laboulaye had no sympathy for revolution, and so Bartholdi's figure would be fully dressed in flowing robes.[20] Instead of the impression of violence in the Delacroix work, Bartholdi wished to give the statue a peaceful appearance and chose a torch, representing progress, for the figure to hold.[21]

text: Crawford's statue was designed in the early 1850s. It was originally to be crowned with a pileus, the cap given to emancipated slaves in ancient Rome. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, a Southerner who would later serve as President of the Confederate States of America, was concerned that the pileus would be taken as an abolitionist symbol. He ordered that it be changed to a helmet.[22] Delacroix's figure wears a pileus,[20] and Bartholdi at first considered placing one on his figure as well. Instead, he used a diadem, or crown, to top its head.[23] In so doing, he avoided a reference to Marianne, who invariably wears a pileus.[24] The seven rays form a halo or aureole.[25] They evoke the sun, the seven seas, and the seven continents,[26] and represent another means, besides the torch, whereby Liberty enlightens the world.[21]

text: Bartholdi's early models were all similar in concept: a female figure in neoclassical style representing liberty, wearing a stola and pella (gown and cloak, common in depictions of Roman goddesses) and holding a torch aloft. According to popular accounts, the face was modeled after that of Charlotte Beysser Bartholdi, the sculptor's mother,[27] but Regis Huber, the curator of the Bartholdi Museum is on record as saying that this, as well as other similar speculations, have no basis in fact.[28] He designed the figure with a strong, uncomplicated silhouette, which would be set off well by its dramatic harbor placement and allow passengers on vessels entering New York Bay to experience a changing perspective on the statue as they proceeded toward Manhattan. He gave it bold classical contours and applied simplified modeling, reflecting the huge scale of the project and its solemn purpose.[21] Bartholdi wrote of his technique:

text: The surfaces should be broad and simple, defined by a bold and clear design, accentuated in the important places. The enlargement of the details or their multiplicity is to be feared. By exaggerating the forms, in order to render them more clearly visible, or by enriching them with details, we would destroy the proportion of the work. Finally, the model, like the design, should have a summarized character, such as one would give to a rapid sketch. Only it is necessary that this character should be the product of volition and study, and that the artist, concentrating his knowledge, should find the form and the line in its greatest simplicity.[29]

text: Bartholdi made alterations in the design as the project evolved. Bartholdi considered having Liberty hold a broken chain, but decided this would be too divisive in the days after the Civil War. The erected statue does rise over a broken chain, half-hidden by her robes and difficult to see from the ground.[23] Bartholdi was initially uncertain of what to place in Liberty's left hand; he settled on a tabula ansata,[30] used to evoke the concept of law.[31] Though Bartholdi greatly admired the United States Constitution, he chose to inscribe "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI" on the tablet, thus associating the date of the country's Declaration of Independence with the concept of liberty.[30]

text: Bartholdi interested his friend and mentor, architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, in the project.[28] As chief engineer,[28] Viollet-le-Duc designed a brick pier within the statue, to which the skin would be anchored.[32] After consultations with the metalwork foundry Gaget, Gauthier & Co., Viollet-le-Duc chose the metal which would be used for the skin, copper sheets, and the method used to shape it, repoussé, in which the sheets were heated and then struck with wooden hammers.[28][33] An advantage of this choice was that the entire statue would be light for its volume, as the copper need be only 0.094 inches (2.4 mm) thick. Bartholdi had decided on a height of just over 151 feet (46 m) for the statue, double that of Italy's Sancarlone and the German statue of Arminius, both made with the same method.[34]

text: Announcement and early work

text: By 1875, France was enjoying improved political stability and a recovering postwar economy. Growing interest in the upcoming Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia led Laboulaye to decide it was time to seek public support.[35] In September 1875, he announced the project and the formation of the Franco-American Union as its fundraising arm. With the announcement, the statue was given a name, Liberty Enlightening the World.[36] The French would finance the statue; Americans would be expected to pay for the pedestal.[37] The announcement provoked a generally favorable reaction in France, though many Frenchmen resented the United States for not coming to their aid during the war with Prussia.[36] French monarchists opposed the statue, if for no other reason than it was proposed by the liberal Laboulaye, who had recently been elected a senator for life.[37] Laboulaye arranged events designed to appeal to the rich and powerful, including a special performance at the Paris Opera on April 25, 1876, that featured a new cantata by composer Charles Gounod. The piece was titled La Liberté éclairant le monde, the French version of the statue's announced name.[36]

text: Despite its initial focus on the elites, the Union was successful in raising funds from across French society. Schoolchildren and ordinary citizens gave, as did 181 French municipalities. Laboulaye's political allies supported the call, as did descendants of the French contingent in the American Revolutionary War. Less idealistically, contributions came from those who hoped for American support in the French attempt to build the Panama Canal. The copper may have come from multiple sources and some of it is said to have come from a mine in Visnes, Norway,[38] though this has not been conclusively determined after testing samples.[39] According to Cara Sutherland in her book on the statue for the Museum of the City of New York, 90,800 kilos (200,000 pounds) was needed to build the statue, and the French copper industrialist Eugène Secrétan donated 58,100 kilos (128,000 pounds) of copper.[40]

text: Although plans for the statue had not been finalized, Bartholdi moved forward with fabrication of the right arm, bearing the torch, and the head. Work began at the Gaget, Gauthier & Co. workshop.[41] In May 1876, Bartholdi traveled to the United States as a member of a French delegation to the Centennial Exhibition,[42] and arranged for a huge painting of the statue to be shown in New York as part of the Centennial festivities.[43] The arm did not arrive in Philadelphia until August; because of its late arrival, it was not listed in the exhibition catalogue, and while some reports correctly identified the work, others called it the "Colossal Arm" or "Bartholdi Electric Light". The exhibition grounds contained a number of monumental artworks to compete for fairgoers' interest, including an outsized fountain designed by Bartholdi.[44] Nevertheless, the arm proved popular in the exhibition's waning days, and visitors would climb up to the balcony of the torch to view the fairgrounds.[45] After the exhibition closed, the arm was transported to New York, where it remained on display in Madison Square Park for several years before it was returned to France to join the rest of the statue.[45]

text: During his second trip to the United States, Bartholdi addressed a number of groups about the project, and urged the formation of American committees of the Franco-American Union.[46] Committees to raise money to pay for the foundation and pedestal were formed in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.[47] The New York group eventually took on most of the responsibility for American fundraising and is often referred to as the "American Committee".[48] One of its members was 19-year-old Theodore Roosevelt, the future governor of New York and president of the United States.[46] On March 3, 1877, on his final full day in office, President Grant signed a joint resolution that authorized the President to accept the statue when it was presented by France and to select a site for it. President Rutherford B. Hayes, who took office the following day, selected the Bedloe's Island site that Bartholdi had proposed.[49]

text: Construction in France

text: On his return to Paris in 1877, Bartholdi concentrated on completing the head, which was exhibited at the 1878 Paris World's Fair. Fundraising continued, with models of the statue put on sale. Tickets to view the construction activity at the Gaget, Gauthier & Co. workshop were also offered.[50] The French government authorized a lottery; among the prizes were valuable silver plate and a terracotta model of the statue. By the end of 1879, about 250,000 francs had been raised.[51]

text: The head and arm had been built with assistance from Viollet-le-Duc, who fell ill in 1879. He soon died, leaving no indication of how he intended to transition from the copper skin to his proposed masonry pier.[52] The following year, Bartholdi was able to obtain the services of the innovative designer and builder Gustave Eiffel.[50] Eiffel and his structural engineer, Maurice Koechlin, decided to abandon the pier and instead build an iron truss tower. Eiffel opted not to use a completely rigid structure, which would force stresses to accumulate in the skin and lead eventually to cracking. A secondary skeleton was attached to the center pylon, then, to enable the statue to move slightly in the winds of New York Harbor and as the metal expanded on hot summer days, he loosely connected the support structure to the skin using flat iron bars[28] which culminated in a mesh of metal straps, known as "saddles", that were riveted to the skin, providing firm support. In a labor-intensive process, each saddle had to be crafted individually.[53][54] To prevent galvanic corrosion between the copper skin and the iron support structure, Eiffel insulated the skin with asbestos impregnated with shellac.[55]

text: Eiffel's design made the statue one of the earliest examples of curtain wall construction, in which the exterior of the structure is not load bearing, but is instead supported by an interior framework. He included two interior spiral staircases, to make it easier for visitors to reach the observation point in the crown.[56] Access to an observation platform surrounding the torch was also provided, but the narrowness of the arm allowed for only a single ladder, 40 feet (12 m) long.[57] As the pylon tower arose, Eiffel and Bartholdi coordinated their work carefully so that completed segments of skin would fit exactly on the support structure.[58] The components of the pylon tower were built in the Eiffel factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois-Perret.[59]

text: The change in structural material from masonry to iron allowed Bartholdi to change his plans for the statue's assembly. He had originally expected to assemble the skin on-site as the masonry pier was built; instead he decided to build the statue in France and have it disassembled and transported to the United States for reassembly in place on Bedloe's Island.[60]

text: In a symbolic act, the first rivet placed into the skin, fixing a copper plate onto the statue's big toe, was driven by United States Ambassador to France Levi P. Morton.[61] The skin was not, however, crafted in exact sequence from low to high; work proceeded on a number of segments simultaneously in a manner often confusing to visitors.[62] Some work was performed by contractors—one of the fingers was made to Bartholdi's exacting specifications by a coppersmith in the southern French town of Montauban.[63] By 1882, the statue was complete up to the waist, an event Barthodi celebrated by inviting reporters to lunch on a platform built within the statue.[64] Laboulaye died in 1883. He was succeeded as chairman of the French committee by Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal. The completed statue was formally presented to Ambassador Morton at a ceremony in Paris on July 4, 1884, and de Lesseps announced that the French government had agreed to pay for its transport to New York.[65] The statue remained intact in Paris pending sufficient progress on the pedestal; by January 1885, this had occurred and the statue was disassembled and crated for its ocean voyage.[66]

text: The committees in the United States faced great difficulties in obtaining funds for the construction of the pedestal. The Panic of 1873 had led to an economic depression that persisted through much of the decade. The Liberty statue project was not the only such undertaking that had difficulty raising money: construction of the obelisk later known as the Washington Monument sometimes stalled for years; it would ultimately take over three-and-a-half decades to complete.[67] There was criticism both of Bartholdi's statue and of the fact that the gift required Americans to foot the bill for the pedestal. In the years following the Civil War, most Americans preferred realistic artworks depicting heroes and events from the nation's history, rather than allegorical works like the Liberty statue.[67] There was also a feeling that Americans should design American public works—the selection of Italian-born Constantino Brumidi to decorate the Capitol had provoked intense criticism, even though he was a naturalized U.S. citizen.[68] Harper's Weekly declared its wish that "M. Bartholdi and our French cousins had 'gone the whole figure' while they were about it, and given us statue and pedestal at once."[69] The New York Times stated that "no true patriot can countenance any such expenditures for bronze females in the present state of our finances."[70] Faced with these criticisms, the American committees took little action for several years.[70]

text: Design

text: The foundation of Bartholdi's statue was to be laid inside Fort Wood, a disused army base on Bedloe's Island constructed between 1807 and 1811. Since 1823, it had rarely been used, though during the Civil War, it had served as a recruiting station.[71] The fortifications of the structure were in the shape of an eleven-point star. The statue's foundation and pedestal were aligned so that it would face southeast, greeting ships entering the harbor from the Atlantic Ocean.[72] In 1881, the New York committee commissioned Richard Morris Hunt to design the pedestal. Within months, Hunt submitted a detailed plan, indicating that he expected construction to take about nine months.[73] He proposed a pedestal 114 feet (35 m) in height; faced with money problems, the committee reduced that to 89 feet (27 m).[74]

text: Hunt's pedestal design contains elements of classical architecture, including Doric portals, as well as some elements influenced by Aztec architecture.[28] The large mass is fragmented with architectural detail, in order to focus attention on the statue.[74] In form, it is a truncated pyramid, 62 feet (19 m) square at the base and 39.4 feet (12.0 m) at the top. The four sides are identical in appearance. Above the door on each side, there are ten disks upon which Bartholdi proposed to place the coats of arms of the states (between 1876 and 1889, there were 38 U.S. states), although this was not done. Above that, a balcony was placed on each side, framed by pillars. Bartholdi placed an observation platform near the top of the pedestal, above which the statue itself rises.[75] According to author Louis Auchincloss, the pedestal "craggily evokes the power of an ancient Europe over which rises the dominating figure of the Statue of Liberty".[74] The committee hired former army General Charles Pomeroy Stone to oversee the construction work.[76] Construction on the 15-foot-deep (4.6 m) foundation began in 1883, and the pedestal's cornerstone was laid in 1884.[73] In Hunt's original conception, the pedestal was to have been made of solid granite. Financial concerns again forced him to revise his plans; the final design called for poured concrete walls, up to 20 feet (6.1 m) thick, faced with granite blocks.[77][78] This Stony Creek granite came from the Beattie Quarry in Branford, Connecticut.[79] The concrete mass was the largest poured to that time.[78]

text: Norwegian immigrant civil engineer Joachim Goschen Giæver designed the structural framework for the Statue of Liberty. His work involved design computations, detailed fabrication and construction drawings, and oversight of construction. In completing his engineering for the statue's frame, Giæver worked from drawings and sketches produced by Gustave Eiffel.[80]

text: Fundraising

text: Fundraising for the statue had begun in 1882. The committee organized a large number of money-raising events.[81] As part of one such effort, an auction of art and manuscripts, poet Emma Lazarus was asked to donate an original work. She initially declined, stating she could not write a poem about a statue. At the time, she was also involved in aiding refugees to New York who had fled anti-Semitic pogroms in eastern Europe. These refugees were forced to live in conditions that the wealthy Lazarus had never experienced. She saw a way to express her empathy for these refugees in terms of the statue.[82] The resulting sonnet, "The New Colossus", including the iconic lines "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free", is uniquely identified with the Statue of Liberty and is inscribed on a plaque in the museum in its base.[83]

text: Even with these efforts, fundraising lagged. Grover Cleveland, the governor of New York, vetoed a bill to provide $50,000 for the statue project in 1884. An attempt the next year to have Congress provide $100,000, sufficient to complete the project, also failed. The New York committee, with only $3,000 in the bank, suspended work on the pedestal. With the project in jeopardy, groups from other American cities, including Boston and Philadelphia, offered to pay the full cost of erecting the statue in return for relocating it.[84]

text: Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World, a New York newspaper, announced a drive to raise $100,000—the equivalent of $2.3 million today.[85] Pulitzer pledged to print the name of every contributor, no matter how small the amount given.[86] The drive captured the imagination of New Yorkers, especially when Pulitzer began publishing the notes he received from contributors. "A young girl alone in the world" donated "60 cents, the result of self denial."[87] One donor gave "five cents as a poor office boy's mite toward the Pedestal Fund." A group of children sent a dollar as "the money we saved to go to the circus with."[88] Another dollar was given by a "lonely and very aged woman."[87] Residents of a home for alcoholics in New York's rival city of Brooklyn—the cities would not merge until 1898—donated $15; other drinkers helped out through donation boxes in bars and saloons.[89] A kindergarten class in Davenport, Iowa, mailed the World a gift of $1.35.[87] As the donations flooded in, the committee resumed work on the pedestal.[90]

text: Construction

text: On June 17, 1885, the French steamer Isère, laden with the Statue of Liberty, reached the New York port safely. New Yorkers displayed their new-found enthusiasm for the statue, as the French vessel arrived with the crates holding the disassembled statue on board. Two hundred thousand people lined the docks and hundreds of boats put to sea to welcome the Isère.[91] [92] After five months of daily calls to donate to the statue fund, on August 11, 1885, the World announced that $102,000 had been raised from 120,000 donors, and that 80 percent of the total had been received in sums of less than one dollar.[93]

text: Even with the success of the fund drive, the pedestal was not completed until April 1886. Immediately thereafter, reassembly of the statue began. Eiffel's iron framework was anchored to steel I-beams within the concrete pedestal and assembled.[94] Once this was done, the sections of skin were carefully attached.[95] Due to the width of the pedestal, it was not possible to erect scaffolding, and workers dangled from ropes while installing the skin sections. Nevertheless, no one died during the construction.[96] Bartholdi had planned to put floodlights on the torch's balcony to illuminate it; a week before the dedication, the Army Corps of Engineers vetoed the proposal, fearing that ships' pilots passing the statue would be blinded. Instead, Bartholdi cut portholes in the torch—which was covered with gold leaf—and placed the lights inside them.[97] A power plant was installed on the island to light the torch and for other electrical needs.[98] After the skin was completed, renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, co-designer of New York's Central Park and Brooklyn's Prospect Park, supervised a cleanup of Bedloe's Island in anticipation of the dedication.[99]

text: Dedication

text: A ceremony of dedication was held on the afternoon of October 28, 1886. President Grover Cleveland, the former New York governor, presided over the event.[100] On the morning of the dedication, a parade was held in New York City; estimates of the number of people who watched it ranged from several hundred thousand to a million. President Cleveland headed the procession, then stood in the reviewing stand to see bands and marchers from across America. General Stone was the grand marshal of the parade. The route began at Madison Square, once the venue for the arm, and proceeded to the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan by way of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, with a slight detour so the parade could pass in front of the World building on Park Row. As the parade passed the New York Stock Exchange, traders threw ticker tape from the windows, beginning the New York tradition of the ticker-tape parade.[101]

text: A nautical parade began at 12:45 p.m., and President Cleveland embarked on a yacht that took him across the harbor to Bedloe's Island for the dedication.[102] De Lesseps made the first speech, on behalf of the French committee, followed by the chairman of the New York committee, Senator William M. Evarts. A French flag draped across the statue's face was to be lowered to unveil the statue at the close of Evarts's speech, but Bartholdi mistook a pause as the conclusion and let the flag fall prematurely. The ensuing cheers put an end to Evarts's address.[101] President Cleveland spoke next, stating that the statue's "stream of light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man's oppression until Liberty enlightens the world".[103] Bartholdi, observed near the dais, was called upon to speak, but he declined. Orator Chauncey M. Depew concluded the speechmaking with a lengthy address.[104]

text: No members of the general public were permitted on the island during the ceremonies, which were reserved entirely for dignitaries. The only females granted access were Bartholdi's wife and de Lesseps's granddaughter; officials stated that they feared women might be injured in the crush of people. The restriction offended area suffragists, who chartered a boat and got as close as they could to the island. The group's leaders made speeches applauding the embodiment of Liberty as a woman and advocating women's right to vote.[103] A scheduled fireworks display was postponed until November 1 because of poor weather.[105]

text: Shortly after the dedication, The Cleveland Gazette, an African American newspaper, suggested that the statue's torch not be lit until the United States became a free nation "in reality":

text: "Liberty enlightening the world," indeed! The expression makes us sick. This government is a howling farce. It can not or rather does not protect its citizens within its own borders. Shove the Bartholdi statue, torch and all, into the ocean until the "liberty" of this country is such as to make it possible for an inoffensive and industrious colored man to earn a respectable living for himself and family, without being ku-kluxed, perhaps murdered, his daughter and wife outraged, and his property destroyed. The idea of the "liberty" of this country "enlightening the world," or even Patagonia, is ridiculous in the extreme.[106]

text: After dedication

text: Lighthouse Board and War Department (1886–1933)

text: When the torch was illuminated on the evening of the statue's dedication, it produced only a faint gleam, barely visible from Manhattan. The World characterized it as "more like a glowworm than a beacon."[98] Bartholdi suggested gilding the statue to increase its ability to reflect light, but this proved too expensive. The United States Lighthouse Board took over the Statue of Liberty in 1887 and pledged to install equipment to enhance the torch's effect; in spite of its efforts, the statue remained virtually invisible at night. When Bartholdi returned to the United States in 1893, he made additional suggestions, all of which proved ineffective. He did successfully lobby for improved lighting within the statue, allowing visitors to better appreciate Eiffel's design.[98] In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt, once a member of the New York committee, ordered the statue's transfer to the War Department, as it had proved useless as a lighthouse.[107] A unit of the Army Signal Corps was stationed on Bedloe's Island until 1923, after which military police remained there while the island was under military jurisdiction.[108]

text: The statue rapidly became a landmark. Many immigrants who entered through New York saw it as a welcoming sight. Oral histories of immigrants record their feelings of exhilaration on first viewing the Statue of Liberty. One immigrant who arrived from Greece recalled,

text: I saw the Statue of Liberty. And I said to myself, "Lady, you're such a beautiful! [sic] You opened your arms and you get all the foreigners here. Give me a chance to prove that I am worth it, to do something, to be someone in America." And always that statue was on my mind.[109]

text: Originally, the statue was a dull copper color, but shortly after 1900 a green patina, also called verdigris, caused by the oxidation of the copper skin, began to spread. As early as 1902 it was mentioned in the press; by 1906 it had entirely covered the statue.[110] Believing that the patina was evidence of corrosion, Congress authorized US$62,800 (equivalent to $1,673,969 in 2016) for various repairs, and to paint the statue both inside and out.[111] There was considerable public protest against the proposed exterior painting.[112] The Army Corps of Engineers studied the patina for any ill effects to the statue and concluded that it protected the skin, "softened the outlines of the Statue and made it beautiful."[113] The statue was painted only on the inside. The Corps of Engineers also installed an elevator to take visitors from the base to the top of the pedestal.[113]

text: On July 30, 1916, during World War I, German saboteurs set off a disastrous explosion on the Black Tom peninsula in Jersey City, New Jersey, in what is now part of Liberty State Park, close to Bedloe's Island. Carloads of dynamite and other explosives that were being sent to Britain and France for their war efforts were detonated, and seven people were killed. The statue sustained minor damage, mostly to the torch-bearing right arm, and was closed for ten days. The cost to repair the statue and buildings on the island was about US$100,000 (equivalent to $2,200,917 in 2016). The narrow ascent to the torch was closed for public-safety reasons, and it has remained closed ever since.[104]

text: That same year, Ralph Pulitzer, who had succeeded his father Joseph as publisher of the World, began a drive to raise US$30,000 (equivalent to $660,275 in 2016) for an exterior lighting system to illuminate the statue at night. He claimed over 80,000 contributors, but failed to reach the goal. The difference was quietly made up by a gift from a wealthy donor—a fact that was not revealed until 1936. An underwater power cable brought electricity from the mainland and floodlights were placed along the walls of Fort Wood. Gutzon Borglum, who later sculpted Mount Rushmore, redesigned the torch, replacing much of the original copper with stained glass. On December 2, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson pressed the telegraph key that turned on the lights, successfully illuminating the statue.[114]

text: After the United States entered World War I in 1917, images of the statue were heavily used in both recruitment posters and the Liberty Bond drives that urged American citizens to support the war financially. This impressed upon the public the war's stated purpose—to secure liberty—and served as a reminder that embattled France had given the United States the statue.[115]

text: In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge used his authority under the Antiquities Act to declare the statue a National Monument.[107] The only successful suicide in the statue's history occurred five years later, when a man climbed out of one of the windows in the crown and jumped to his death, glancing off the statue's breast and landing on the base.[116]

text: Early National Park Service years (1933–1982)

text: In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the statue to be transferred to the National Park Service (NPS). In 1937, the NPS gained jurisdiction over the rest of Bedloe's Island.[107] With the Army's departure, the NPS began to transform the island into a park.[117] The Works Progress Administration (WPA) demolished most of the old buildings, regraded and reseeded the eastern end of the island, and built granite steps for a new public entrance to the statue from its rear. The WPA also carried out restoration work within the statue, temporarily removing the rays from the statue's halo so their rusted supports could be replaced. Rusted cast-iron steps in the pedestal were replaced with new ones made of reinforced concrete;[118] the upper parts of the stairways within the statue were replaced, as well. Copper sheathing was installed to prevent further damage from rainwater that had been seeping into the pedestal.[119] The statue was closed to the public from May until December 1938.[118]

text: During World War II, the statue remained open to visitors, although it was not illuminated at night due to wartime blackouts. It was lit briefly on December 31, 1943, and on D-Day, June 6, 1944, when its lights flashed "dot-dot-dot-dash", the Morse code for V, for victory. New, powerful lighting was installed in 1944–1945, and beginning on V-E Day, the statue was once again illuminated after sunset. The lighting was for only a few hours each evening, and it was not until 1957 that the statue was illuminated every night, all night.[120] In 1946, the interior of the statue within reach of visitors was coated with a special plastic so that graffiti could be washed away.[119]

text: In 1956, an Act of Congress officially renamed Bedloe's Island as Liberty Island, a change advocated by Bartholdi generations earlier. The act also mentioned the efforts to found an American Museum of Immigration on the island, which backers took as federal approval of the project, though the government was slow to grant funds for it.[121] Nearby Ellis Island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument by proclamation of President Lyndon Johnson in 1965.[107] In 1972, the immigration museum, in the statue's base, was finally opened in a ceremony led by President Richard Nixon. The museum's backers never provided it with an endowment to secure its future and it closed in 1991 after the opening of an immigration museum on Ellis Island.[94]

text: In 1970, Ivy Bottini led a demonstration at the statue where she and others from the National Organization for Women's New York chapter draped an enormous banner over a railing which read "WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE!"[122][123]

text: Beginning December 26, 1971, 15 anti-Vietnam War veterans occupied the statue, flying a US flag upside down from her crown. They left December 28 following a Federal Court order.[124] The statue was also several times taken over briefly by demonstrators publicizing causes such as Puerto Rican independence, opposition to abortion, and opposition to US intervention in Grenada. Demonstrations with the permission of the Park Service included a Gay Pride Parade rally and the annual Captive Baltic Nations rally.[125]

text: A powerful new lighting system was installed in advance of the American Bicentennial in 1976. The statue was the focal point for Operation Sail, a regatta of tall ships from all over the world that entered New York Harbor on July 4, 1976, and sailed around Liberty Island.[126] The day concluded with a spectacular display of fireworks near the statue.[127]

text: Renovation and rededication (1982–2000)

text: The statue was examined in great detail by French and American engineers as part of the planning for its centennial in 1986.[128] In 1982, it was announced that the statue was in need of considerable restoration. Careful study had revealed that the right arm had been improperly attached to the main structure. It was swaying more and more when strong winds blew and there was a significant risk of structural failure. In addition, the head had been installed 2 feet (0.61 m) off center, and one of the rays was wearing a hole in the right arm when the statue moved in the wind. The armature structure was badly corroded, and about two percent of the exterior plates needed to be replaced.[129] Although problems with the armature had been recognized as early as 1936, when cast iron replacements for some of the bars had been installed, much of the corrosion had been hidden by layers of paint applied over the years.[130]

text: In May 1982, President Ronald Reagan announced the formation of the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Centennial Commission, led by Chrysler Corporation chair Lee Iacocca, to raise the funds needed to complete the work.[131] Through its fundraising arm, the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., the group raised more than $350 million in donations.[132] The Statue of Liberty was one of the earliest beneficiaries of a cause marketing campaign. A 1983 promotion advertised that for each purchase made with an American Express card, the company would contribute one cent to the renovation of the statue. The campaign generated contributions of $1.7 million to the restoration project.[133]

text: In 1984, the statue was closed to the public for the duration of the renovation. Workers erected the world's largest free-standing scaffold,[28] which obscured the statue from view. Liquid nitrogen was used to remove layers of paint that had been applied to the interior of the copper skin over decades, leaving two layers of coal tar, originally applied to plug leaks and prevent corrosion. Blasting with baking soda powder removed the tar without further damaging the copper.[134] The restorers' work was hampered by the asbestos-based substance that Bartholdi had used—ineffectively, as inspections showed—to prevent galvanic corrosion. Workers within the statue had to wear protective gear, dubbed "moon suits", with self-contained breathing circuits.[135] Larger holes in the copper skin were repaired, and new copper was added where necessary.[136] The replacement skin was taken from a copper rooftop at Bell Labs, which had a patina that closely resembled the statue's; in exchange, the laboratory was provided some of the old copper skin for testing.[137] The torch, found to have been leaking water since the 1916 alterations, was replaced with an exact replica of Bartholdi's unaltered torch.[138] Consideration was given to replacing the arm and shoulder; the National Park Service insisted that they be repaired instead.[139] The original torch was removed and replaced in 1986 with the current one, whose flame is covered in 24-carat gold.[31] The torch reflects the sun's rays in daytime and is lighted by floodlights at night.[31]

text: The entire puddled iron armature designed by Gustave Eiffel was replaced. Low-carbon corrosion-resistant stainless steel bars that now hold the staples next to the skin are made of Ferralium, an alloy that bends slightly and returns to its original shape as the statue moves.[140] To prevent the ray and arm making contact, the ray was realigned by several degrees.[141] The lighting was again replaced—night-time illumination subsequently came from metal-halide lamps that send beams of light to particular parts of the pedestal or statue, showing off various details.[142] Access to the pedestal, which had been through a nondescript entrance built in the 1960s, was renovated to create a wide opening framed by a set of monumental bronze doors with designs symbolic of the renovation.[143] A modern elevator was installed, allowing handicapped access to the observation area of the pedestal.[144] An emergency elevator was installed within the statue, reaching up to the level of the shoulder.[145]

text: July 3–6, 1986, was designated "Liberty Weekend", marking the centennial of the statue and its reopening. President Reagan presided over the rededication, with French President François Mitterrand in attendance. July 4 saw a reprise of Operation Sail,[146] and the statue was reopened to the public on July 5.[147] In Reagan's dedication speech, he stated, "We are the keepers of the flame of liberty; we hold it high for the world to see."[146]

text: Closures and reopenings (2001–present)

text: Following the September 11 attacks, the statue and Liberty Island were immediately closed to the public. The island reopened at the end of 2001, while the pedestal and statue remained off-limits. The pedestal reopened in August 2004,[147] but the National Park Service announced that visitors could not safely be given access to the statue due to the difficulty of evacuation in an emergency. The Park Service adhered to that position through the remainder of the Bush administration.[148] New York Congressman Anthony Weiner made the statue's reopening a personal crusade.[149] On May 17, 2009, President Barack Obama's Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced that as a "special gift" to America, the statue would be reopened to the public as of July 4, but that only a limited number of people would be permitted to ascend to the crown each day.[148]

text: The statue, including the pedestal and base, closed on October 29, 2011, for installation of new elevators and staircases and to bring other facilities, such as restrooms, up to code. The statue was reopened on October 28, 2012,[1][150][151] only to close again a day later due to Hurricane Sandy.[152] Although the storm did not harm the statue, it destroyed some of the infrastructure on both Liberty Island and Ellis Island, severely damaging the dock used by the ferries bearing visitors to the statue. On November 8, 2012, a Park Service spokesperson announced that both islands would remain closed for an indefinite period for repairs to be done.[153] Due to lack of electricity on Liberty Island, a generator was installed to power temporary floodlights to illuminate the statue at night. The superintendent of Statue of Liberty National Monument, David Luchsinger, whose home on the island was severely damaged, stated that it would be "optimistically ... months" before the island was reopened to the public.[154] The statue and Liberty Island reopened to the public on July 4, 2013.[155] Ellis Island remained closed for repairs for several more months but reopened in late October 2013.[156] For part of October 2013, Liberty Island was closed to the public due to the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, along with other federally funded museums, parks, monuments, construction projects and buildings.[157]

text: On October 7, 2016, construction started on a new Statue of Liberty museum on Liberty Island. The new $70 million, 26,000-square-foot (2,400 m2) museum will be able to accommodate all of the island's visitors when it opens in 2019, as opposed to the current museum, which only 20% of the island's visitors can visit.[158] The original torch will be relocated here, and in addition to exhibits relating to the statue's construction and history, there will be a theater where visitors can watch an aerial view of the statue.[158][159] The museum, designed by FXFOWLE Architects, will integrate with the parkland around it.[159] It is being funded privately by Diane von Fürstenberg, Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos, Coca-Cola, NBCUniversal, the family of Laurence Tisch and Preston Robert Tisch, Mellody Hobson, and George Lucas.[160] Von Fürstenberg heads the fundraising for the museum, and the project had garnered more than $40 million in fundraising as of groundbreaking.[159]

text: Access and attributes

text: Location and tourism

text: The statue is situated in Upper New York Bay on Liberty Island south of Ellis Island, which together comprise the Statue of Liberty National Monument. Both islands were ceded by New York to the federal government in 1800.[161] As agreed in an 1834 compact between New York and New Jersey that set the state border at the bay's midpoint, the original islands remain New York territory despite their location on the New Jersey side of the state line. Liberty Island is one of the islands that are part of the borough of Manhattan in New York. Land created by reclamation added to the 2.3 acres (0.93 ha) original island at Ellis Island is New Jersey territory.[162]

text: No charge is made for entrance to the national monument, but there is a cost for the ferry service that all visitors must use, as private boats may not dock at the island. A concession was granted in 2007 to Statue Cruises to operate the transportation and ticketing facilities, replacing Circle Line, which had operated the service since 1953.[163] The ferries, which depart from Liberty State Park in Jersey City and Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, also stop at Ellis Island when it is open to the public, making a combined trip possible.[164] All ferry riders are subject to security screening, similar to airport procedures, prior to boarding.[165] Visitors intending to enter the statue's base and pedestal must obtain a complimentary museum/pedestal ticket along with their ferry ticket.[166] Those wishing to climb the staircase within the statue to the crown purchase a special ticket, which may be reserved up to a year in advance. A total of 240 people per day are permitted to ascend: ten per group, three groups per hour. Climbers may bring only medication and cameras—lockers are provided for other items—and must undergo a second security screening.[167]

text: Inscriptions, plaques, and dedications

text: There are several plaques and dedicatory tablets on or near the Statue of Liberty.

text:
A plaque on the copper just under the figure in front declares that it is a colossal statue representing Liberty, designed by Bartholdi and built by the Paris firm of Gaget, Gauthier et Cie (Cie is the French abbreviation analogous to Co.). [168]
A presentation tablet, also bearing Bartholdi's name, declares the statue is a gift from the people of the Republic of France that honors "the Alliance of the two Nations in achieving the Independence of the United States of America and attests their abiding friendship."[168]
A tablet placed by the New York committee commemorates the fundraising done to build the pedestal.[168]
The cornerstone bears a plaque placed by the Freemasons.[168]
In 1903, a bronze tablet that bears the text of Emma Lazarus's sonnet, "The New Colossus" (1883), was presented by friends of the poet. Until the 1986 renovation, it was mounted inside the pedestal; today it resides in the Statue of Liberty Museum, in the base.[168]
"The New Colossus" tablet is accompanied by a tablet given by the Emma Lazarus Commemorative Committee in 1977, celebrating the poet's life.[168]

text: A group of statues stands at the western end of the island, honoring those closely associated with the Statue of Liberty. Two Americans—Pulitzer and Lazarus—and three Frenchmen—Bartholdi, Eiffel, and Laboulaye—are depicted. They are the work of Maryland sculptor Phillip Ratner.[169]

text: UNESCO World Heritage Site

text: In 1984, the Statue of Liberty was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The UNESCO "Statement of Significance" describes the statue as a "masterpiece of the human spirit" that "endures as a highly potent symbol—inspiring contemplation, debate and protest—of ideals such as liberty, peace, human rights, abolition of slavery, democracy and opportunity."[170]

text: Physical characteristics

text:
Feature[72]
U.S.
Metric

Height of copper statue
151 ft 1 in
46 m

Foundation of pedestal (ground level) to tip of torch
305 ft 1 in
93 m

Heel to top of head
111 ft 1 in
34 m

Height of hand
16 ft 5 in
5 m

Index finger
8 ft 1 in
2.44 m

Circumference at second joint
3 ft 6 in
1.07 m

Head from chin to cranium
17 ft 3 in
5.26 m

Head thickness from ear to ear
10 ft 0 in
3.05 m

Distance across the eye
2 ft 6 in
0.76 m

Length of nose
4 ft 6 in
1.48 m

Right arm length
42 ft 0 in
12.8 m

Right arm greatest thickness
12 ft 0 in
3.66 m

Thickness of waist
35 ft 0 in
10.67 m

Width of mouth
3 ft 0 in
0.91 m

Tablet, length
23 ft 7 in
7.19 m

Tablet, width
13 ft 7 in
4.14 m

Tablet, thickness
2 ft 0 in
0.61 m

Height of pedestal
89 ft 0 in
27.13 m

Height of foundation
65 ft 0 in
19.81 m

Weight of copper used in statue
60,000 pounds
27.22 tonnes

Weight of steel used in statue
250,000 pounds
113.4 tonnes

Total weight of statue
450,000 pounds
204.1 tonnes

Thickness of copper sheeting
3/32 of an inch
2.4 mm

text: Depictions

text: Hundreds of replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed worldwide.[171] A smaller version of the statue, one-fourth the height of the original, was given by the American community in Paris to that city. It now stands on the Île aux Cygnes, facing west toward her larger sister.[171] A replica 30 feet (9.1 m) tall stood atop the Liberty Warehouse on West 64th Street in Manhattan for many years;[171] it now resides at the Brooklyn Museum.[172] In a patriotic tribute, the Boy Scouts of America, as part of their Strengthen the Arm of Liberty campaign in 1949–1952, donated about two hundred replicas of the statue, made of stamped copper and 100 inches (2,500 mm) in height, to states and municipalities across the United States.[173] Though not a true replica, the statue known as the Goddess of Democracy temporarily erected during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 was similarly inspired by French democratic traditions—the sculptors took care to avoid a direct imitation of the Statue of Liberty.[174] Among other recreations of New York City structures, a replica of the statue is part of the exterior of the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.[175]

text: As an American icon, the Statue of Liberty has been depicted on the country's coinage and stamps. It appeared on commemorative coins issued to mark its 1986 centennial, and on New York's 2001 entry in the state quarters series.[176] An image of the statue was chosen for the American Eagle platinum bullion coins in 1997, and it was placed on the reverse, or tails, side of the Presidential Dollar series of circulating coins.[26] Two images of the statue's torch appear on the current ten-dollar bill.[177] The statue's intended photographic depiction on a 2010 forever stamp proved instead to be of the replica at the Las Vegas casino.[178]

text: Depictions of the statue have been used by many regional institutions. Between 1986[179] and 2000,[180] New York State issued license plates with an outline of the statue to either the front or the side of the serial number.[179][180] The Women's National Basketball Association's New York Liberty use both the statue's name and its image in their logo, in which the torch's flame doubles as a basketball.[181] The New York Rangers of the National Hockey League depicted the statue's head on their third jersey, beginning in 1997.[182] The National Collegiate Athletic Association's 1996 Men's Basketball Final Four, played at New Jersey's Meadowlands Sports Complex, featured the statue in its logo.[183] The Libertarian Party of the United States uses the statue in its emblem.[184]

text: The statue is a frequent subject in popular culture. In music, it has been evoked to indicate support for American policies, as in Toby Keith's song "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)", and in opposition, appearing on the cover of the Dead Kennedys' album Bedtime for Democracy, which protested the Reagan administration.[185] In film, the torch is the setting for the climax of director Alfred Hitchcock's 1942 movie Saboteur.[186] The statue makes one of its most famous cinematic appearances in the 1968 picture Planet of the Apes, in which it is seen half-buried in sand.[185][187] It is knocked over in the science-fiction film Independence Day [188] and in Cloverfield the head is ripped off.[189] In Jack Finney's time-travel novel Time and Again, the right arm of the statue, on display in the early 1880s in Madison Square Park, plays a crucial role.[190] Robert Holdstock, consulting editor of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, wondered in 1979,

text: Where would science fiction be without the Statue of Liberty? For decades it has towered or crumbled above the wastelands of deserted [E]arth—giants have uprooted it, aliens have found it curious ... the symbol of Liberty, of optimism, has become a symbol of science fiction's pessimistic view of the future.[191]


document_title: No-hitter

question_text: who has pitched a no hitter and lost

question_tokens: who has pitched a no hitter and lost

root

text: No-hitter

text: Major League Baseball no-hitters[edit]

text: Definition[edit]

text: A no-hitter is defined by Major League Baseball as follows: "An official no-hit game occurs when a pitcher (or pitchers) allows no hits during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings."[1] This definition was specified by MLB's Committee for Statistical Accuracy in 1991, causing previously recognized no-hitters of fewer than nine innings or where the first hit had been allowed in extra innings to be stricken from the official record books. Games lost by the visiting team in 8½ innings but without allowing any hits do not qualify as no-hitters, as the visiting team has only pitched eight innings.[2][3]

tag: p

text: Frequency[edit]

text: Major League Baseball has officially recognized 296 no-hitters thrown since 1876; only 23 of those were perfect games. Two no-hitters have been thrown on the same day twice: Ted Breitenstein and Jim Hughes on April 22, 1898; and Dave Stewart and Fernando Valenzuela on June 29, 1990.

text: Eight no-hitters were thrown by major league pitchers in the 1884 season. In the modern era (since 1901), seven no-hitters were thrown in 1990, 1991, 2012, and 2015.

text: The longest period between any two no-hitters in the modern era is 7003114000000000000♠3 years, 44 days between Bobby Burke on August 8, 1931, and Paul "Daffy" Dean on September 21, 1934. There was a drought of 3 years, 11 months, without a no-hitter after the first National League no-hitter on July 15, 1876, pitched by George Bradley. The most recent year without any no-hitters is 2005.

text: The greatest span of games without a no-hitter anywhere in the Major Leagues is 6,364, between Randy Johnson's perfect game on May 18, 2004, for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Aníbal Sánchez's no-hitter on September 6, 2006, for the Florida Marlins. The previous record was a 4,015-game streak without a no-hitter from September 30, 1984, to September 19, 1986.

text: Individual[edit]

text: The pitcher who holds the record for the most no-hitters is Nolan Ryan, who threw seven in his long career. His first two came exactly two months apart, while he was with the California Angels: the first on May 15, 1973, and the second on July 15. He had two more with the Angels on September 28, 1974, and June 1, 1975. Ryan's fifth no-hitter with the Houston Astros on September 26, 1981, broke Sandy Koufax's previous record. His sixth and seventh no-hitters came with the Texas Rangers on June 1, 1990, and May 1, 1991. When he tossed number seven at age 44, he became the oldest pitcher to throw a no-hitter.

text: Only Ryan, Sandy Koufax (four), Cy Young (three), Bob Feller (three), and Larry Corcoran (three) have pitched more than two no-hitters.[4] Corcoran was the first pitcher to throw a second no-hitter in a career (in 1882), as well as the first to throw a third (in 1884).

text: Thirty-six pitchers have thrown more than one no-hitter, combined no-hitters not counting. Randy Johnson has the longest gap between no-hitters: he threw a no-hitter as a member of the Seattle Mariners on June 2, 1990, and a perfect game as an Arizona Diamondback on May 18, 2004.

text: The pitcher who holds the record for the shortest time between no-hitters is Johnny Vander Meer, the only pitcher in history to throw no-hitters in consecutive starts, while playing for the Cincinnati Reds in 1938.[5] Besides Vander Meer, Allie Reynolds (in 1951), Virgil Trucks (in 1952), Ryan (in 1973), and Max Scherzer (in 2015) are the only other major leaguers to throw two no-hitters in the same regular season.

text: Jim Maloney also had two no-hitters under the previous rules in the 1965 season, both of them taken into extra innings. On the first one on June 14, he gave up a home run to Johnny Lewis to open the top of the 11th inning, turning 10 innings of no-hit ball into a 1–0 loss to the New York Mets. According to the rules interpretation of the time, this was considered a no-hitter.[6] On August 19, a home run by Leo Cárdenas in the tenth inning allowed Maloney to earn a 1–0 10-inning no-hit win over the Chicago Cubs.[7]

text: Roy Halladay threw two no-hitters in 2010 – a perfect game during the regular season and a no-hitter in the 2010 National League Division Series. He is the only major leaguer to have thrown no-hitters in regular season and postseason play.

text: Two pitchers missing their non-pitching hand have thrown no-hitters; Hugh Daily, of the Cleveland Blues, defeated the Philadelphia Quakers 1–0 on September 13, 1883, and Jim Abbott, of the New York Yankees, defeated the Cleveland Indians 4–0 on September 4, 1993. Daily lost his left hand in a gun accident as a child, and Abbott was born without a right hand.

text: Edinson Vólquez of the Miami Marlins is the most recent pitcher to throw a no-hitter, the thirty-fifth player to do so, on June 3, 2017.

text: The record for most no-hitters caught by a catcher is four, a record shared by Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek and Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz. Varitek caught no-hitters for Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholz, and Jon Lester.[8] Varitek also caught a rain-shortened, five-inning unofficial no-hitter for Devern Hansack on October 1, 2006.[9] Ruiz caught two no-hitters for Roy Halladay, including a perfect game, as well as one for Cole Hamels, and a combined no-hitter for Cole Hamels, Jake Diekman, Ken Giles, and Jonathan Papelbon.[10] Before MLB redefined "no-hitter", Ray Schalk had long held the record of catching four no-hitters, but his first nine-inning no-hitter had ended with a hit in the tenth inning.[9][11]

text: Five pitchers have thrown a no-hitter in both the American League and the National League: Cy Young, Ryan, Jim Bunning, Nomo, and Randy Johnson. Only five catchers have caught a no-hitter in each league: Gus Triandos, Jeff Torborg, Darrell Porter, Ron Hassey, and most recently, Drew Butera.[12] Triandos caught Hoyt Wilhelm's 1958 no-hitter and Jim Bunning's perfect game, Torborg caught Koufax's perfect game and Ryan's first no-hitter, Porter caught Jim Colborn's 1977 no-hitter and Bob Forsch's second no-hitter in 1983, and Hassey caught Len Barker's and Dennis Martínez's perfect games. Butera caught a 2011 no-hitter by Francisco Liriano and a 2014 no-hitter by Josh Beckett.[12]

text: Team[edit]

text: No team has thrown no-hitters in consecutive games, although it has happened once on consecutive days: On May 5, 1917, Ernie Koob of the St. Louis Browns no-hit the Chicago White Sox, and teammate Bob Groom repeated the feat in the second game of a doubleheader the following day.

text: On two occasions, there have been back-to-back no-hitters thrown by each team in a series. On September 17, 1968, Gaylord Perry of the San Francisco Giants no-hit the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Cardinals' Ray Washburn no-hit the Giants the following day. On April 30, 1969, Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds no-hit the Houston Astros, and the Astros' Don Wilson no-hit the Reds the following day. Surprisingly, it was both Maloney's and Wilson's 2nd no-hitter in their careers.

text: Teams have thrown two straight no-hitters, with no other teams pitching one in the interim, 19 times; most recently by the Los Angeles Dodgers (Josh Beckett and Clayton Kershaw in 2014). The only team to throw three straight no-hitters was the Milwaukee Braves, with Lew Burdette, followed by consecutive no-no's by Warren Spahn, in 1960 and 1961. Individual pitchers have thrown two straight no-hitters seven times: Addie Joss 1908 and 1910; Vander Meer in 1938; Allie Reynolds in 1951; Warren Spahn in 1960 and 1961; Ryan twice, first in 1973, then in 1974 and 1975; and Bailey. All seven instances were with the same team.

text: The Tampa Bay Rays are the only MLB team to fail to get a hit in three games in a span of 12 months or fewer. No-hit by Arizona's Edwin Jackson on June 25, 2010, the Rays were also the victims of two perfect games: the first by White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle on July 23, 2009, the second by Oakland's Dallas Braden on May 9, 2010. On August 15, 2012, the Rays were once again on the losing end of a perfect game, this time at the helm of Félix Hernández and the Seattle Mariners.[13]

text: Combined no-hitters[edit]

text: The vast majority of no-hit games are finished by the starting pitcher, but eleven MLB no-hitters have been thrown by a combination of the starting and relief pitchers. The first such combined no-hitter occurred on June 23, 1917, when Ernie Shore of the Boston Red Sox relieved starter Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for arguing with the umpire after walking the first batter of the game. The runner was subsequently caught stealing and Shore retired the next 26 batters without allowing any baserunners. This game was long considered a perfect game for Shore, since he recorded 27 outs in succession; current rules classify it only as a combined no-hitter. Another major league combined no-hitter did not occur until April 30, 1967, when Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles recorded the final out in relief of Steve Barber in a 2–1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. The most recent combined no-hitter occurred on September 1, 2014, when the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 7-0, as Cole Hamels threw 108 pitches through the first six innings; then Jake Diekman, Ken Giles, and Jonathan Papelbon successively pitched perfect innings to preserve the no-hitter.

text: The only combined extra inning no-hitter to date occurred on July 12, 1997. Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers Francisco Córdova (9 innings) and Ricardo Rincón (1 inning) combined to no-hit the Houston Astros, 3–0. Victory was secured with a three-run walk-off home run by pinch hitter Mark Smith in the bottom of the tenth inning.

text: On June 11, 2003, the Houston Astros set a record with six pitchers involved in a combined no-hitter. On that day, Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel, and Billy Wagner combined to hold the New York Yankees hitless. Oswalt was removed after one inning due to injury. Munro pitched the most innings, 2⅔. He also allowed five of the six baserunners, giving up three walks, hitting a batter and seeing another reach on an error by third baseman Geoff Blum. The only other baserunner was allowed by Dotel, who threw a third-strike wild pitch to Alfonso Soriano with one out in the eighth; Dotel went on to record the forty-fifth four-strikeout inning in regular-season play.[14] Lidge, who retired all six hitters he faced over the sixth and seventh innings, earned the victory. On June 8, 2012, the Seattle Mariners tied this record when Kevin Millwood, Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League, and Tom Wilhelmsen combined to no-hit the Los Angeles Dodgers. Millwood pitched 6 innings before he was taken out due to a groin injury.

text: Only one pitcher has thrown a no-hitter as a starter and contributed to a combined no-hitter as a reliever. On September 30, 1984, Mike Witt threw a 1–0 perfect game for the California Angels against the Texas Rangers. On April 11, 1990, pitching the eighth and ninth innings in relief of Mark Langston, Witt earned a save in another 1–0 no-hit victory for the Angels over the Seattle Mariners.

text: Vida Blue, Kent Mercker, Kevin Millwood, and Cole Hamels are the only pitchers to start both a complete game no-hitter and a combined no-hitter. Vida Blue no-hit the Minnesota Twins on September 21, 1970, while pitching for the Oakland Athletics. He combined with Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad, and Rollie Fingers to no-hit the California Angels on September 28, 1975. While with the Atlanta Braves in 1991, Mercker, Mark Wohlers and Alejandro Peña no-hit the San Diego Padres in the National League's first combined no-hitter. Mercker threw a complete game no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 8, 1994. In addition to the game above in which Millwood and the Seattle Mariners tied the record by using six pitchers in a no-hitter, Millwood previously threw a complete game no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants on April 27, 2003, while with the Philadelphia Phillies. Both Mercker and Blue were All-Stars in the seasons of their combined no-hitters, and Blue also won the Cy Young Award and the Most Valuable Player Award during his career.

text: Combined no-hitters are considered unofficial by Nippon Professional Baseball.

text: Earliest, latest, title-clinching, and postseason no-hitters[edit]

text: Hideo Nomo threw the earliest no-hitter based on calendar date: April 4, 2001, the second game of the season for the Boston Red Sox, against the Baltimore Orioles. The Cleveland Indians' Bob Feller left the Chicago White Sox hitless in the 1940 season opener on April 16, the only official Opening Day no-hitter.

text: There have been five no-hitters thrown on the final day of the regular season. Bumpus Jones of the Cincinnati Reds ended the season by no-hitting the Pittsburgh Pirates on October 15, 1892; this is also the latest calendar date for a no-hit game thus far. On September 28, 1975, four Oakland A's pitchers (Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad, Rollie Fingers) combined for a season-ending no-hitter against the California Angels. Mike Witt of the California Angels threw a perfect game against the Texas Rangers on September 30, 1984. Henderson Álvarez of the Miami Marlins no-hit the Detroit Tigers on September 29, 2013, to close the regular season. Jordan Zimmermann of the Washington Nationals no-hit the Miami Marlins on the last day of the 2014 season, September 28.

text: The latest regular-season no-hitter by calendar date in the modern era is October 3, achieved by Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals in 2015.

text: The Houston Astros' Mike Scott no-hit the San Francisco Giants on September 25, 1986, a victory that also clinched the National League West title for the Astros; this is the only such occurrence in Major League history to date. In the first game of a doubleheader on September 28, 1951, Allie Reynolds of the New York Yankees pitched a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox which clinched a tie for the American League pennant (the pennant was clinched outright in the doubleheader's second game).

text: There have been two postseason no-hitters in MLB history, one by a pitcher from each league. For the AL, on October 8, 1956, Don Larsen of the New York Yankees threw a perfect game in Game 5 of that year's World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The feat had nearly been accomplished nine years earlier by the Yankees' Bill Bevens, who came within one out of a no-hitter (though not a perfect game) against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 4 of the 1947 World Series, only to lose the game on a pinch-hit double by Cookie Lavagetto. There have been other one-hitters in the World Series, with the lone hit coming earlier in the game than in Bevens' effort. On October 6, 2010, Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies, in the first postseason appearance of his career, threw the second no-hitter in postseason history, and first in the NL, in Game 1 of the Phillies' NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds.

text: Rookie no-hitters[edit]

text: Twenty-two MLB rookies have pitched a no-hitter since 1901. Three pitchers have thrown a no-hitter in their first major league starts; two others have done it in their second major league starts.[15]

text: Bumpus Jones of the Cincinnati Reds threw a no-hitter on October 15, 1892 in his first major league game. Jones pitched only eight games in the big leagues, finishing with a career win/loss record of 2–4 and a career earned run average of 7.99.

text: Ted Breitenstein pitched a no-hitter in his first Major League start on October 4, 1891, however, it was not his first Major League game.[16] He later threw a second no-hitter on April 22, 1898.

text: On May 6, 1953, Bobo Holloman pitched a no-hitter for the St. Louis Browns in his first major league start (also not his first major league game). This game would prove to be one of only three major league wins that Holloman achieved, against seven losses, all in 1953. Bill Veeck, then-owner of the Browns, in his autobiography described the 27 outs of Holloman's no-hitter as consisting of hard-hit ground balls, screaming line drives, and deep fly balls. At the other end of the spectrum, there are nine 300-game winners—Grover Cleveland Alexander, Kid Nichols, Lefty Grove, Early Wynn, Steve Carlton, Don Sutton, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens and Tom Glavine—who failed to pitch a no-hitter.

text: On August 11, 1991, Wilson Álvarez of the Chicago White Sox pitched a no-hitter in his second career major league start. During Alvarez's first career start, he had allowed three runs on a pair of home runs and did not retire a single batter. Unlike Jones and Holloman, Alvarez went on to win 102 games over a 16-year career.

text: Clay Buchholz pitched a no-hitter for the Boston Red Sox in his second major league start on September 1, 2007 at Fenway Park. The game ended in a 10–0 victory for the Red Sox over the Baltimore Orioles.

text: Chris Heston, pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, threw a no-hitter in a 5-0 victory over the New York Mets on June 9, 2015.

text: Nine-inning no-hitters in a losing effort[edit]

text: Unlike a perfect game, in which no batters reach base, in regular no-hitters batters can reach base in other ways, such as a walk, an error, or a hit batsman, thus it is possible for the team pitching the no-hitter to lose. On April 23, 1964, Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45s became the only pitcher to lose a complete game no-hitter in nine innings when he was beaten, 1–0, by Cincinnati. The winning run was scored by Pete Rose in the top of the ninth inning via an error, groundout, and another error.[17]

text: On April 30, 1967, Steve Barber and Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles pitched a combined no-hitter, but lost 2-1 to the Detroit Tigers.[18]

text: On July 1, 1990, Andy Hawkins of the Yankees pitched an eight-inning no-hitter (the Yankees were the away team) against the Chicago White Sox and lost the game 4–0 after an eighth inning which saw three errors.[19] The four runs that the White Sox scored are the most by any team in a game in which they had no hits.[20] Because Hawkins only threw eight innings, this game is not recognized as an official no-hitter by Major League Baseball; however, it was considered a no-hitter at the time it was pitched. Years after the game, the rules regarding no-hitters, (and rules regarding other statistics), were changed and applied retroactively in order to "clean up the record book". The Hawkins "no-hitter" failed on at least two provisions of the new standards. To be classified a valid no-hitter, the pitcher must face opposing batters in at least nine innings.

text: Jered Weaver and José Arredondo of the Angels also combined for eight innings of no-hit baseball in a 1–0 road loss to the Dodgers June 28, 2008, where Matt Kemp reached on an error, stole second, advanced to third on another error, and scored on a sacrifice fly. However, since the Angels only pitched eight innings, this game is not recognized as an official no-hitter.

text: On August 23, 2017, Rich Hill of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched a nine-inning no-hitter, but his team lost 1-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hill had a perfect game in the ninth inning until a fielding error by Logan Forsythe. Later, Hill would have his no-hitter broken up on a walkoff-homerun by Josh Harrison in the bottom of the 10th inning.[21]

text: Shortened no-hitters[edit]

text: A game that cannot continue due to weather or darkness may be considered a completed official game, as long as at least five innings have been completed. Until 1991, any such game in which a pitcher held the opposing team without hits was considered an official no-hitter; however under the current rule, a no-hitter must last for at least nine innings to count. As the rule was applied retroactively, thirty-six games in which a no-hitter was interrupted by weather or darkness, with lengths ranging from 5 to 8 innings, are no longer considered no-hitters.

text: If the home team leads after the top of the ninth, they do not bat in the bottom of the ninth, thus the visiting team only pitches 8 innings. Since it is possible to score runs without getting hits, a visiting team can complete a full game without allowing a hit but not be credited with an official no-hitter. This has happened four times in MLB history: Silver King (1890), Andy Hawkins (1990), and Matt Young (1992) pitched complete games without allowing a hit, but pitched only 8 innings as the losing pitcher from the visiting team, and thus are not credited with a no-hitter.[22][23] On June 28, 2008, Jered Weaver and José Arredondo of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim threw 8 no-hit innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, but lost the game, 1–0, and are not credited with a no-hitter. This is the first near no-hitter of this kind in which more than one pitcher was involved.

text: No-hitters lost in extra innings[edit]

text: A game that is a no-hitter through nine innings may be lost in extra innings. Under current rules, such a game is not considered an official no-hitter because the pitcher did not keep the opponent hitless for the entire course of the game.

text: On May 2, 1917, a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds reached the end of nine innings in a hitless scoreless tie,[24] the only time in baseball history that neither team has had a hit in regulation. Both Hippo Vaughn of the Cubs and Fred Toney of the Reds continued pitching into the tenth inning. Vaughn lost his no-hitter in the top of the tenth, as the Reds got two hits and scored the winning run. Toney retired the side in the bottom of the tenth and recorded a ten-inning no-hitter. This game was long considered a "double no-hitter", but Vaughn is no longer credited with a no-hitter under the current rules.

text: Of the thirteen potential no-hitters that have been lost in extra innings, two were perfect games until the inning when the first hit was surrendered. On May 26, 1959, Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched a remarkable twelve perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves before losing the perfect game on an error and then the no-hitter and the game in the thirteenth inning. On June 3, 1995, Pedro Martínez of the Montreal Expos pitched nine perfect innings against the San Diego Padres before giving up a hit in the tenth and exiting the game, which the Expos then won, 1–0.[25]

text: On August 23, 2017, in a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill pitched nine no-hit innings, only to lose his no-hit bid (and the game) on a walk-off homer by Josh Harrison in the 10th inning.[26] This was another potential perfect game; the perfect game was broken up by a ninth-inning error, the first time this had happened in MLB history.[27]

text: No-hitter droughts[edit]

text: Only one existing franchise in Major League Baseball has not had a pitcher toss a no-hitter: the San Diego Padres, who have gone 46 years without a no-hitter since they entered Major League Baseball in 1969. Their closest bid came against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 18, 1972; Steve Arlin came within one out of a no-hitter before Denny Doyle broke up the bid with a single. On July 9, 2011, five Padres pitchers combined for  8 2⁄3 innings of no-hit pitching against the Los Angeles Dodgers before Juan Uribe hit a double, which was followed by a Dioner Navarro single that won the game, which had been scoreless up to that point.

text: Of all the teams that have thrown at least one no-hit game, however, the Cleveland Indians, as of August 2017, have had the longest drought; the last such game thrown by the team was by Len Barker on May 15, 1981, which was also a perfect game.

text: The New York Mets, who began play in 1962, went without a no-hitter until Johan Santana pitched one on the night of June 1, 2012, against the St. Louis Cardinals at home at Citi Field. The 8–0 victory closed out their era as the oldest franchise without a no-hitter and ended a drought that lasted 8,019 regular-season and 74 post-season games. Mets pitchers have thrown 39 one-hitters.

text: The longest no-hitter drought in Major League history was suffered by the Philadelphia Phillies between May 1, 1906, and June 21, 1964, a span that encompassed 8,945 games.

text: The Washington Nationals achieved their first no-hitter on September 28, 2014.[28] The franchise has four previous no-hitters in its history as the Montreal Expos, including a perfect game by Dennis Martínez.

text: Six current NL teams—the Braves, Dodgers, Giants, Phillies, Cubs and Reds—all pitched their first no-hitters before the advent of the American League in 1901. Among the early National League teams still playing, the last to get their first no-hitter was the St. Louis Cardinals, when Jesse Haines pitched one on July 17, 1924. Of the original American League teams, the last team to get their first no-hitter was the New York Yankees, when George Mogridge pitched one on April 24, 1917. There are a number of short-lived Major League franchises from the nineteenth century that folded without ever recording a no-hitter.

text:
Date of No-hitter
Pitcher(s)
Franchise
Time Since No-hitter

June 25, 2010
Edwin Jackson
Arizona Diamondbacks
7003263900000000000♠7 years, 82 days

April 8, 1994
Kent Mercker
Atlanta Braves
7003856100000000000♠23 years, 160 days

July 13, 1991
Bob Milacki (6 IP)
Mike Flanagan (1 IP)
Mark Williamson (1 IP)
Gregg Olson (1 IP)
Baltimore Orioles
7003956100000000000♠26 years, 64 days

May 19, 2008
Jon Lester
Boston Red Sox
7003340600000000000♠9 years, 119 days

April 21, 2016
Jake Arrieta
Chicago Cubs
7002512000000000000♠1 year, 147 days

April 21, 2012
Philip Humber
Chicago White Sox
7003197300000000000♠5 years, 147 days

July 2, 2013
Homer Bailey
Cincinnati Reds
7003153600000000000♠4 years, 75 days

May 15, 1981
Len Barker
Cleveland Indians
7004132720000000000♠36 years, 123 days

April 17, 2010
Ubaldo Jiménez
Colorado Rockies
7003270800000000000♠7 years, 151 days

May 7, 2011
Justin Verlander
Detroit Tigers
7003232300000000000♠6 years, 131 days

August 21, 2015
Mike Fiers
Houston Astros
7002756000000000000♠2 years, 25 days

August 26, 1991
Bret Saberhagen
Kansas City Royals
7003951700000000000♠26 years, 20 days

May 2, 2012
Jered Weaver
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
7003196200000000000♠5 years, 136 days

June 18, 2014
Clayton Kershaw
Los Angeles Dodgers
7003118500000000000♠3 years, 89 days

June 3, 2017
Edinson Vólquez
Miami Marlins
7002104000000000000♠104 days

April 15, 1987
Juan Nieves
Milwaukee Brewers
7004111110000000000♠30 years, 153 days

May 3, 2011
Francisco Liriano
Minnesota Twins
7003232700000000000♠6 years, 135 days

June 1, 2012
Johan Santana
New York Mets
7003193200000000000♠5 years, 106 days

July 18, 1999
David Cone
New York Yankees
7003663400000000000♠18 years, 59 days

May 9, 2010
Dallas Braden
Oakland Athletics
7003268600000000000♠7 years, 129 days

July 25, 2015
Cole Hamels
Philadelphia Phillies
7002783000000000000♠2 years, 52 days

July 12, 1997
Francisco Córdova (9 IP)
Ricardo Rincón (1 IP)
Pittsburgh Pirates
7003737000000000000♠20 years, 65 days

n/a
n/a
San Diego Padres
7004176930000000000♠48 years, 161 days

June 9, 2015
Chris Heston
San Francisco Giants
7002829000000000000♠2 years, 98 days

August 12, 2015
Hisashi Iwakuma
Seattle Mariners
7002765000000000000♠2 years, 34 days

September 3, 2001
Bud Smith
St. Louis Cardinals
7003585600000000000♠16 years, 12 days

July 26, 2010
Matt Garza
Tampa Bay Rays
7003260800000000000♠7 years, 51 days

July 28, 1994
Kenny Rogers
Texas Rangers
7003845000000000000♠23 years, 49 days

September 2, 1990
Dave Stieb
Toronto Blue Jays
7003987500000000000♠27 years, 13 days

October 3, 2015
Max Scherzer
Washington Nationals
7002713000000000000♠1 year, 347 days

tag: table

text: Avoiding no-hitters[edit]

text: All modern-era MLB teams have experienced at least two no-hitters pitched against them. The record for the longest period of time without being no-hit is held by the Chicago Cubs, who succeeded in getting at least one hit in every game since Sandy Koufax's perfect game against them on September 9, 1965, until they were no-hit by Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies on July 25, 2015, a period of 7004182150000000000♠49 years, 318 days (7951 games – including 31 Post Season games). The second-longest streak without having an official no-hitter pitched against them is held by the New York Yankees, who had a gap of 7004163340000000000♠44 years, 263 days between nine-inning no-hitters from September 21, 1958 to June 10, 2003. However, during this time, the Yankees team hitting streak ended in a rain-shortened official game on July 12, 1990,[29] after 7004116170000000000♠31 years, 294 days. The St. Louis Cardinals have the second-longest team hitting streak in MLB history: May 12, 1919 to May 14, 1960, a period of 7004149790000000000♠41 years, 3 days. Among AL teams, the Kansas City Royals have the longest team hitting streak: May 15, 1973 to May 19, 2008, a period of 7004127880000000000♠35 years, 4 days.

text: The longest current streak is held by the Oakland Athletics at 7003937300000000000♠25 years, 241 days (4103 games, including 44 postseason games) as of March 11, 2017. They were last held hitless on July 13, 1991, when four Baltimore Orioles pitchers combined to shut down the A's offense.

text: No-hitters and ballparks[edit]

text: Forbes Field, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates from the middle of the 1909 season until the middle of the 1970 season, is the only long-term major league ballpark where a no-hitter was never thrown during its existence. There are several recently built fields where no-hitters have not yet been thrown. Five parks presently in existence for a decade or more have only seen one no-hitter each: the Orioles' current home, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, known for being hitter friendly (Hideo Nomo on April 4, 2001); Coors Field, the hitter-friendly home of the Colorado Rockies (Nomo on September 17, 1996); Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, which initially was known as a pitcher's park but was modified with shorter fences in 2013 (Tim Lincecum on July 13, 2013); PNC Park, the current home of the Pirates, which like Forbes Field is known for being hitter-friendly (Homer Bailey on September 28, 2012); and Minute Maid Park, the home of the Houston Astros which is known for the short Crawford Boxes in left and for its deep outfield in center (Mike Fiers on August 21, 2015).

text: International competition[edit]

text: In the 2006 World Baseball Classic, Shairon Martis pitched a no-hitter for the Netherlands against Panama, however it was only seven innings due to the mercy rule.

text: Superstitions[edit]

text: One of the most common baseball superstitions is that it is bad luck to mention a no-hitter in progress, especially to the pitcher and in particular by their teammates (who sometimes even go so far as to not even be near the pitcher).[30] Some sportscasters observe this taboo while others have no reservations about mentioning no-hitters before completion. When Sandy Koufax pitched his no-hitter against the Mets in 1962, one of their 120 losses that season, Mets' coach Solly Hemus, apparently trying to jinx Koufax, kept heckling him through the game about pitching a no-hitter, according to a post-game interview Koufax gave after pitching his third no-hitter in 1964. An early biography of Koufax quoted him as telling his catcher, during that 1964 no-hitter, "Let's just go to the fastball and get this no-hit thing over with." Mickey Mantle, in an interview for Ken Burns' 1994 Baseball documentary series, related that Don Larsen, famed for his 1956 World Series perfect game, tried to talk about his no-hitter throughout the contest but much to his chagrin his Yankee teammates avoided his conversation and maintained the superstition.

text: When Los Angeles Angels rookie Bo Belinsky entered the final inning of his no-hitter in 1962, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Jackie Brandt passed him on the field as the teams changed sides. According to Belinsky biographer Maury Allen, Brandt told Belinsky, "Nice game, Bo, but it's over. I'm leading off with a bunt single." Belinsky got Brandt out to start the final inning of his no-hitter.

text: In 2009, when Mark Buehrle was pitching his perfect game, as he exited the field after the eighth inning, White Sox broadcaster Ken Harrelson exclaimed, "Call your sons! Call your daughters! Call your friends! Call your neighbors! Mark Buehrle has a perfect game going into the ninth!" Buehrle retired the side in the ninth to complete the perfect game.

text: When Jim Bunning was pitching his perfect game in 1964, he deliberately violated this superstition, talking to his teammates about the perfect game's progress in order to dispel the tension in the dugout.[31]