Looking back at every A's no-hitter

Between Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, and Dave Stewart, the A's have had plenty of memorable no-hitters over the years. In fact, A's pitchers have thrown 13 no-hitters, with eight of those coming since the team moved to Oakland in 1968.

Below is a look at every no-hitter thrown in A's history. Games are listed in chronological order, beginning with the most recent.

May 7, 2019: Mike FiersMike Fiers
A’s 2, Reds 0

Fiers had to wait to make history, thanks to a lighting malfunction at the Oakland Coliseum that caused a delay of one hour and 38 minutes before the game finally got underway at 8:45 p.m. PT.

Once Fiers got on the mound, though, the night was a relative breeze. He walked just two batters, struck out six, and mostly plowed through the Cincinnati lineup. There were just a few scares along the way. One of those came from Joey Votto, whose deep fly ball to center field in the sixth inning looked to be headed for a home run before Oakland’s Ramon Laureano made a spectacular catch to pull it back.

This wasn’t Fiers’ first rodeo. The 33-year-old, a nine-year MLB veteran, previously threw a no-hitter for the Astros, against the Dodgers, on Aug. 21, 2015. But this one happened to be the 300th no-no in big league history (including postseason). Fiers became the 35th pitcher to accomplish the feat multiple times in his career, as he whiffed Eugenio Suarez with a curveball in the dirt on his 131st pitch to end it.

April 21, 2018: Sean ManaeaSean Manaea
A's 3, Red Sox 0

Manaea was brilliant against a juggernaut Red Sox team that had entered the night on an eight-game winning streak with an offense that was topping the Major Leagues in team batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The lefty struck out 10, the third A's pitcher to do so in a no-hitter, and got Hanley Ramirez to ground out to short for the final out.

Entering the game, the Red Sox hadn't been no-hit in 3,987 games, which was the second-longest streak of any team at the time, behind Oakland's own streak, which reached 4,242 games after Manaea's gem. Not only that, the Red Sox came into the game 17-2 -- an .895 winning percentage -- the best record in MLB history for a team that was no-hit after playing at least five games in the season.

After the game, Manaea was interviewed on the field by none other than Dallas Braden -- who threw the A's last no-hitter, a perfect game eight years earlier.

"What is going through your head at the beginning of the 9th inning?" Braden asked.
"Oh man, my heart was beating out of my chest," Manaea responded.

May 9, 2010: Dallas Braden
A's 4, Rays 0 (Perfect Game)

Braden was perfect in Oakland on Mother's Day 2010, and that made this game all the more special. Braden's mother, Jodie Atwood, died of cancer when he was a teenager; his grandmother, Peggy Lindsey, raised him -- and she was in attendance to see him throw the 19th perfect game in Major League Baseball history, the crowning achievement of his career.

"The fact that I got to share it with my grandmother, only a few people appreciate the magnitude of that," Braden told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2014. "That was living the dream."

June 29, 1990: Dave Stewart
A's 4, Blue Jays 0

Stewart is one of the three A's pitchers to strike out double-digit batters in his no-hitter, fanning 12 Blue Jays in a masterful performance in front of 49,817 at Toronto's SkyDome. Like Manaea, Stewart was facing down a league-leading offense -- in fact, before Manaea's no-hitter against the Red Sox, Stewart's against the Blue Jays was the last time a pitcher no-hit the team that was leading the Majors in runs per game.

"By far, this is the highlight of my career," Stewart said afterwards. "I thought winning the World Series MVP last year was not going to be surpassed, but this I'll remember for the rest of my life."

Sept. 29, 1983: Mike Warren
A's 3, White Sox 0

Warren only played three Major League seasons, but he got his shining moment in the final days of the 1983 season. Making the final start of his rookie campaign, the 22-year-old right-hander stymied the White Sox at the Oakland Coliseum. The final out: Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk, who flew out to the A's own Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson, in left field.

Sept. 28, 1975: Combined
Vida Blue (5 IP), Glenn Abbott (1), Paul Lindblad (1), Rollie Fingers (2)
A's 5, Angels 0

Blue had thrown his own no-hitter for the A's five years earlier against the Twins, but this time he was part of a team effort. It was the final day of the regular season at the Oakland Coliseum, the A's had already clinched the American League West and were getting ready to face the Red Sox in the playoffs. Blue went five hitless innings in his final tuneup before giving way to the bullpen, which finished the job. The game was closed out, of course, by the Hall of Famer Fingers.

Sept. 21, 1970: Vida Blue
A's 6, Twins 0

Blue would eventually blossom into an All-Star, Cy Young winner and the A's ace, but he hadn't even pitched a full big league season when he threw his no-hitter in September of 1970. Blue was 21 years old and was making just his eighth Major League start when he no-hit Minnesota. He outdueled the Twins' Jim Perry, who would win the AL Cy Young that year.

May 8, 1968: Catfish Hunter
A's 4, Twins 0 (Perfect Game)

There were only 6,298 fans at the Oakland Coliseum on this Wednesday night in 1968, but they got to see perfection from an eventual Hall of Famer. A 22-year-old Hunter spun the A's first no-hitter since coming to Oakland -- it was only their 25th game since moving from Kansas City after the 1967 season. It was also their first perfect game as an MLB franchise and the first regular-season perfect game by an AL pitcher since Charlie Robertson's for the White Sox in 1922. Hunter struck out 11 in the game, including the final batter, Rich Reese.

"I wasn't real nervous," Hunter said. "But I was thinking a little about the no-hitter when I went to bat in the eighth."

PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS

Sept. 3, 1947: Bill McCahan
A's 3, Senators 0

The A's didn't throw any no-hitters in their 13 seasons in Kansas City. Before Hunter's first in Oakland, the most recent A's no-hitter was by McCahan while the team was still in Philadelphia in 1947. McCahan was a rookie when he no-hit the Senators at Shibe Park. (Interestingly, McCahan had also been on the losing end of a no-hitter only a few months before, when the Indians' Don Black no-hit the A's on July 10.) The right-hander only struck out two batters, but the second, Cecil Travis, was to end the game and finish off the no-hitter.

Sept. 9, 1945: Dick Fowler
A's 1, Browns 0

Fowler, who served in the Canadian military during World War II, had just returned to Major League Baseball in 1945 when he threw a no-hitter for the A's at Shibe Park. It was actually the 24-year-old's very first start back in the Majors. Fowler very nearly had to try to continue his no-hitter into extra innings -- the game was scoreless until the bottom of the ninth, when the A's finally came through for a walk-off win, clinching the no-hitter for Fowler. It was the team's first no-hitter in nearly 30 years.

Aug. 26, 1916: Bullet Joe Bush
A's 5, Indians 0

The A's first few no-hitters came all the way back in the dead-ball era. Bullet Joe Bush threw his at Shibe Park in August of 1916, beating Indians Hall of Famer Stan Coveleski in the process. Cleveland's lineup was led by franchise legend Tris Speaker, but Bush held the Hall of Famer to an 0-for-3 day and even struck Speaker out once, one of his seven strikeouts on the day.
When he finished the no-hitter, went the Washington Post's account of the game, "The crowd broke onto the field to congratulate Bush, and the latter was so excited that he pulled off his cap and joined in the cheering."

May 12, 1910: Chief Bender
A's 4, Naps 0

Bender, the future Hall of Famer who would help lead the A's to a World Series title in 1910, was matched up against a Nap Lajoie-led Cleveland club in this May game. At Shibe Park, Bender completely stifled the Naps' offense and faced the minimum 27 hitters, erasing the only baserunner he allowed on a caught stealing after a walk.

July 22, 1905: Weldon Henley
A's 6, Browns 0

The Athletics' first no-hitter after joining Major League Baseball as one of the AL's charter franchises in 1901 was thrown by Henley. The young right-hander, who pitched only four big league seasons, no-hit the Browns in the first game of a doubleheader in St. Louis.