Good morning!
It was on this date in 1914 that White Sox pitcher Joe Benz threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Naps in a 6-1 win, the fifth no-hitter in White Sox history. Benz, a less-heralded pitcher of that era than the likes of Eddie Cicotte and company, never pitched a season of baseball with an ERA higher than 2.90 over the course of eight seasons and change. In fact, Benz is one of just six White Sox pitchers in franchise history to sport a career ERA below 2.50 while pitching at least 250 games: the others being Doc White, Jim Scott, Eddie Cicotte, Hoyt Wilhelm, and Ed Walsh. Pretty fine company to keep!
At any rate, today's Sporcle is actually two quizzes: one will test your knowledge of solo White Sox no-hitters of which there are 19; the other will ask you to name solo no-hitters across MLB generally dating back to 1990. That quiz has 91 answers. How many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- For hints, I've provided the date of the game and (for the White Sox-centric Sporcle) the opponent or (for all of MLB) the team the player pitched for.
- I've allotted 10 minutes for the White Sox Sporcle and 15 minutes for the MLB Sporcle.
- To reiterate, only solo no-hitters are included on both lists.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- Just one team has not been solo no-hit over the period of 1990-present: the New York Yankees. The last time they were no-hit was 1958 by Hoyt Wilhelm!
- Three teams tie for being victimized by a no-hitter the most: the Padres, Rays, and Blue Jays have each been no-hit six times since 1990.
- Three teams have not had a pitcher throw a solo no-hitter since 1990 (parentheses indicate the last year they did, and who the pitcher was): the Pirates (1976, John Candelaria), Cleveland (1981, Len Barker), and Milwaukee (1987, Juan Nieves).
Link to White Sox-only no-hitter
All data from stathead.com
