Mariners tie record for most pitchers in a no-hitter

In fairness, most of those guys were either multiple 20-game winners or had other years when they won plenty. Not like they won 20 one year and dropped off the map, which was what I was comparing to.

It's sort of like another question I toss around with people: would you rather make the playoffs 10 straight years and never win a championship or win the championships of your league once and miss the playoffs for the next 10 years (see Carolina Hurricanes) I'll take the championship. To me, sports are about making the most of your golden moment, not sustained competency with no brass ring. (Thus, I cannot fault the Vikings for mortgaging the future on Brett Favre. They took a shot to win it all and came close, fell short.)

 

Well, there aren't too many of those guys, which kind of defeats your original point that a no-hitter gets you remembered longer. Winning 20 games in a season, for the most part, means you're a pretty good pitcher — thus, you'll probably get remembered longer.

But here's a new list — since WWII, fewest career wins for a pitcher who won 20 games in a season:

Code:

                                   
Rk             Player   W From   To
1         Ian Kennedy  36 2007 2012
2     Clayton Kershaw  52 2008 2012
3       Wayne Garland  55 1973 1981
4          Ron Bryant  57 1967 1975
5         Mike Norris  58 1975 1990
6         Steve Busby  70 1972 1980
7     Adam Wainwright  71 2005 2012
8    Dontrelle Willis  72 2003 2011
9         Ed Figueroa  80 1974 1981
10        Jim Colborn  83 1969 1978
11       Brandon Webb  87 2003 2009
12          Jose Lima  89 1994 2006
13       Rick Helling  93 1994 2006
14         Bill Swift  94 1985 1998
15      Teddy Higuera  94 1985 1994
16        LaMarr Hoyt  98 1979 1986
17        Randy Jones 100 1973 1982

Obviously, the active guys (Kennedy, Kershaw, Wainwright) still have plenty of time to get themselves off this list. Webb's only on this list because of devastating injuries, as are a few others.

But I'd still argue this list has more household names than a corresponding list of no-hitter authors who fell off the face of the earth afterward ... like Ed Halicki, Bob Moose, George Culver, Cliff Chambers, etc.