The Mills - Hooton Connection.

 So what do Alec Mills and Burt Hooton have in common?

No hitters!

Mills threw his on September 13, 2020 while Hooton's was recorded on April 16, 1972.  There are some similarities between the two.  

• Both were tossed in abbreviated seasons.  The 1972 seasons was cut short by a players strike while covid wiped out a big chunk of the 2020 season.  
• Both pitchers were relatively inexperienced.  Mills was making his 15th career MLB start while Hooton was just his fourth.  
• Not many people witnessed either no-no in person.  The attendance at Wrigley on a cold wet April Sunday in 1972 was just 9,583.  Mills was thrown in front of an empty house in Milwaukee.

And by getting the Hooton autograph, I now have a signed card from every Cub pitcher that has thrown a complete game no-hitter in my lifetime (I was born in November, 1961).  There have been eight complete game no hitters since my birth, thrown by six pitchers.

Ken Holtzman threw two no-hitters.

The first was on August 19, 1969, at Wrigley Field against the Braves.  His second came two years later, on June 3, 1971, as he held the Reds hitless at Riverfront Stadium

Hooton's was next in April, 1972.

Milt Pappas was nearly perfect just five months after Hooton.  

He retired 27 of 28 Padres at Wrigley Field on September 2, 1972.  I had seen four Cubs no-hitters since really becoming a fan in 1969.  I thought they were a pretty common thing.

They weren't!  The next Cubs no-hitter wouldn't come for another 36 years!

Carlos Zambrano accomplished the feat on September 14, 2008.

His was unusual as it was in Milwaukee, but against the Astros. The game was moved out of Houston because of Hurricane Ike.  The Astros were not happy because Miller was wasn't a neutral site.  At the time it was often referred to as Wrigley Field North.

The wait until the next Cubs no-no wasn't 36 years, it was just seven.  Jake Arrieta did it on a Sunday night in Los Angles.

The Dodgers went hitless against Big Jake on August 30, 2015.

Just ten starts later, Arrieta did the trick again as the Cubs walloped the Reds 16-0 on April 21, 2016.

Alec Mills tossed his five years later.

In 2021 four Cubs pitchers combined to no-hit the Dodgers.  I'm on the fence with what to do about that one.  Right now I'm ignoring it.  Some day I have to decide to continue to ignore it, get an autograph of the starter Zach Davies, or get signatures of all four pitchers.