Marlins Rookie Ended MLB’s Longest No-Hitter Drought 20 Years Ago

Aníbal Sánchez was making just his 13th MLB start when he accomplished something baseball had gone 6,364 games without seeing.

Anibal Sanchez pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning at Miller Park Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Before Aníbal Sánchez came along, baseball had apparently decided the no-hitter was a thing of the past.

The sport went 6,364 consecutive games without one after Randy Johnson’s perfect game in 2004. Two years later, on Sept. 6, 2006, the Marlins rookie finally ended the drought by blanking one of Johnson’s former teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was the longest gap between no-hitters, per the Elias Sports Bureau.

It was a 2-0 victory in which Sánchez needed only 103 pitches to finish the job and begin celebrating with his teammates. The rookie probably wished a few more fans had been around to share the moment.

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A banner with the loanDepot Park logo is seen before a baseball game between the Miami Marlins and the St. Louis Cardinals. Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

The announced attendance was 12,561, but contemporary reports estimated the actual crowd may have been roughly half that size. This was not simply a case of fans staying home because the team was hopeless, either. Florida finished 78-84 and ended the season just one game behind the Atlanta Braves for third place in the NL East.

So why the cold shoulder from fans? A recent roster teardown may have stripped away much of the goodwill the Marlins had built up. Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell were shipped to Boston in a blockbuster deal that brought Sánchez and Hanley Ramírez to Florida, while several other established players departed during the offseason.

This roster overhaul came less than a decade after a previous one. In 1997, the Marlins celebrated their first World Series championship before almost immediately dismantling the roster that won it. Moises Alou was traded only weeks after the title, with Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, Robb Nen, Devon White and several other prominent players eventually following him out of Florida. The defending champions collapsed to 54–108 in 1998, calling it a World Series hangover feels like an understatement.

Although it would be unfair to completely rag on the Marlins for the teardown, there was plenty of disappointment inside the organization as well. Former assistant general manager Frank Wren later told ESPN that, while watching a highlight film shortly after the championship parade, he found himself thinking, “He’s gone. He’s gone. He’s gone,” as player after player appeared on screen.

It almost feels like baseball’s equivalent of falling in love with someone, spending years together and then watching them leave just as you started thinking about the wedding. After seeing two rosters dismantled in less than a decade, Marlins fans had reason to wonder whether any player they grew attached to would eventually be shipped elsewhere once keeping him became too expensive.

Despite all of that roster turmoil, Sánchez was still able to pitch a gem as a rookie. Whether he did so in a packed ballpark full of tens of thousands of adoring fans or in front of a sparse crowd does not change that fact.