From Deadspin, Aug. 5, 2006: “A caller to Yankee announcer Michael Kay’s radio show took Kay to task for mentioning Chien-Ming Wang’s in-progress perfect game during a broadcast.

According to the caller, it’s against ‘baseball etiquette’ to do such a thing, but Kay vehemently disagrees. So vehemently, in fact, that the conversation then moves on to American slavery, putting ‘people in the ovens.’ And then he calls someone else stupid and infantile.”

In lieu of actual baseball, I’ll be posting snippets that were cut from The Baseball Codes as a way of amusing myself and, hopefully, you. Today’s theme: Talking during a no-hitter.

In the fifth inning of Shawn Estes’ would-be no-hitter with the Mets in 2002, the Shea Stadium scoreboard informed the crowd that Estes had pitched four career no-hitters in high school.

That was all it took. Shortly thereafter, Milwaukee’s Eric Young singled to center. “They’re not supposed to do that, are they?” asked Estes after the game.

In lieu of actual baseball, I’ll be posting snippets that were cut from The Baseball Codes as a way of amusing myself and, hopefully, you. Today’s theme: Talking during a no-hitter.

During Bob Gibson’s no-hitter in 1971, nobody in the St. Louis dugout said a word about it. However, second baseman Ted Sizemore, with a rare start in left field that night, mentioned that he’d had a similarly rare start in left while playing with the Dodgers a season earlier.

As it happened, Bill Singer tossed a no-hitter in that one.

In lieu of actual baseball, I’ll be posting snippets that were cut from The Baseball Codes as a way of amusing myself and, hopefully, you. Today’s theme: Talking during a no-hitter.

Bert Blyleven: “When I pitched my no-hitter in Anaheim, it was about the seventh inning and I hadn’t given up a hit yet. I was sitting there between the seventh and eighth inning, near my catcher, Jim Sundberg.

“I looked over at the scoreboard and said, ‘Jimmy, you know we got a no-hitter going?’ He just got up and walked away. Wouldn’t even talk to me. I don’t know why. I thought it was kind of funny. It kind of relaxed me a little bit, but it made Jimmy very nervous.

“I thought I had friends on a team until I got to a situation like that. I had numerous no-hitters that went into the sixth, seventh, eighth inning, and yeah—they leave you pretty much alone. But you know it. That’s just the way it is.”

In lieu of actual baseball, I’ll be posting snippets that were cut from The Baseball Codes as a way of amusing myself and, hopefully, you. Today’s theme: Talking during a no-hitter.

On the final day of the 1975 season, four A’s pitchers combined for a no-hitter. Rollie Fingers, the last of them, was tasked with pitching the final two innings.

Before the closer entered, his roommate, friend and consistent antagonist Ken Holtzman said to him, “Fingers, you’re going to blow it!”

Fingers, nonplussed, bet him a dinner that he was wrong.

After Fingers set down the side in order in the eighth without allowing a ball out of the infield, he asked whether Holtzman might like to raise the ante.

“No,” said Holtzman, “let’s just stick with this.”

In lieu of actual baseball, I’ll be posting snippets that were cut from The Baseball Codes as a way of amusing myself and, hopefully, you. Today’s theme: Talking during a no-hitter.

When Cincinnati Reds pitcher Ken Hunt was in the middle of shutting down the Cubs in 1961, his teammate, Jim Brosnan, mentioned something about it on the bench. That was all it took. Moments later, Chicago got its first hit of the game.

“You had to open your big mouth, Broz!” shouted backup catcher Bob Schmidt.

“That’s all right, Broz,” said utilityman Pete Whisenant, sitting nearby. “[Pitcher Jim] O’Toole said it, too.”

In lieu of actual baseball, I’ll be posting snippets that were cut from The Baseball Codes as a way of amusing myself and, hopefully, you. Today’s theme: Talking during a no-hitter.

After Johnny Vander Meer threw back-to-back no-hitters in 1938, his next start was against the Boston Bees. After he went three innings without giving up a hit, Bees manager tried to mix things up by shifting from coaching third base to coaching first. En route between innings, he passed in front of Vander Meer on the mound and said, “John, we’re not trying to beat you, we’re just trying to get a base hit.” It was enough. Two batters later, Boston third baseman Debs Garms bounced a ball straight up the middle for a clean single.

In lieu of actual baseball, I’ll be posting snippets that were cut from The Baseball Codes as a way of amusing myself and, hopefully, you. Today’s theme: Talking during a no-hitter.

When Doc Ellis threw his famous LSD-induced no-hitter in 1970, he began to talk about it in the third inning. Emboldened, Pirates second baseman Dave Cash took to reminding him about it through virtually every inning. “You got a no-no,” he’d chime. “You got a no-no.” With the cornucopia of chemicals running through his brain, Ellis barely noticed. “I didn’t care,” he said later. “What the hell.”