Have you ever seen an MLB no-hitter in person? (If not, how close have you come?)

Have you ever seen an MLB no-hitter in person? (Or if not, how close have you come?)

  • Yes - I've seen more than one in person.

    Votes: 8 6.7%
  • Yes - I've seen one in person.

    Votes: 34 28.6%
  • No - closest I've come is one that was broken up in the 9th inning.

    Votes: 15 12.6%
  • No - closest I've come is one that was broken up in the 8th inning.

    Votes: 12 10.1%
  • No - closest I've come is one that was broken up in the 7th inning.

    Votes: 6 5.0%
  • No - closest I've come is one that was broken up in the 6th inning.

    Votes: 6 5.0%
  • No - closest I've come is one that was broken up in the 5th inning.

    Votes: 5 4.2%
  • No - not even close.

    Votes: 18 15.1%
  • No - but I can't remember how close I've come to seeing one.

    Votes: 13 10.9%
  • Er, I've never been to an MLB game in person, so...

    Votes: 2 1.7%

  • Total voters
    119

bankshot1

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Feb 12, 2003
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I was in Milwaukee on biz in '97 and took in a twi-nighter double-header and saw the Brewers then a NL team play the BJs and as luck had it Clemens was pitching for Toronto. He was brilliant, going 8 innings 1-run 4 hits striking out 10, but the Brewers Steve Woodward was stellar, outpitching the 7-time CYA winner, K'ing 12 and winning 1-0. Woodward gave up a lead off double to Otis "My man" Nixon, and nothing but a walk after that.

In the night cap I saw the Brewers turns a 5-4-3 triple play, for my only in person triple-play.

With the beer and brats and really friendly fans, it was a pretty awesome night of baseball.
 

ledsox

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Nov 14, 2005
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I was at the Hideo Nomo gem on April 4, 2001 in Baltimore. The friend I was with began the no-no watch in the second inning. Started as a joke, turned into a fantastic hardball memory.
I was at the Nomo no-no also. In the third inning I decided I would not move from my seat right behind home plate in front of the press box. Worked out well. My brother was with me. What a play by Mark Langston to save it.
 

Blue Monkey

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Closest I've seen was game 1 2013 ALCS. Don't remember the pitcher but the Sox finally got a hit in the 9th with 1 out I think
 

charlieoscar

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Sep 28, 2014
1,339
I was at a perfect game...spring training Mar 14, 2000, Pedro Martinez and five other Red Sox pitchers beat the Twins:
PEDRO MARTINEZ: 3 innings, 6 strikeouts, 3 popouts
FERNANDO DE LA CRUZ: 2 innings, 1 strikeout, 3 popouts, one groundout
DAN SMITH: 1 inning, 1 strikeout, 2 popouts
RHEAL CORMIER: 2 popouts, 1 groundout
RICH GARCES: 1 strikeout, 1 popout, 1 groundout
ROD BECK: 2 strikeouts, 1 popout

I think I was about the only fan in attendance who was aware that it was a perfect game. I heard a couple of no-hitters on the radio when I was a kid and have seen a few on tv and I had tickets to Jose Jimenez with the Cardinals no-hitting the Diamondbacks in 1999 but had to cancel the trip to the SABR convention because of a family emergency.
 

Pandemonium67

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Apr 17, 2003
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Worth mentioning about Pedro's 1-hit gem at the Toilet: After the 4th inning, I don't think the wanks put a single ball in fair play. There were a few foul outs and all the rest were Ks. Magnifico.
 

cgori

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Oct 2, 2004
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I saw Manaea and the A's no-hit the Sox earlier this year, the first no-no I've ever seen in person. That game seems like it is in another universe now, much less the same season.
 

Spelunker

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Jul 17, 2005
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Outfield seats for that game too. A whole bunch of ground outs is all I remember - too far away to appreciate the weak contact...
Section 113 for me, so a great view of how feeble the swings were. I've rarely hugged so many strangers.

But Pedro's 17k Yankees game is the best pitching performance I've ever seen, and maybe the best seats I've ever had: one row back just right of the visitor dugout. I'm still annoyed about that game.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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Jul 12, 2005
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Closest I've seen was game 1 2013 ALCS. Don't remember the pitcher but the Sox finally got a hit in the 9th with 1 out I think
I was in the bleachers for this one. I remembered Anibal Sanchez started, K’d 12 in 6 innings, then the bullpen did work until Nava got a hit with one out in the 9th.
 

Soxfan in Fla

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Jul 30, 2001
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The only notable games I've seen in person were such for reasons other than pitching: Sammy Sosa's three three-run home runs in consecutive ABs in Denver, and a multi-brawl Red Sox game in that warehouse in St. Petersburg when they threw at (IIRC) Ortiz and maybe Manny.
I was at the near no-no brawl in St. Pete. It was Daubach they kept throwing at.
 

Carbo Loading

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Dec 8, 2002
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I’ve never attended a no hitter. The best pitched game I’ve been to was Pedro vs the Braves 6/4/99. He struck out 16, the only run he gave up was a HR by Ryan Klesko. His game score was 91. I’ve never been to a game where the crowd was so electric.
 

Green (Tongued) Monster

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I was in attendance when Wilson Alvarez no-hit the Dwight Evans led Orioles in August of 1991 in his 2nd major league start. In his first start (2 years prior!) he faced 5 batters (3 hits, 2 walks, 2 HR's) before being pulled.
 

charlieoscar

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Sep 28, 2014
1,339
The wife worked in DC and would occasionally take an afternoon off to go to an afternoon Nationals game. She got hooked up with a small group of other women who did the same. After retirement, we moved north. One day she got a message from one of the group telling her that they had arranged a Seniors Stroll the Bases Day. So she said, "Sign me up," and made airline reservations. That turned out to be the day that Max Scherzer's 2-and-2 pitch to Pittsburgh's Jose Tabata with two out in the top of the 9th hit him in the elbow and ended up changing a perfect game into a no-hitter. There are those who say Tabata moved his elbow into the pitch and blame the umpire for not calling it.
 

Puffy

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I was at the Hideo Nomo gem on April 4, 2001 in Baltimore. The friend I was with began the no-no watch in the second inning. Started as a joke, turned into a fantastic hardball memory.
I was also at the Hideo Nomo no-hitter in Baltimore. I was sitting with a bunch of O's fans and getting ribbed a bit for my Red Sox cap. This was, I think, a bit before Camden reached its peak of Red Sox fans a few years later, so while there were plenty of Sox fans, it was by no means a majority. I had been sick the week before and was actually nursing laryngitis. I almost didn't go and, once I got there, I realized I wouldn't be able to use my voice cheer. This became a big issue later in the game, obviously. I was using sign language to try to explain to some of my laypeople friends the significance of what was happening.

The fun part of this experience was feeling the crowd of O's fans start to turn from rooting against Nomo and the Red Sox to the point in the ninth inning when they started to cheer for Nomo (I think Lansing's incredible catch with 1 out in the ninth finally won everyone over).
 

Jordu

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Apr 30, 2003
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I’ve never attended a no hitter. The best pitched game I’ve been to was Pedro vs the Braves 6/4/99. He struck out 16, the only run he gave up was a HR by Ryan Klesko. His game score was 91. I’ve never been to a game where the crowd was so electric.
I remember more from that game than I remember from the no-hitters. You’re right — it was nine electric innings.
 

dbn

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Feb 10, 2007
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I was at the near no-no brawl in St. Pete. It was Daubach they kept throwing at.
My fault for being off-topic since it was nothing close to a no-no, but I was referring to this game. Jay Payton grand slam after replacing the ejected Trot Nixon, Manny getting thrown at then homering on the next pitch, fights and ejections all around.

Heh, looking at the box score just now I see that Julio Lugo, Carl Crawford, and Nick Green all started that game (for the Devil Rays).
 

Lowrielicious

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Apr 19, 2011
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A few mates of mine were on a trip to USA from Australia in July 1999.
Saturday 17th they went to Yankee Stadium for Braves/Yankees, then went out to sample the NY nightlife.
They had tickets for the day game the next day but were all too hungover to get out of bed.
So they watched David Cone throw a perfect game from the TV in the hotel room instead.
 

Leskanic's Thread

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Jul 16, 2005
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Like others in here, I was at Lester's no-no with my then-girlfriend. She was never a huge baseball fan and always preferred people watching at Fenway, but she caught on around the 6th (an inning or so after I did, but I couldn't say anything) and she locked in. We were in the right field bleachers, where some fratty college dudes switched up their usual routine around the same time and started trying to get everyone to do the wave when the Sox were batting, and sat down to watch when the Royals were up. Again, to reiterate what others have said, seeing Lester finish it and the crowd erupting was amazing -- and then the embrace with Francona while the applause thundered down was moving.

Being at that game was a wonderful confluence of events for me: it was the Monday after graduation weekend of the college where I was working. One of the higher-up administration people who was on-duty the whole weekend had a 10-game plan (or some comparable portion of a divvied-up season ticket package), which included tickets for that night. After a long weekend of 15+ hour days and an unforgiving forecast temperature-wise, he wanted no part of the game. I wasn't that close to him, so the fact he asked me if I wanted the tickets means at least a dozen people had turned him down. Didn't even want money for them; just wanted them used so the seats weren't empty.

Thing is, this same guy, with the same ticket plan, had also been too tired (or something) and given away tickets the previous September...when Buccholz threw his no-hitter. He had spent the off-season bringing it up and lamenting how stupid he had been. So, of course, come Tuesday morning, he walks past my part of the office and, without being able to look me in the eye, just says "I don't want to even hear about it!" I approached him a couple days later to try to give him face value for the tickets, but he wasn't having it. I guess he considered it the cost of his new hairshirt.

(And if we are still talking other rare baseball events witnessed in person, I took a road trip up to Montreal in 2003. Which, if it was in season, meant that an Expos game was in order. This was when they were a dead team walking, which meant the fans who came out were dedicated but mostly depressed; and since they played the Mets that night, there were a decent number of (fairly obnoxious) visiting team fans present. But of course tickets were easily available, so my buddy and I could walk up to the window and get cheap tickets; I was in the right field bleachers that night too. And we were about ten rows back from where the ball landed when Vlad Guerrero capped off his cycle with an opposite field home run. The crowd was small, but the cheering filled that dumb old stadium.)
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Apr 12, 2001
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I've never seen a no-hitter and want to very badly.

The closest that I've come was in June of 1995 when Tim Wakefield first came to the Sox and was unworldly. He had the Athletics no-hit through eight, before giving up a single to Stan Javier.

Game log here.
 

Cumberland Blues

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Sep 9, 2001
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I saw a combined no-hitter in the NY-Penn league a few years ago - I kept score and after the game my son got the 3 pitchers and catcher to sign the scorecard. Never been close to one in the show - I think the closest I've got to a no-no at an MLB game was this game where Arrojo took a no-hitter into the 7th at Sky Dome.
 

Section30

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I saw Bob Welch throw a one-hitter against Atlanta in 1980. A weak single in the fourth subsequently retired on a double play and Welch faced the minimum 27 batters.
 

JohntheBaptist

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Saw Pedro take a no-hitter into the 7th inning against the Astros at Shea in June of 2005, broken up by a Chris Burke HR to left. Had seats way better than I'm used to at a MLB game and it was really feeling like he was going to take it home, too.

His final line: CG, 2 H, ER, BB, 12 K, 110 pitches
 

bellowthecat

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Closest I came to seeing a no-no was game 1 of the 2013 ALCS. Sanchez and friends kept the Sox off the board until Nava hit a 1 out single in the 9th.

Then I went to game 2 and saw Scherzer no-hit the Sox for 5.2 innings. As my existential crisis grew I began to wonder why I had spent so much money on tickets just to see the Red Sox get wrecked in such a brutal fashion. But thanks to one David Ortiz and a timely error by Iglesias in the 9th the Red Sox made everything more than worthwhile.
 

bosox1903

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Jul 18, 2001
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I was at the Hideo Nomo gem on April 4, 2001 in Baltimore. The friend I was with began the no-no watch in the second inning. Started as a joke, turned into a fantastic hardball memory.
I was at that game too. I always thought it was bizarre that Os fans fled the ballpark so by the end it was pretty much a Sox home game. It's a NO HITTER people!!!
 

Minneapolis Millers

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Jul 15, 2005
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I've never seen a no-hitter and want to very badly.

The closest that I've come was in June of 1995 when Tim Wakefield first came to the Sox and was unworldly. He had the Athletics no-hit through eight, before giving up a single to Stan Javier.

Game log here.
Wakes had two near no hitters in '95; I was at the other one, in Minneapolis, on July 9. He lost it in the 8th but still won a complete game shutout.

Boxscore:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN199507090.shtml
 

Sandwich Pick

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One day off.

As a partial STH, I had tickets to Game 2 of the 2010 NLDS between the Phillies and Reds. The day of Game 1, a bunch of tickets became available (I think the Reds returned their allotment) and I got 2. I wanted to go, but I sold them to a co-worker who really wanted them and had never been to a playoff game.

Turns out, I missed Roy Halladay's playoff no-hitter. Luckily, the guy who went was a longtime fan so he got a great memory out of it.
 

Humphrey

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6/19/70 - Sonny Siebert took a no-hitter into the 9th inning against the New York Yankees. He gave up 4 hits and 4 runs before Sparky Lyle finished off a 7-4 Sox win.
I went to that game too. Only game close to a no no I can remember being at.
Other notables in my "fan" career:
I saw the game Freddie Patek (of all people) hit three homers and came up once or twice after that. I think the Sox lost that game 20-2 or close to that.
I had tickets to the Clemens 20 strikeout game in 1986 and couldn't go because of an out-of-town business meeting.
And, at age 11, I was at Safety Patrol afternoon at Fenway when Al Luplow made his famous catch.
 

CoolPapaBellhorn

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I passed on tickets to Lester’s no-hitter at Fenway. That’s probably the closest that I’ve come.

I saw Lackey (pitching for LAAA) take one into the 9th at Fenway on 7/29/08 2008 (Pedroia broke it up).

I saw Paul Abbott take one into the 8th in 2000. I was with my Yankee fan friend for his first game at Fenway, and we both mocked the fans who were leaving early in the middle of a no-hitter. I don’t remember who broke this one up.

I also saw Danny Darwin take one into the 8th at Fenway in 1993. Dan Pasqua broke it up on a triple to CF that I still think Billy Hatcher should have caught.

I also saw Henry Owens take two bids pretty deep at McCoy in the last few years.

I’ve never seen a cycle or a triple play. I have seen a few in the park homers and two 3-HR games (Millar and Betts).
 

kefkafloyd

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Jul 14, 2005
116
Chelmsford, MA
I was at Felix Hernandez's perfecto at Safeco in 2012. My buddy and I were sitting in King's Court and we're visible on the video. He had the filthiest of stuff and several close calls on the field.

It was the best baseball thing to happen in 2012 in my book since we were knee deep in Bobby Valentine being a pile of garbage.

A 1-0 perfect game was the closest I've ever come to falling over in excitement in my life.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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I was at Jon Lester's no-no in 2008 against KC. A random Monday night game in May against a bad team. My law school had gotten a bunch of tickets for it and so for $25 for a ticket I went down to Boston from Portland that afternoon, met up with a buddy, and went to the game in the CF bleachers. By the 6th inning we knew we were seeing something really special.

The noise the crowd made when he got the final out was something I've never heard again. Just amazing.
 

TheoShmeo

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Sadly, I saw David Wells’ perfect game at the Toilet in person. I made the young parent mistake of bringing my 4-5 year old son, who fidgeted for most of the game and caused me many bathroom and food visits. Of course. But I was present, sort of.
 
Jul 5, 2018
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I saw Ed Haliki throw a no-hitter against the Mets at Candlestick Park in 1975. He was throwing change-ups at least 50% of the time.

I also saw Ken Holtzman get within out in Oakland against the Tigers. He got two quick strikes on Tom Veryzer, but Veryzer lunged and hit the next pitch with one hand on the bat and managed to hit it pretty hard. Similar to Curt Flood in the 68 WS, Billy North came in and a catchable flyball went over his head. After the game ended, North leaned against the centerfield wall with his head down for five minutes.
 

Morganwerk

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Jul 28, 2005
39
Closest I came was E-Rod's bid on September 4, 2016. He lost it with two outs in the eighth.

I had bought tickets back in winter 2007 for a September game later that year. Bought a house that summer and money was tight so we sold them on stub hub. Whoever bought them enjoyed Buchholz's no-no.
 

bryan1918

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Jul 14, 2005
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I was at the 3/15/00 Spring Training game where Pedro and a bunch of relievers threw a perfect game against the Blue Jays. Almost no one in the crowd even realized what was happening until after the game was over. Not a real game, obviously, but it was still cool to see.
 

SoxFanInCali

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Decided to study for a midterm instead of attending what was ultimately Nolan Ryan's 6th no-hitter in Oakland.

Was at Schilling's game against the A's when he was one out away and decided to shake off Varitek.

I went to the Friday night game in Oakland this year where the Sox came back and won on Moreland's grand slam. I decided to stay home the next day and missed Manaea's no-no against us.

A buddy of mine took his 4 year old to his first ever game a few years ago, and it ended up being Matt Cain's perfecto in SF. He got a certificate from the Giants to commemorate it.
 

Spacemans Bong

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Decided to study for a midterm instead of attending what was ultimately Nolan Ryan's 6th no-hitter in Oakland.

Was at Schilling's game against the A's when he was one out away and decided to shake off Varitek.

I went to the Friday night game in Oakland this year where the Sox came back and won on Moreland's grand slam. I decided to stay home the next day and missed Manaea's no-no against us.

A buddy of mine took his 4 year old to his first ever game a few years ago, and it ended up being Matt Cain's perfecto in SF. He got a certificate from the Giants to commemorate it.
What I remember about the Schilling game was it was damn hot in the Coliseum bowl, and this guy in front of us in a Millar jersey (!) who came about halfway through the 5th and spent most of the time talking to his girlfriend standing up in the bottom of the 9th. It seems insane but nobody, even Red Sox fans, on the 1st base side was standing. Too baked.

Politely asked the guy to sit down, and he says "What? For a no-hitter?" Shannon Stewart cranks a single about 20 seconds later. If looks could kill...
 

curly2

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Jul 8, 2003
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Closest I came was a miserable game at the Toilet when I was 10 where Rick Burleson led off the ninth with the first hit off Doyle Alexander.

I was in Fenway when Billy Hatcher stole home in 1994, so I did see something incredibly rare.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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Closest I've seen was game 1 2013 ALCS. Don't remember the pitcher but the Sox finally got a hit in the 9th with 1 out I think
I was on the Monster for this one (I chose it over Game 2...oops). I've never seen a stadium so ready to explode as Fenway was that night, but it just never came. If you think about it, with it being a 1-0 game, the tying or winning run was at the plate for 16 straight at-bats. So much pent up energy that didn't get released that night.

The first game I took my son to was Arrietta and the Cubs no-hitting the Sox into the 8th inning. That's a tough sell when you're trying to get a kid into baseball. They don't get the significance of what's happening, all they see is that nothing exciting is happening when their team is up.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/06/30/cubs-jake-arrieta-nearly-hits-red-sox/18VMNK9VA6QKXtX4E9poAP/story.html
 

Bowlerman9

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The first major league game I ever attended turned out to be Matt Young's unofficial no hitter in Cleveland. He threw 8 no hit innings and didnt get a chance to finish it off since the Indians didnt have to bat in the bottom of the 9th.
 

Ralphwiggum

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I was at Lester's game in 2008 along with a few others in this thread, I have the ticket stub framed and hanging in my office. I was with my buddy who was going through a divorce. He was miserable and commiserating to me the whole game about what he was going through. I was sympathetic but started getting distracted around the 6th inning or so when I thought we had a chance to see something special. He actually had no clue it was happening and asked if we could leave around about the 7th inning at which point I had to point out to him what was going on and that we couldn't leave.
 

Eric1984

my real name is Ben
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Jun 14, 2001
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Turned down my cousin's extra ticket to what turned out to be Derek Lowe's no-hitter. Midnight Oil was playing a free show that afternoon at the Hatch Shell, I'd always liked them but I've never seen them live before and I figured I wouldn't miss much vs. Tampa so why not catch the show instead? My uncle took the ticket and I'm glad he did. He was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's a couple years later while he was still in his fifties and he passed away a decade after that following a long, brutal decline. Means more to me that he got to see it while he still had some faculties than if I'd seen it. Even if Midnight Oil turned out to be a much more low-energy live band than I'd hoped for.
 

mt8thsw9th

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Jul 17, 2005
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Turned down my cousin's extra ticket to what turned out to be Derek Lowe's no-hitter. Midnight Oil was playing a free show that afternoon at the Hatch Shell, I'd always liked them but I've never seen them live before and I figured I wouldn't miss much vs. Tampa so why not catch the show instead? My uncle took the ticket and I'm glad he did. He was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's a couple years later while he was still in his fifties and he passed away a decade after that following a long, brutal decline. Means more to me that he got to see it while he still had some faculties than if I'd seen it. Even if Midnight Oil turned out to be a much more low-energy live band than I'd hoped for.
Here's the setlist if you want to relive it.

https://www.setlist.fm/festival/2002/earthfest-2002-73d6fe49.html