July 1, 1990. Old Comiskey Park, Chicago. Andy Hawkins took the mound for the last-place Yankees and did something no pitcher should ever have to endure: he threw a no-hitter and lost. Zero hits allowed through eight innings. Four runs scored against him -- all unearned, all the result of defensive breakdowns so catastrophic they looked choreographed. Final score: White Sox 4, Yankees 0. Hawkins walked off the mound having pitched one of the finest games of his career and carrying one of the worst losses imaginable. The 1990 Yankees, a team that couldn't do anything right, had found a way to lose even when their pitcher was perfect.
The Defensive Horror Show
The eighth inning was where everything fell apart -- though "fell apart" doesn't quite capture the scale of the disaster. With two outs and nobody on, Hawkins was three outs away from completing a no-hitter in a scoreless game. Then the defense decided to implode.
Sammy Sosa walked. Ozzie Guillen walked. Lance Johnson walked to load the bases. With the bases loaded and two outs, Robin Ventura hit a fly ball to left field that should've ended the inning. Instead, left fielder Jim Leyritz lost it. The ball dropped for a three-base error, scoring all three runners. Then Ivan Calderon hit a fly ball to right field. Jesse Barfield lost it in the sun. Another error. Another run. Four unearned runs. Zero hits. Hawkins had done his job flawlessly. His teammates had demolished it.
(Three errors in one inning on routine fly balls. It's the kind of defensive performance that makes you wonder if the outfielders were playing a different sport entirely.)
The Visiting Team Problem
Here's the cruel twist that compounded the absurdity: because the Yankees were the visiting team, the White Sox never batted in the ninth inning. The game ended after eight and a half innings with Chicago ahead 4-0. Hawkins had thrown eight innings of no-hit ball, but he'd never thrown nine -- and under the rules at the time, that still counted as a no-hitter.
Initially, MLB recognized the game as a no-hitter. Hawkins had thrown no-hit ball for the entirety of the game that was played. But the recognition felt hollow -- a no-hitter that resulted in a loss, achieved in fewer than nine innings because the visiting team's pitcher never got a ninth inning to pitch.
The Rule Change
On September 4, 1991, MLB's Committee for Statistical Accuracy changed the definition of a no-hitter to require a minimum of nine complete innings. The change was retroactive, and Hawkins's game was stripped of its no-hitter status. The committee's logic was sound -- a no-hitter should require a pitcher to complete a regulation game -- but the ruling added another layer of cruelty to Hawkins's day. He'd thrown no-hit ball, lost the game, and then lost the no-hitter too.
The rule change wasn't targeted specifically at Hawkins, but his game was the most prominent example of the problem the committee was trying to address. Other historical games were also reclassified. But Hawkins's loss -- zero hits, four runs, no recognition -- became the most frequently cited case of the rule's impact.
The Perfect Metaphor
The Hawkins no-hit loss is remembered less as a baseball oddity and more as a metaphor for the 1990 Yankees season. Everything about the game captured the franchise's dysfunction in miniature. The pitching was good enough. The defense wasn't. The effort was there. The results weren't. Even when an individual performed at the highest possible level, the organization around him found a way to ensure failure.
Don Mattingly was hitting .256 with a broken-down back. Steinbrenner would be banned from baseball 29 days later. Bucky Dent had been fired three weeks before the no-hitter. The Yankees were on pace for 95 losses. And in the middle of all of it, Andy Hawkins threw eight innings without allowing a hit and lost 4-0. If someone had written it as fiction, the editor would've sent it back for being too on the nose.
Hawkins's Career
The no-hit loss didn't define Hawkins's career, but it didn't help it either. He'd been a useful pitcher for the San Diego Padres before coming to New York, and his 15-15 record in 1989 had made him the de facto ace of a bad staff. In 1990, he went 5-12 with a 5.37 ERA for a team that provided almost no run support.
Hawkins pitched four more games for the Yankees in 1991 before his release, signed with Oakland that May, and was let go again in August before retiring. His career record of 84-91 doesn't suggest greatness, but it also doesn't account for the years he spent pitching for rosters that couldn't support him. The no-hit loss at Comiskey Park was the most extreme example of a pattern that plagued his entire Yankees tenure: good enough pitching wasted by a team that wasn't good enough at anything else.
| Date | July 1, 1990 |
| Location | Comiskey Park, Chicago |
| Final Score | White Sox 4, Yankees 0 |
| Hits Allowed | 0 |
| Earned Runs | 0 |
| Unearned Runs | 4 |
| Errors | 3 (Blowers, Leyritz, Barfield) |
| No-Hitter Status | Stripped by MLB in 1991 |
Eight Innings of No-Hit Ball
Hawkins retires the first 22 White Sox batters he faces, carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning.
The Eighth-Inning Collapse
Three walks load the bases with two outs. Errors by Leyritz and Barfield on routine fly balls allow four unearned runs to score.
Game Ends After 8.5 Innings
Because the Yankees are the visiting team and trail 4-0, the White Sox don't bat in the ninth. Hawkins's no-hitter goes in the books as a loss.
Rule Change
MLB's Committee for Statistical Accuracy redefines no-hitters to require nine complete innings. Hawkins's game is retroactively stripped of its no-hitter status.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Andy Hawkins really throw a no-hitter and lose?
Yes. On July 1, 1990, Hawkins threw eight innings of no-hit ball against the White Sox at Comiskey Park but lost 4-0. Three defensive errors by teammates allowed four unearned runs to score. Because the Yankees were the visiting team, the game ended after eight and a half innings.
Is the Hawkins game still considered a no-hitter?
No. In September 1991, MLB changed the rules to require nine complete innings for an official no-hitter. Hawkins's game was retroactively stripped of its no-hitter designation because he only pitched eight innings as the visiting pitcher.
Who made the errors that cost Hawkins the game?
Three Yankees committed errors in the eighth inning: third baseman Mike Blowers, left fielder Jim Leyritz (who lost a fly ball), and right fielder Jesse Barfield (who lost a fly ball in the sun). All four runs that scored were unearned.