(This post originally appeared on Bus Leagues Baseball.com)
(This post isn't about the minors, sorry. But it is, of course, about baseball.)
The most recent issue of Baseball Digest had an interesting feature on cycles. A few things struck me by surprise:
* There have been more no-hitters in Major League history than cycles, 268 to 266. There were six no-hitters in 2010 and only four cycles. I wonder if anyone has a graphic representation of no-hitters versus cycles. Have they ever been more than 10 apart?
* People called 2010 "The Year of the Pitcher", yet there were four cycles. In 1968, the most famous "Year of the Pitcher", only one batter hit for the cycle, Jim Fregosi. Ironically, Fregosi is best known for being traded for Nolan Ryan, the author of a record seven no-hitters.
* There are only two teams who have never had a player hit for the cycle: the San Diego Padres and the Florida Marlins. There are only two teams who have never had a player throw a no-hitter: the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres.
* The baseball media usually makes a big deal of former New York Mets who eventually threw no-hitters (Seaver, Ryan, Cone, Gooden, etc.), but did you know four ex-Padres eventually hit for the cycle? Kevin McReynolds (SD 1983-1986); Gary Matthews, Jr (SD 1999); Mark Kotsay (SD 2001-2003); and Jody Gerut (SD 2009) all hit for the cycle after leaving San Diego.
* To date, only two ex-Marlins eventually hit for the cycle: Greg Colbrunn, who played for the Fish from 1994 to 1996 and again, Mark Kotsay, who manned the outfield for the Marlins from 1997 to 2000.
Lastly, looking up no-hitters and cycles, for some reason the MLB website lists them in different formats. No-hitters are listed chronologically and cycles by team. I wonder why. Aren't no-hitters more of a team effort than cycles? No teammate helps a player hit for the cycle, whereas eight other players help a pitcher attain a no-hitter.