September 29, 1983: Oakland’s Mike Warren caps first major-league season by no-hitting White Sox

Oakland A’s pitcher Mike Warren showed great promise in his major-league debut season in 1983. The 22-year-old won his last four starts of the season, highlighted by a no-hitter against the American League West Division champion Chicago White Sox on September 29 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. His performance put him on the path to become a member of the A’s starting rotation the next season, despite his relative inexperience. As it turned out, though, the no-hitter was the gem of his major-league career that lasted only parts of two more seasons.

Warren was originally signed by the Detroit Tigers out of Fullerton Union High School in the Los Angeles area, after being drafted in the 12th round in June 1979. Released by the Tigers after posting a 6.08 ERA in the low minors in 1980, he got his career back on track after signing with Oakland in April 1981. The Milwaukee Brewers selected Warren in the Rule 5 draft in December 1981 but traded him back to the A’s in May 1982. He ended up with a combined 19-4 record with Class A teams in the Brewers and A’s organizations.

In 1983 Warren was called up by the A’s in June, after going 6-2 with Double-A Albany. He made his debut as a reliever in the first game of a doubleheader on June 12. After two ineffective relief appearances with the A’s, Warren was sent to Triple-A Tacoma for two months. When he returned to the majors in August, he was inserted into the starting rotation. The A’s pitching staff had been decimated by injuries, and Warren joined six other rookie replacements.1

With only 21 games above Class A under his belt, the right-hander recorded his first major-league win in a start against the New York Yankees on August 23. At the end of the month, the A’s were in third place behind the White Sox, although 11½ games separated them. By mid-September, Warren seemed to find his groove. He collected three straight wins, including two complete-game outings, one of which was a 10-inning contest.

By September 28 the A’s had fallen to fourth place, 24 games out of first. Warren was one of the few bright spots on their pitching staff, having been credited with three of only six A’s wins so far in the month. In the Thursday night rubber game of a three-game series with the White Sox, manager Steve Boros called on Warren for his ninth start of the season.

Lefty Britt Burns (10-10) drew the starting assignment for the White Sox. The White Sox had clinched the division – and their first postseason berth since 1959 – on September 17 and led the second-place Kansas City Royals by 19 games. While White Sox manager Tony La Russa had the luxury of resting his regulars, he put his best hitters on the field that night, including Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines, Greg Luzinski, Ron Kittle, and Tom Paciorek.

The A’s wasted no time putting up the game’s first run in the bottom of the first. Rickey Henderson, who had already established himself as one of the premier basestealers in the majors, following up his record-setting 130-steal season of 1982 with 107 stolen bases in ’83, got things started with a single.2 He moved to second on a weak groundball by Rick Peters that catcher Fisk threw to first for the out. Davey Lopes followed with a double to left field that scored the speedy Henderson.3

Warren silenced White Sox bats through the first three innings, facing only nine batters. In the third he walked Scott Fletcher, whom catcher Mike Heath threw out attempting to steal second base.

Henderson led off the bottom of the third with a walk. Burns picked off Henderson, who was caught in a rundown and tagged out.4 One out later, Burns gave up Lopes’s second double. Designated hitter Jeff Burroughs slammed his 10th home run, his first in over a month, to increase the A’s lead to 3-0.

In the fourth Warren again retired the top of the White Sox order, on three fly balls. In the next inning he gave up his second walk of the game, to Paciorek, who was stranded there. Warren kept his hitless streak intact during the sixth.

The A’s threatened to score in the bottom of the sixth, as Heath doubled with two outs. After an intentional walk to Bill Almon, Tony Phillips ended the inning on a groundout.

Warren struck out Fisk for the second time to start the seventh. He then retired Baines and Luzinski on fly outs. Warren said after the game, “I started thinking about [a no-hitter] after I got Fisk out in the seventh.”5

Meanwhile, Burns had settled in after the first three innings. He allowed only one more hit, the double to Heath, over the next four innings.

In the eighth inning Warren retired Paciorek on a fly ball and Kittle on a groundout. Pinch-hitter Mike Squires followed with Chicago’s best chance to break up the no-hitter, when his drive was caught by Mike Davis on the warning track in right field. After the game, Warren said, “I thought Squires’ ball was gone.”6

Burns pitched around a potential scoring threat by the A’s in the bottom half of the inning. Davis was hit by a pitch but was caught stealing. Burroughs recorded his second hit of the night, but Burns ended the inning on a groundout by Heath.

Warren began the ninth, with the home crowd of 9,058 in attendance anxious to witness the first A’s no-hitter since 1975.7 Feeling the anxiety of the moment, Warren sprinted halfway to the mound to begin his warm-up. Jerry Hairston, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Fletcher, led off the inning and drew a walk.

After the game, Hairston said it occurred to him that he could break up his second no-hitter of the season. He had previously spoiled Milt Wilcox’s perfect game for Detroit on April 15 when he got a hit with two outs in the ninth. Hairston said, “That passed through my mind, that I could be the one to do it again.”8

In place of September call-up second baseman Tim Hulett, pinch-hitter Greg Walker flied out to Rick Peters in center field. Warren struck out Rudy Law and completed the no-hitter on Fisk’s fly out, hauled in by Henderson in left with a trademark snatch catch against his thigh.

Warren faced only 29 batters, issuing three walks and striking out five, for his fifth win of the season. He threw 112 pitches and went to three balls seven times.9 His no-hitter was the first by a rookie since Jim Bibby of the Cleveland Indians blanked the A’s on July 30, 1973.10 Warren’s gem came in only his ninth start. Through the 2024 season, only nine other pitchers accomplished their no-hitter in fewer than nine starts in the Modern Era (since 1901).11

Warren reflected on the win: “I am kind of shocked, will be for months. I really wanted it – it’s a dream come true. I wanted to finish the season on a strong note, but I certainly wasn’t thinking about a no-hitter.”12

Yet he may have had a premonition about his no-hit outing. A friend called him before the game asking for tickets. Warren said his friend remarked, “You could always throw a no-hitter or something to make it interesting.”13

Manager Boros was high on Warren’s performance, citing him as an example of the type of players Oakland was bringing to the club in a youth movement. He said, “This sends a signal to our fans that this is our future. Most of the good things that have happened to us in a frustrating year have involved young players. It’s appropriate this achievement was pulled off by a youngster.”14

After the game, White Sox owner Eddie Einhorn visited Warren in the clubhouse to offer his congratulations. Einhorn said, “I hope we win [the World Series] so you can say you no-hit the World Champions.”15

As of the end of the 2024 season, Warren was one of four major leaguers from his high school – along with Hall of Famer Walter Johnson, Steve Busby, and Michael Lorenzen – to throw a no-hitter.16

Based on his performance in 1983, Warren began the 1984 season in the A’s starting rotation. However, the rest of Warren’s major-league career didn’t turn out as expected by the A’s. After going 3-6 through May, he was relegated to the A’s bullpen and also spent time in Tacoma. His results weren’t any better in 1985. In 40 major-league games spread over 1984 and 1985, he posted a 4-10 record and 5.50 ERA in both starting and relief roles.

Warren injured his elbow in 1986 while pitching for Omaha in the Kansas City Royals organization. He ended up having two elbow surgeries that year, including an ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction – Tommy John surgery – with Dr. Frank Jobe. Warren made two comeback attempts with independent Reno Silver Sox before ending his career in 1989 at age 28.17

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK198309290.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1983/B09290OAK1983.htm

Photo credit: Mike Warren, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Another Former Tiger Beats Tacoma,” Tacoma (Washington) News Tribune, August 12, 1983: C1.

2 Henderson led the AL in stolen bases for the fourth straight year in 1983, including three seasons with 100 or more.

3 After a 10-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lopes had been acquired by the A’s in 1982.

4 In addition to leading the AL with 108 steals, he was also tops in the league in being caught 19 times.

5 Nick Peters, “Warren No-Hits White Sox,” Oakland Tribune, September 30, 1983: F-1.

6 “Warren No-Hits White Sox.”

7 Warren was the first A’s pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad, and Rollie Fingers combined to blank the California Angels on September 28, 1975.

8 Mike Kelly, “Walk Stops Hairston’s Spoiler Role,” Chicago Tribune, October 1, 1983: 2, 2.

9 Joe Goddard, “Sox Are No-Hit By A’s Warren,” Chicago Sun-Times, September 30, 1983: 120.

10 Peters, “Warren No-Hits White Sox.”

11 Andrew Simon, “MLB Rookies to Throw No-Hitters,” MLB.com, May 9, 2023, https://www.mlb.com/news/rookie-no-hitter-c265861336. From May 10, 2023, through the 2024 season, only one other pitcher threw his no-hitter in fewer than nine games (Ronel Blanco, 4/1/2024).

12 Peters, “Warren No-Hits White Sox.”

13 David Bush, “No-Hitter for A’s Mike Warren,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 30, 1983: 82.

14 Peters, “Warren No-Hits White Sox.”

15 Kelly, “Walk Stops Hairston’s Spoiler Role.” The White Sox ended up losing to the eventual World Series champion Baltimore Orioles in the AL Championship Series.

16 In addition to Warren, four other major-league pitchers emerged from Fullerton Union High School in California: Johnson, Busby, Lorenzen, and Bob Ross. Remarkably, all of them except Ross pitched no-hitters. Johnson threw a no-hitter for the AL’s Washington Nationals on July 1, 1920, against the Boston Red Sox. Busby was also a rookie when he threw his no-hitter for the Royals against the Tigers on April 27, 1973. Pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies, Lorenzen no-hit the National League’s Washington Nationals on August 9, 2023. Ross appeared in 17 major-league games in the 1950s.

17 Steve Sheddon, “Warren Hopes Reno Stint Is Step Toward Big Leagues,” Reno Gazette-Journal, April 9, 1989: 2B.