Top 50 Moments in Angel Stadium History #26 – #30

#30 Mark Langston and Mike Witt combine for a no-hitter. April 11, 1990

In the winter of 1989, the California Angels spent 16 million dollars on a free agent left-hander Mark Langston. On April 11th after an abbreviated Spring Training due to a player lockout, the Angels took the field against the Seattle Mariners.  Langston had formerly pitched for the Mariners for five plus years and the Montreal Expos for two-thirds of a season.

Langston started strong retiring the first nine batters.  He only had one scare throughout his time on the mound when Edgar Martinez hit a deep fly ball that was caught on the warning track.  Langston walked four batters and struck out three in seven innings, but the big deal was that he did not allow a hit in those seven innings..

However, Angels manager Doug Rader did not let Langston go out for the eighth inning as most pitchers were being limited early in the season due to the short Spring Training.  Rader was booed loudly by the 25,632 fans in attendance who wanted to see Langston continue with the no-hitter still intact.  However, Rader did not want to risk the clubs 16 million dollar investment.  Earlier in the week Nolan Ryan had been taken out his start after five innings with his no-hitter still intact.

Rader replaced Langston with old reliable 6’9 Mike Witt who lost his starting role with the signing of Langston and other factors.  Witt was up for the challenge pitching two hitless innings to complete the masterpiece.  It was only the fourth no-hitter in the history of the Big “A”.  The final batter Witt faced was none other than Ken Griffey Jr. playing in rookie season for the Mariners.  Griffey struck out swinging to clinch the first Angels No-No since Witt himself threw the only perfect game in club history.

Langston did not have a very good first season as this would be his highlight.  Langston finished 10-17 with a 4.40 ERA.  He would end up pitching for eight seasons with the Angels finishing with an 88-74 record and a 3.97 ERA.  Langston is now an Angels announcer, but many fans will still remember him for one cold day in April of 1990.