May 17th and no no hitter yet?

[frankbmd]

So if I am reading this thread correctly, only no-hitters in the American League after the institution of the DH in 1973 are valid.

Therefore Sandy Koufax has zero career no-hitters.

Nolan Ryan had a combination of AL no-hitters and NL almost no-hitters.

I'm not sure if any HOF pitchers have mention of no-hitters on their plaque in Cooperstown, but if so, inserting the word "almost" on their plaque could be problematic. Would an asterisk (a la Maris) be sufficient?

And what about poor Johnny Vandermeer. Would his double no-hitter be wiped off the books completely or would it be considered an "almost" double no-hitter.

In summation, I would be willing to bet that not one of the proponents of the DH rule change for the American League realized that their proposal would invalidate all prior no-hitters.

I say "long live the Almost No-Hitter".

For clarity of the linguistics involved, I would propose a different term for no-hitters broken up in the late innings, and would suggest calling these "Nearly No-Nos".