No-Hitters, Perfect Games And The Meaning Of Life

Baseball is less about what happened than it is about who did it and why. Baseball, says commentator Alva Noë, really is a kind of study of responsibility. Johan Santana's and Matt Cain's recent pitching gems give us food for thought.

by Alva Noë

Mike Stobe/Getty Images Johan Santana (#57) of the New York Mets celebrates after pitching a no hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals at CitiField on June 1, 2012. The Mets defeated the Cardinals 8-0.

Two weeks ago Johan Santana threw a no-hitter for the New York Mets. It was his first. More remarkably, it was the first Mets no-hitter ever. Santana succeeded where Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Doc Gooden had failed. For baseball lovers, a no-hitter is a thing of beauty. For Mets fans like me, Santana's achievement is a cause for jubilation. And then this past Wednesday, Matt Cain, the San Francisco Giants pitcher who'd recently signed a huge multi-year contract, performed an even rarer feat. He pitched a perfect game. A perfect game is one in which, from the point of ...