I do not know anything about the 4 pitchers that threw the no-hitters that Ray Schalk caught, since his feats were accomplished from 1914 to 1922. I do, however, know quite a bit about the 4 guys that threw the no-nos that Varitek caught.  Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buckholz, and Jon Lester…that is quite a mix of drastically different pitching styles.  And how about the last two coming from the two young phenoms of the organization.

Hell, when you look at Jason Varitek’s place in the pantheon of great catchers, you only need to read this one statement:

He caught two no-hitters by pitchers under the age of 25 in less than 9 months.

Well, there was a whole winter in there…how about this…he caught two no-hitters by pitchers under the age of 25 in 74 games.

That’s right — 2 no-hitters by very young pitchers in less than half a season…in Fenway Park.

Should we even talk about Schilling taking a no-hitter through 8 2/3 in Oakland last year until Shannon Stewart broke it up with a seeing-eye ground ball?  ‘Tek could have been all alone at the top of the record books…and he did his part, that’s for sure.  Schilling shook him off on the pitch that took his no-hitter away.  How perfect was it that a pitcher, who knows a fair bit about hitters,  lost a no-hitter with 2 outs in the 9th inning because he shook off a veteran catcher that knows more about hitters than any pitcher in history will ever know.  The fact that it was Schilling made it that much sweeter.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Schill for the bloody sock and everything he has meant to the Sox from Day One…but he is a self-promoting egomaniacal jerk, so it was just perfect that it happened the way it happened. He, and the Sox, got the win, and he has to think forever about what happened when he shook off Varitek…who, unlike Schilling, just laces up his spikes and works his ass off for nine innings and then takes a shower and goes home without trying to stick his face in as many cameras as possible.

I guess that’s why he’s the captain.