What did the world look like the last time the Cubs were no-hit?
What the world looked like when the Cubs were no-hit
The infinite monkey theorem states that if an infinite number of monkeys were given an infinite amount of time they would accidentally stumble upon the works of Shakespeare. Chances are, if someone had put a whole bunch of monkeys in a room together when the Cubs were last no-hit on Sept. 9, 1965, they would have at least produced one of Shakespeare's sonnets by now. Of course, that streak is no more after Cole Hamels no-hit the North Siders on Saturday afternoon, the first time in 7,291 games without having a zero in the hits column on the scoreboard. The current streak leader is now the Reds, who were last no-hit on June 23, 1971, by the Phillies' Rick Wise.
The man who last no-hit the Cubs was Sandy Koufax, who pitched a perfect game with 14 strikeouts. The lineup the Cubs fielded that day included two Hall of Famers: Ernie Banks and Ron Santo, who combined to go 0-for-6 with four strikeouts.
How did the world look then?
Well, some guy named Fowler was on the cover of Time Magazine. Sadly, it was not Cubs outfielder Dexter Fowler, but Henry H. Fowler, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury:
The Beatles' Help! was the top song on Billboard's Hot 100. (Which, presumably, was what the Cubs batters were yelling while facing Koufax.)
Morituri was the top-grossing film. Despite the movie starring Marlon Brando and Yul Brenner, I had never heard of it. Perhaps you hadn't either. Perhaps now you have.
The Colt 45s were renamed the Astros that year, and perhaps the most famous player who spent their entire career with Houston, Craig Biggio (who is also about to be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday), was born on Dec.14 that year. Just four days after the no-hitter, Willie Mays hit his 500th home run. 1965 was a year for baseball.
But perhaps strangest of all: Vin Scully called Koufax's perfecto and is still calling Dodgers games today. Some things never change.