Did an injury at the plate prevent David Weathers from throwing the first no-hitter in Marlins history?

Miami Marlins fans of all generations will recognize the last name, "Weathers."

Lefty Ryan Weathers emerged as a significant piece of their starting rotation in 2024 and expectations are high for him in 2025 once he gets healthy. As many are well aware, his father David Weathers also spent time with the organization.

The older Weathers was a member of the inaugural Florida Marlins club in 1993, making his season debut in July that year. Weathers would spend parts of the franchise's first four seasons with the Marlins before being dealt to the eventual World Series champion New York Yankees in 1996 for reliever Mark Hutton.

Weathers briefly made a return to the Marlins in 2004, appearing in eight games. Over portions of five total seasons with Florida, Weathers finished with a 17-22 record and 5.16 ERA—nothing to write home about.

Weathers spent 19 years in Major League Baseball with nine different teams and appeared in 964 games with most of his work coming as a middle reliever. One, however, can't help but wonder if Weathers' legacy in South Florida would be greater in if it wasn't for an unfortunate incident that took place in Cincinnati in June 1995.

As most diehard Marlins fans are well aware, Al Leiter threw the first no-hitter in franchise history against the Colorado Rockies at Joe Robbie Stadium in May 1996. One can only wonder if that distinction would have belonged to Weathers.

On June 25, 1995, Weathers had one of the finest outings of his career as the Marlins arrived at Riverfront Stadium to take on the Cincinnati Reds. Through five innings, Weather had a no-hitter going. The 6-foot-3 right-hander had surrendered just a pair of walks. Eric Anthony also reached base for the Reds on an error by Florida shortstop Kurt Abbott.

Offensively, the Marlins had chased Cincinnati starter José Rijo after just four innings, thanks in part to Weathers, who singled home Russ Morman in the fourth to give Florida a 4-0 lead. Morman would add a solo home run in the top of the sixth to push the Marlins' lead to 5-0. After Charles Johnson singled, Weathers came to the plate for the third time.

With a runner on first and one out, Weathers—as National League pitchers usually did at the time—squared to bunt. But on the first pitch of the at-bat, right-hander Tim Pugh's fastball came too far inside and caught Weathers' right hand. It was ruled a foul ball as it appeared to catch part of the bat. Weathers' hand, however, was covered in blood and his day was over.

Terry Mathews, a good hitting pitcher in his own right, came in as the replacement. Mathews had a nice day, but wasn't quite as good as Weathers at the dish or in the mound.

Mathews grounded into a double play to end the top of the sixth, but kept the hope for a combined no-hitter alive by working around a one-out walk in the bottom of the inning. On the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh, however, Reggie Sanders put Florida's no-hit bid to rest with a lead-off single.

Thomas Howard added a second hit in the eighth before Anthony broke up the shutout with a solo home run in the ninth. Despite being forced to leave the game, Weathers managed to pick up the win for his five shutout innings in the 5-1 Marlins victory. Mathews worked the final four innings to earn the save.

The unfortunate injury would send Weathers to the 15-day disabled list (now known as the injured list). He returned to action on July 14 in relief and allowed two runs on two hits in just a third of an inning. Ironically, in his return, Weathers was a member of the losing team that was no-hit by Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Ramón Martínez. Tommy Gregg drew a two-out walk in the eighth to give the Marlins their only baserunner of the night in a 7-0 loss. 

As for Weathers, we'll never know for sure whether or not he would have been able to keep the Reds out of the hit column for the final four innings in June 1995. Through five innings, he had been economical, expending just 54 pitches.

It should be noted, however, that Weathers never threw a complete game over his 69 career starts. With the universal designated hitter in effect, facing hard-throwing counterparts isn't something National League pitchers have to worry about anymore. 

Coincidentally, Cincinnati is a city that Weathers would call home for six of his 19 big-league seasons and a place where he appeared in more games and picked up more wins than anywhere else. Although the unfortunate turn of events nearly 30 years ago isn't widely remembered by baseball or Marlins fans, it is worth pondering whether Weathers' finest moment in Cincinnati should have come in a Florida uniform.