millions around the globe. at his first tryout in worn out shoes and a borrowed glove, mariano threw nine fastballs. it was the only pitch he knew how to throw. after a few more tryouts, the yankees offered him a contract to play on their farm team, the gulf coast yankees. do you remember that, mariano? were they a good team? not bad, right? he got on an airplane and came back to america. few months later, in august 1990, mariano threw his first no hitter. that year he had an average era of .17. that doesn t mean 1. that means like 1/17 of 1. that s not a lot. how do you lose a game? i guess you score no runs, right? boy, oh boy. in 52 innings he had .17, which is unheard of, over 22 games.