5 greatest calls of Howie Rose's Mets broadcasting career

2. Howie Rose said to put Johan Santana’s no-hitter, the first in New York Mets history, on June 1, 2012, in the history books.

Howie Rose knows the history of the New York Mets from his back pocket, dating back to the losing years in the 1960s, when he grew up in Queens as a die-hard Mets fan. So naturally, their game against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 1, 2012, was like any other baseball game going into it.

The Mets were surprising people amidst year two rebuild, Carlos Beltran returned to New York as a visiting player for the first time since leaving the Mets, and Santana throwing a complete game shutout in his prior start.

But nobody thought Mets history would unfold that night, as the Mets finally no-hit the opposition in the 8,020th game of their existence, and it was Johan Santana who did it, a year removed from major shoulder surgery that kept him out of baseball the year prior. And this how Howie Rose reacted to Santana’s 134th and final pitch of the night. “Put it in the books, in the history books.”

Rose managed to avoid saying the words “no-hitter” during the event and said once about Santana's no-no that he felt “really dirty and slimy,” though he said he’s not a no-hitter jinx.

Gary Cohen said after calling the no-hitter himself on SNY that the first thought in his mind was to hear Howie Rose’s description of the history-making night that nobody thought would ever come, even Cohen and Rose themselves thought the same thing.