Dirk Lammers's Blog, page 10

60th anniversary of Burdette’s no-no

The Milwaukee Braves’ Lew Burdette no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies, 60 years ago today.

On Thursday, August 18, 1960, at Milwaukee County Stadium, Burdette faced the minimum 27 batters and allowed only one baserunner for a 1-0 no-hit win. He would have had a perfect game if he hadn’t hit Tony Gonzalez’s right shoulder with a slider in the fifth inning, but Gonzalez was retired on a double play.

“I was mixing up sliders, screwballs, curves and an occasional fastball,” Burdette told Associated Press sportswriter Ed Wilks. “The big thing was I was putting the ball where I wanted — hitting (catcher Del) Crandall’s target.”

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the eighth, when Burdette led off the inning with a double to left. Billy Bruton followed with a double to right, letting Burdette to score the game’s only run.

The post 60th anniversary of Burdette's no-no first appeared on Baseball no-hitters at NoNoHitters.com.

30th anniversary of Mulholland’s no-no, 8th anniversary of King Felix’s perfecto

Today’s is the 30th anniversary of Terry Mulholland’s no-hitter and the eighth anniversary of “King” Felix Hernandez’s perfect game.

Mulholland notched his no-no for the Philadelphia Phillies during a Wednesday, August 15, 1990, game at Veterans Stadium. The Phillies shut out the San Francisco Giants 6-0.

Hernandez threw a perfect game for the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday, August 15, 2012, at Safeco Field, retiring all 27 Tampa Bay Rays he faced. The M’s won 1-0.

Powell tosses no-no for Chicago American Giants, 93 years ago today

The Chicago American Giants’ “Wee” Willie Powell no-hit the Memphis Red Sox, 93 years ago today.

On Sunday, August 14, 1927, at Chicago’s Schorling Park, Powell mixed an assortment of “curves and drops” to no-hit Memphis, striking out seven, according to the Chicago Tribune. Powell allowed four base runners on three walks and an error by shortstop Pythias Russ.

Orioles’ Jim Palmer no-hits A’s, 51 years ago today

The Baltimore Orioles’ Jim Palmer no-hit the Oakland Athletics, 51 years ago today.

At Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, August 13, 1969, Palmer no-hit the Oakland Athletics for an 8-0 win. Palmer walked six batters while striking out eight to improve to 11-2 on the season. He finished the year with a 16-4 record and a 2.34 ERA.

Palmer won his Cy Young Awards in 1973, ’75 and ’76.

Talking no-hitters on MLB Central, 4 years ago today

Four years ago today, I got to chat about no-hitters with Fran Charles and Mark DeRosa on MLB Network’s MLB Central.

You can watch the clip below:

It was a lot of fun, and it was great meeting DeRosa, Charles, Lauren Shehadi and Preston Wilson. The most challenging part of the interview in the latter segment when both DeRosa and the producer (in my earpiece) reminded me at the same time that Carlos Beltran’s sixth-inning liner off Johan Santana over third base was fair on June 1, 2012. Hey, without the luxury of replay, it looked foul to me!

Cards’ Karger tosses 7-inning perfecto, 113 years ago today

The St. Louis Cardinals’ Ed Karger tossed a perfect game in a planned 7-inning nightcap of a Sunday doubleheader, 113 years ago today. And you won’t find it on the official list of 23 perfectos or 303 no-hitters, but you will find it here.

On August 11, 1907, at St. Louis’ Robison Field, Karger retired all 21 Boston Doves he faced as the Cardinals beat Boston 4-0. Karger struck out two and went 1-for-2 at the plate with a run scored.

Doves starter Gus Dorner was pulled with a no-hitter in tact after three innings for Jake Boultes, who yielded four runs on six hits, a walk and a hit batsman.

Karger’s accomplishment is particularly of interest this season, in that 7-inning doubleheaders are in play due to COVID-19.

Candelaria no-hits Dodgers in Pittsburgh (city’s first since 1915), 44 years ago today

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ John Candelaria threw the city of Pittsburgh’s first no-hitter since the old Federal League, 44 years ago today.

The 23-year-old southpaw dominated the Dodgers on Monday, August 9, 1976, using 101 pitches to no-hit Los Angeles for a 2-0 win at Three Rivers Stadium. Candelaria faced 30 batters, with two Dodgers reaching on errors and another reaching on a walk.

It was the first no-hitter in Pittsburgh since the Chicago Chi-Feds/Whales’ Claude Hendrix no-hit the Pittsburgh Rebels on Saturday, May 15, 1915 for a 10-0 win at Exposition Park.

Candelaria boasts another odd pitching accomplishment. He is the only pitcher to face just 27 batters in a game yet give up four hits. The oddity occurred on July 25, 1982, with Candelaria’s Pittsburgh Pirates facing the Atlanta Braves at Three Rivers.

Candelaria lost his no-hitter in the first inning on a one-out Rafael Ramirez single, but catcher Steve Nicosia threw him out on a steal attempt. Bob Horner led off the second inning with a single to right, but Rufino Linares grounded into a 6-3 double-play. Horner also led off the eighth with a single to right, but this time Linares grounded into a 4-6-3 double-play.

Glenn Hubbard got the game’s fourth hit in the ninth with a lead-off infield single, but Bruce Benedict cleared the bases with by hitting into a 6-4-3 double-play.

Senators’ Burke no-hits Red Sox, 89 years ago today

Bobby Burke tossed a no-hitter for the Washington Senators, 89 years ago today.

On Saturday, August 8, 1931, at home in front of about 5,000 fans at D.C.’s Griffith Stadium, Burke no-hit the Boston Red Sox for a 5-0 win. Burke struck out eight and walked five.

United Press noted that Burke was pitching under a bit of a disadvantage. A day earlier, he fell on the hot exhaust pipe of a motor boat while fishing and suffered a burn across his back.

Willis credited with no-hitting Senators, 121 years ago today

Wire services reports of this game recorded it as a no-hitter, though both the home and away newspaper accounts disagree.

Vic Willis is credited with throwing the second no-hitter for the Braves franchise 121 years ago today, although accounts in both the home and away newspapers recorded this game as a one-hitter.

Willis, pitching for the National League’s Boston Beaneaters at the Huntington Avenue Grounds on Monday, August 7, 1899, no-hit the Washington Senators for a 7-1 win, according to the official no-hitter list.

But The Washington Times had a different take, noting in its sub-headline: “Washington Secures Only One Little Scratch Hit of Willis.

“Dinneen made the only hit off him,” the paper said, “accomplishing this feat in the sixth inning, when he was the first man to bat.”

The Boston Globe agreed, and the headline on Globe sportswriter Tim Murnane’s story read “Only One Hit Off Willis in the Full Nine Innings,” although Murnane said the hit down the third base line was “was not worth the name.”

“The ball went along the ground from Dineen’s bat as harmless as a robin at play until (Jimmy) Collins reached for it, when it jumped to one side and was safe,” he wrote.

Box scores in both the Washington and Boston papers show one hit.

But the wire service accounts and box scores that spread across the nation show the game as a no-hitter, and that’s how it stands in the MLB record books. I wonder how that sits with Armando Galarraga.

RIP Horace Clarke, who broke up 3 9th-inning no-nos in ’70

Horace Clarke, who broke up three ninth-inning no-hitters during a span of less than a month during the 1970 season, died Wednesday at the age of 81.

The bespectacled second baseman hailing from the U.S. Virgin Islands played for the New York Yankees during the franchise’s least fruitful era, but his accomplishment during the summer of ’70 is unprecedented.

Clarke’s feat began at Yankee Stadium On June 4, 1970, when the Kansas City Royals’ Jim Rooker entered the bottom of the ninth nursing a 1-0 no-hit lead. Clarke led off the inning by cracking a clean single into left to kill Rooker’s no-no.

Fifteen days later against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Clarke kept Sonny Siebert from notching his second career no-hitter by drilling a 2-0 fastball into right field for a single.

Then, thirteen days after his second break-up, Clarke killed Joe Niekro’s best chance to beat his brother Phil Niekro into the record books. The Detroit Tigers knuckleballer was dominating the Yankees lineup on July 2, 1970, and opened the top of the ninth inning by getting Pete Ward to fly out. Clarke stepped up to the plate with one out and bounced a ball in the hole between first and second. Second baseman Dick McAullife made a nice stop, but his throw pulled the covering Niekro off the first-base bag.

Clarke still reigns as king of ninth-inning no-no breakups in the same season, but the Minnesota Twins’ Joe Mauer tied him for the career mark by breaking up three ninth-inning no-hitters over a six-year span.

At NoNoHitters.com, Clarke will always be remembered as king of ninth-inning breakup.