Dirk Lammers's Blog, page 19
January 26, 2020
Happy 86th birthday, Bob Uecker
Happy 86th birthday to “Mr. Baseball” Bob Uecker, who once played in a no-hitter.
Uecker was behind the plate for the opposing Atlanta Braves during Don Wilson’s Houston Astros no-hitter at the Astrodome in 1967. Uecker struck out and flied to left for the Braves in that June 17 game before being lifted for an eighth-inning pinch hitter.
I asked him about that game in 2015 while researching my book Baseball’s No-Hit Wonders, and he joked, “I did my part.”
January 23, 2020
No-hit birthdays for Nottebart, Donahue and Burke
Happy birthday to three no-hitter throwers — Don Nottebart, Frank “Red” Donahue and Bobby Burke.
Nottebart, born on this date in 1936, threw the first no-hitter in Houston Colt .45’s history during the franchise’s second season. At Colt Stadium, on Friday, May 17, 1963, Nottebart no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies for a 4-1 win. The Colts were the New York Mets’ expansion partner, yet it took the Mets an additional 49 years to get their first no-no.
The Philadelphia Phillies’ Frank “Red” Donahue was born on this date in 1873. He threw the franchise’s second no-hitter, though it was the team’s first under the moniker “Phillies.” Donahue no-hit the Boston Beaneaters on Friday, July 8, 1898 at Philly’s National League Park for a 5-0 win.
Born on this date in 1907 is Bobby Burke, who tossed a no-no for the Washington Senators. On Saturday, August 8, 1931 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.
January 22, 2020
Happy birthday to Rockies no-no thrower Ubaldo Jimenéz
Happy 36th birthday to Ubaldo Jimenéz, who tossed the only Colorado Rockies no-hitter in 2010.
Jiménez no-hit the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, April 17, 2010, at Turner Field, striking out seven and walking six.
Five years later to the day, Jiménez was ejected from a no-hitter in progress. On April 17, 2015, home plate umpire Jordan Baker tossed Jiménez after he hit Boston Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval on the back of the shoulder with a 90 mph fastball. Baker surmised that the fourth-inning pitch was retaliation for an incident earlier in the game.
In the second inning, Sandoval slid hard into second baseman Jonathan Schoop to break up a double play, but neither the Orioles nor the Red Sox were issued warnings. Orioles manager Buck Showalter was not happy with Jiménez’s ejection.
Orioles reliever Kevin Gausman finished out the inning, but lost the no-hit bid in the fifth inning on a Xander Bogaerts single. Gausman then gave up a game-tying Ryan Hanigan homer, and the Red Sox went on to win 3-2 on Bogaerts’ ninth-inning walk-off single.
Also celebrating a no-no birthday is Jim Jay Hughes, who threw a no-hitter for the National League’s Baltimore Orioles on April 22, 1898 against the Boston Beaneaters. It was thrown on the same day that the Cincinnati Reds’ Ted Breitenstein tossed a no-no against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati’s League Park — the first of just two same-day no-nos in major league history.
Feature image Let the celebration begin by André Natta licensed under CC BY 2.0.
January 17, 2020
Happy 76th birthday to Padres no-no killer Denny Doyle
Happy 76th birthday to Denny Doyle, one of a couple of players who kept the San Diego Padres from knocking the no-hitter task off the franchise’s bucket list in the club’s early days.
On Tuesday, July 18, 1972, at San Diego Stadium, the Padres’ Steve Arlin took a no-hitter into the ninth and got the inning’s first out. That brought up Doyle, the Philadelphia Phillies’ second baseman. Padres skipper Don Zimmer, looking to guard against a potential bunt, signaled third baseman Dave Roberts to step in, and Doyle singled over Roberts’ head for the first hit. Arlin balked Doyle to second, and Tom Hutton singled him home, but Arlin escaped with a 5-1 two-hit complete game.
January 16, 2020
Cuba’s Abreu throws 1st of back-to-back no-nos, 54 years ago today
Cuban National Series pitcher Aquino Abreu threw the first of his back-to-back no-hitters, 54 years ago today.
The Centrales right-hander duplicated Johnny Vander Meer’s feat 28 years after the Cincinnati Reds hurler no-hit the Boston Bees and Brooklyn Dodgers in back-to-back starts.
On Sunday, January 16, 1966, during the first game of doubleheader at Santa Clara’s Estadio Augusto César Sandino, Abreu no-hit the Occidentales for an 11-0 victory. In his next start eight days later at Havana’s Latin American Stadium, Abreu no-hit the Industriales for a 7-0 win.
Abreu’s feats mark the only back-to-back no-hitters in Cuban baseball history, and they are the first and second no-hitters in the history of the post-revolution Cuban National Series.
January 14, 2020
Happy 83rd birthday to Sonny Siebert, threw no-hitter for Indians in ’66
Happy 83rd birthday to Sonny Siebert, who threw a no-hitter for the Cleveland Indians in 1966 after promising the feat to his wife.
Carol Siebert had been ribbing her husband about his pitching struggles, so Sonny had a retort before the June 10, 1966, game against Washington: “I told her, ‘If you don’t get off my back, I’ll go out and pitch a no-hitter,'” he told AP sportswriter Murray Chass.
And the Columbia, Missouri-native made good on his promise. Siebert no-hit the Senators for a 2-0 win at Cleveland Stadium, just missing a perfect game by a walk and a Chico Salmon throwing error.
January 11, 2020
McIntire, threw 10 2/3 no-hit innings in 1906, born 141 years ago today
Harry McIntire, who threw 10⅔ innings of no-hit ball for the Brooklyn Superbas in 1906 before losing his no-no, was born 141 years ago today.
On Wednesday, August 1, 1906, at Brooklyn’s Washington Park, McIntire was no-hitting the Pittsburgh Pirates into the 11th inning, but his Brooklyn teammates couldn’t squeeze out a run. With two out in the top of the 11th, the Pirates’ Claude Ritchey singled to kill the no-hitter.
“Perhaps it was the shower that occurred with Ritchey at the bat at that interesting point which broke McIntire’s phenomenal streak,” noted the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. “At any rate, when play resumed, Ritchey laced a clean single to left, which had no other effect for the time being than to spoil a brilliant performance.
“Previous to that, it looked as if the Pirates could have batted against him for a week and never make any impression.”
McIntire, a righthander from Dayton, Ohio, got through the 11th and 12th with a one-hitter intact, but a trifecta of hits in the top of the 13th netted the Pirates a run. Bob Ganley led off with a single, Honus Wagner doubled and Nealon laced a hit to left to drive home Ganley. McIntire minimized the damage with a double play, and Wagner was thrown out while trying to steal home.
McIntire made one more effort to secure a win by leading off the bottom of the 13th, but his teammates left him stranded and the Pirates’ “Lefty” Leifield got the 1-0, 13-inning win.
January 2, 2020
RIP Don Larsen
Don Larsen, the only pitcher to toss a perfect game or no-hitter in MLB World Series history, died Wednesday at the age of 90.
On Monday, October 8, 1956, In Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, Larsen retired all 27 Brooklyn Dodgers batters he faced at Yankee Stadium for a 2-0 win. I had the privilege of interviewing Larsen for the “Postseason Perfection” chapter of my book Baseball’s No-Hit Wonders, and it is one of my all-time favorite interviews.
Larsen’s accomplishment was the first no-hitter in MLB postseason history. When I asked Larsen how he felt when Roy Halladay tossed a no-hitter in the 2010 NLDS (the second in MLB postseason history), he replied, “It didn’t bother me a bit. It was the playoffs. That wasn’t a World Series game, anyway.”
December 27, 2019
Jim Tobin, threw no-no for Boston Braves, born 107 years ago today
Jim Tobin, who threw a no-hitter for the Boston Braves in 1944, was born 107 years ago today.
The knuckleballer from Oakland no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers for a 2-0 win at Braves Field on Thursday, April 27, 1944. Tobin had a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning when he added an insurance run with his own home run.
Only four other major league pitchers have hit a home run while throwing a no-hitter: the Columbus Buckeyes’ Frank Mountain, the Cleveland Indians’ Wes Ferrell, the Boston Red Sox’s Earl Wilson and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Rick Wise, who hit two dingers during his no-no.
Tobin was no stranger to the home run. Just two years earlier, Tobin set a yet-to-be-duplicated mark by becoming the only pitcher to hit three home runs in game on Wednesday, May 13, 1942 — two off Chicago Cubs starter Jake Mooty and another off reliever Hi Bithorn.
December 21, 2019
Happy birthday Philip Humber, threw ’12 perfecto
Happy 37th birthday to Philip Humber, an ex-Met who threw a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox in 2012.
On Saturday, April 21, 2012, Humber retired all 27 Seattle Mariners he faced for a 4-0 win at Safeco Field. He struck out nine batters and completed the feat using just 96 pitches.
Humber’s perfecto handed NoNoHitters.com one of its earliest media mentions, this story from Bleacher Report which noted that Humber was the seventh pitcher to toss a no-no after leaving the New York Mets.
Humber pitched his final MLB game with the Houston Astros in September 2013 and retired in 2016.
