Dirk Lammers's Blog, page 27
April 24, 2019
Mogridge throws first Yankees no-no, 102 years ago today
George Mogridge threw the New York Yankees’ first no-hitter, 102 years ago today.
On April 24, 1917, Mogridge walked three, struck out three and overcame three Yankees errors while holding the Boston Red Sox hitless for a 2-1 win in front of 3,219 fans at Fenway Park.
The Yankees had accomplished nine one-hitters during the team’s first 14 years in New York but no pitcher could complete a game with a 0 in the H column until Mogridge. The one-hitter pitchers were Bill Wolff, Jack Chesbro, Billy Hogg, Al Orth, Joe Doyle, Joe Lake, Louis Brockett, Jack Warhop and Russell Ford.
Also throwing a no-hitter on this date is the Frank Allen. On Saturday, April 24, 1915, pitching for the Federal League’s Pittsburgh Rebels, Allen no-hit the St. Louis Terriers for a 2-0 win at St. Louis’ Handland’s Park. It was the second of five no-hitters in the Federal League, a major circuit that folded after the 1915 season.
April 23, 2019
Padres no no-no count reaches 8,000
The San Diego Padres’ no no-hitters streak has reached 8,000 games, putting the franchise just 19 games shy of overtaking the Mets futility mark of 8,019.
Nick Margevicius gave up a second-inning single to the Seattle Mariners’ Dee Gordon to advance the count. Barring a no-no or rain out, the Padres would tie the Mets in Los Angeles on May 15 and surpass the mark on May 16 at Petco against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Mets’ no no-no count reached 8,000 games on May 11, 2012, when the Miami Marlins’ José Reyes led off the game with a triple off Johan Santana. Twenty-one days later, Santana no-hit the St. Louis Cardinals to end the Mets’ streak.
Here are all the Padres’ no no-no milestones:
1
April 8, 1969, San Diego Stadium (San Diego)
Dick Selma, a former New York Met selected by the Padres in the expansion draft, took the ball for the Padres’ franchise opener at San Diego Stadium but lost his no-hitter on the first batter when the Houston Astros’ Jesus Alou singled to right. Earlier that day, the Mets’ no no-hitters count reached 1,137 when Bob Bailey of the Montreal Expos tagged Tom Seaver for a first-inning RBI double.
Selma wound up pitching just four games for the Padres before he was traded to the Chicago Cubs on April 25 of that year for Joe Niekro, Gary Ross and Frankie Libran.
50
May 31, 1969, Parc Jarry (Montreal)
Joe Niekro, who became a knuckelballer later in his career, mostly threw fastballs and sliders when he was a Padre. On this day in Montreal against the Padres’ NL expansion partner, Niekro lost his no-no on the second batter when Manny Mota singled for the Padres’ 50th game without a no-hitter. San Diego would win the game 6-2.
The next year, as a Tiger, Niekro would take a no-hitter into the ninth against the New York Yankees but lose it on a Horace Clarke single. He never accomplished the rare feat, although his knuckleball brother Phil Niekro did in 1973.
100
July 25, 1969, Forbes Field (Pittsburgh)
Niekro also started the Padres’ 100th game, and he got the same result as the 50th when Carl Taylor, the Pirates’ second batter, singled. The Padres would win this game 3-2.
As mentioned above, Joe Niekro never got a no-hitter but brother Phil Niekro did. The pair lost the chance to become the first sibling no-no team, a feat accomplished by Bob and Ken Forsch in 1979.
500
April 30, 1972 (Game 1), San Diego Stadium (San Diego)
Not only would Padres starter Bill Greif lose the no-hitter on the lead-off batter in the Padres’ 500th game, but he would have to be lifted in the second inning after yielding six hits in what would be a 6-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. The culprit was shortstop Larry Bowa, who tagged Greif for a single.
Greif would go on to throw three two-hit complete games in his 1973 season with the Padres.
1,000
May 20, 1975, San Diego Stadium (San Diego)
St. Louis lead-off hitter Lou Brock began the Padres’ 1,000th game by tagging starter Alan Foster for a triple, in what would be a 4-hit, 2-run first-inning for the Cardinals. But Foster settled down and scattered just three more hits over the next eight innings to lead San Diego to a 5-2 victory. It was one of 21 complete game victories for Foster over his 10-year career. (He also had two complete game losses.)
2,000
August 19, 1981, Busch Stadium (St. Louis)
Juan Eichelberger, who would throw one of San Diego’s one-hitters in 1982, got the ball for Padres game No. 2,000 but lost the no-no in the first inning. St. Louis Cardinals first-baseman Keith Hernandez, the third batter, tagged Eichelberger for a single in a tough start that left him giving up four runs in 2 2/3 innings of work. The Cardinals would win 7-6.
2,500
August 28, 1984, Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia)
Andy Hawkins, who six years later would throw an unofficial 8-inning no-hitter for the New York Yankees resulting in a 4-0 loss, got the start in this contest. The Padres gave him a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and Hawkins retired the Philadelphia Phillies 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning before getting into trouble in the second. He lost his no-hitter when Al Oliver led off the second with a double, then gave up seven earned runs leading to his ouster. The Phillies topped the Padres 11-8.
3,000
September 16, 1987, Jack Murphy Stadium (San Diego)
Mark Grant, who was traded to the Padres by the San Francisco Giants in July 1987, started 17 games for San Diego during the season. He was especially effective this night, carrying a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves into the seventh inning. Unfortunately, Gerald Perry led off that inning with a single for the Padres’ 3,000th game with no no-no. Grant yielded just one more hit in a 3-0 complete-game win.
4,000
April 16, 1994, Busch Stadium (St. Louis)
Wally Whitehurst got the start in the San Diego Padres’ 4,000th regular season game, and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Gregg Jefferies ensured it would not be a no-hitter in the first inning. Whitehurst yielded seven hits in seven innings of work to earn the W in an 8-2 victory. Wally was an unlikely candidate for the Padres’ first no-no, as he previously played for the Mets and had a hits-per-nine-inning average of 9.7.
5,000
April 6, 2000, Shea Stadium (New York)
The Padres hit the 5,000 game mark in the team’s third game of the millennium, and two no no-hitter streaks continued thanks to this game. The New York Mets’ Derek Bell singled in the bottom of the second inning to make it 5,000 San Diego Padres games with no no-nos, and Eric Owens singled off Mike Hampton a half-inning earlier to advance the Mets’ no no-hitters count to 6,029 games.
6,000
May 7, 2006, Petco Park (San Diego)
Woody Williams lost the no-hitter in game No. 6,000 during his second stint with San Diego. Williams yielded an Aramis Ramirez single in the second inning to hit the mark, and the Chicago Cubs continued their streak of not being no-hit since Sept. 9, 1965. On that date, the Cubbies fell victim to Sandy Koufax’s perfect game – his Major League record fourth career no-hitter for a mark that would eventually be broken by Nolan Ryan (7 no-nos).
6,896
June 1, 2012, Petco Park (San Diego)
When Padres starter Clayton Richard gave up a second-inning single to Paul Goldshmidt in the San Diego’s 6,896th game on June 1, 2012, he probably had no idea of the significance.
Clear across the country in New York, Mets ace Johan Santana was working on no-hitting the St. Louis Cardinals for the club’s first no-no in 8,019 games of existence dating back to 1962. That left the Padres as Major League Baseball’s only team without a no-hitter.
7,000
September 29, 2012, Petco Park (San Diego)
Near the end of the same season that the Padres took sole position of no no-hitter infamy, the team reached the 7,000 game mark when Eric Stults gave up a Buster Posey single in the first inning of a game against the San Francscio Giants. The Padres wound up winning at Petco Park by a score of 8-3.
7,444
August 14, 2015, Coors Field (Denver)
The possibility of the first Padres no-hitter was zapped quickly on August 14, 2015, as the Colorado Rockies Nolan Arenado hit a first-inning homer off Padres starter Tyson Ross. But the Padres’ Matt Kemp also hit a first-inning home run, and he made club history in the team’s 7,444th game by following it up with a single, double and triple for the first ever Padres hit-for-the-cycle.
7,500
April 14, 2016, Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia)
This game featured strong starting pitching, with both the Phillies and the Padres yielding just three hits. But the Phillies came out on top, winning this game 3-0. Padres starter Drew Pomeranz allowed the count to reach 7,500 when he gave up a Ryan Howard second-inning homer.
7,857
May 14, 2018, Petco Park (San Diego)
When the Colorado Rockies’ Nolan Arenado singled in the first inning off Joey Lucchesi on the night of Monday, May 14, 2018, the Padres hit 7,857 regular-season games without a no-hitter, which is exactly 162 games shy of the Mets’ mark of 8,019 games, halted in 2012.
8,000
April 23, 2019, Petco Park (San Diego)
The Padres reached the 8,000 no no-hitter mark when Dee Gordon hit a first-inning single off Nick Nick Margevicius, putting the team just 19 games from the Mets mark halted in 2012.
Houston’s Johnson tosses 9-inning no-no and loses, 55 years ago today
The Houston Colt .45’s Ken Johnson threw a no-hitter and lost, 55 years ago today.
Johnson threw nine innings of no-hit ball at Colt Stadium on April 23, 1964, yet lost the game 1-0.
The Reds clawed for that run on a ninth-inning bunt attempt by Pete Rose in which Johnson threw the ball into the outfield (it apparently wasn’t taboo to bunt to break up a no-no back then). After Rose advanced to third on a ground out, Vada Pinson stepped to the plate and hit a routine two-out grounder to second that was booted by Nellie Fox, allowing Rose to score. The Colts had a chance to respond in the bottom of the ninth, but Reds starter Joe Nuxhall overcame a two-out error by third baseman Chico Ruiz to keep Houston off the scoreboard and secure his complete-game victory.
Johnson had to settle for a complete-game loss, albeit a no-hitter. And hey, Mets fans: Guess who was the catcher of Johnson’s no-no … Jerry Grote.
The game remains the only nine-inning no-hitter lost by a single pitcher. The Orioles tandem of Steve Barber (8⅔ inn.) and Stu Miller (⅓ inn.) duplicated the feat three years later, and there have been four instances in which a road team no-hit the home team yet lost, but those aren’t considered official no-hitters because the no-no pitcher or pitchers only had to throw 8 innings. That’s because when the home team leads after 8 1/2 innings, they’ve already won so they don’t have to bat in ninth.
April 22, 2019
The majors’ first same-day no-nos, 121 years ago today
The Cincinnati Reds’ Ted Breitenstein and the Baltimore Orioles’ Jim Jay Hughes threw no-hitters on the same day, 121 years ago today.
Ted Breitenstein, who pitched for the Cincinnati Reds, no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati’s League Park on Friday, April 22, 1898, for an 11-0 win. That same day, Jim Jay Hughes, of the National League Orioles, no-hit the Boston Beaneaters at Baltimore’s Union Park for an 8-0 victory.
Their combined feat wasn’t duplicated until June 29, 1990, when the Oakland Athletics’ Dave Stewart and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela threw same-day no-nos.
April 21, 2019
Expos’ Palmer tosses shortened perfecto, 35 years ago today
The Montreal Expos’ David Palmer threw a perfect game shortened by rain, 35 years ago today.
During the second game of a Busch Stadium doubleheader on Saturday, April 21, 1984, Palmer retired the first 15 St. Louis Cardinals he faced as a light rain started falling in the fourth and intensified by the fifth.
Opposing pitcher Bob Forsch gave up back-to-back singles to Terry Francona and Jim Wohlford in the top of the sixth before umpires cleared the field for a rain delay. Palmer put a rubber sleeve on his right arm in case he could return to the mound, according to the AP, but the crew called the game after 77 minutes.
Palmer’s accomplishment was considered official until September 1991, when the Committee for Statistical Accuracy, chaired by then MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent, changed the official definition of a no hitter, declaring it a game of nine innings or more that ends with no hits. The stringent definition eliminated 36 no-hitters from the books that were shortened by rain, darkness or other reasons, as well as two losing efforts by the away team in which the home team doesn’t bat in the bottom of the ninth.
Athletics’ Manaea no-hits Red Sox, a year ago today
The Oakland Athletics’ Sean Manaea no-hit the Boston Red Sox for the 297th no-hitter in MLB history, one year ago today.
On Saturday, April 21, 2018, at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Manaea struck out 10 and walked two en route to a 3-0 no-hit victory. Another Red Sox base runner reached base in the fifth inning on an error by A’s shortstop Marcus Semein, who failed to make an over-the-shoulder snag of a fly ball that could have easily been called a hit. Manaea had assumed it was ruled a hit, so he didn’t realize his no-hitter was still intact until the eighth inning.
Manaea was the beneficiary of another generous call in the sixth inning on what appeared to be an infield single by Andrew Benintendi, whose roundabout head-first slide into first avoided a tag by first baseman Matt Olson. The umpires huddled up and ruled that Benintendi left the baseline and they called him out.
Also on this date, the Chicago Cubs’ Jake Arrieta no-hit the Cincinnati Reds three years ago today.Arrieta walked four and struck out six on April 21, 2016, as the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 16-0 at Great American Ballpark. It was Arrieta’s second no-hitter, with his last coming just eight months earlier on Sunday, August 30, 2015, when he no-hit the Dodgers for a 2-0 win at Dodger Stadium.
And seven years ago today, on Saturday, April 21, 2012, the Chicago White Sox’s Philip Humber threw a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field for a 4-0 win. Humber struck out nine batters and completed the feat using just 96 pitches.
West Baden’s Goodgame no-hits French Lick, 108 years ago today
The West Baden Sprudels’ John Goodgame threw a Negro Leagues no-hitter against the French Lick Plutos, 108 years ago today.
On Friday, April 21, 1911, Goodgame no-hit the French Lick in West Baden, Indiana, for a 3-0 win. The website Agate Type: Reconstructing Negro League & Latin Baseball History dug up a short Indianapolis Freeman write-up about the game, showing that Goodgame, a new recruit out of Talladega College, struck out 11 and walked just one.
Goodgame also pitched for the Chicago Giants in 1917, according to James Riley’s The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues,
April 20, 2019
Joss tosses 2nd no-no, 109 years ago today
The Cleveland Naps’ (Indians’) Addie Joss threw the second of his two no-hitters, both against the Chicago White Sox, 109 years ago today.
On Wednesday, April 20, 1910, Joss no-hit the Sox for a 1-0 victory at South Side Park.
It was his second no-no against Chicago. On Friday, October 2, 1908, Joss threw a perfect game against the White Sox at home at League Park.
With the pair of gems, Joss became the first person to throw two no-hitters against the same team. The San Francisco Giants’ Tim Lincecum duplicated the feat in 2013 and 2014, no-hitting the San Diego Padres in each.
Padres’ Ross falls 4 outs short of no-no, 1 year ago today
The San Diego Padres came within four outs of the team’s first-ever no-hitter, one year ago today.
On April 20, 2018, Tyson Ross had been no-hitting the Arizona Diamondbacks through 7⅔ innings before pinch hitter Christian Walker hit a deep fly ball to center. Franchy Cordero misread the ball off the bat, then took a few steps in before backtracking and letting it hit the grass behind him for the game’s first hit, an RBI double that tied the game at 1.
That was it for Ross, who hit 127 pitches, striking out 10 and walking three. Closer Brad Hand came in got the last out of the eighth inning, then, after the Padres scored three runs in the top of the ninth, Hand struck out the side in the bottom half of the inning to secure the 4-1 win.
With Walker’s hit, the Padres’ no no-hitters count hit 7,835 games.
April 19, 2019
Amole no-hits Tigers on Opening Day, 119 years ago today
The Buffalo Bisons’ “Doc” Amole threw an Opening Day no-hitter in the inaugural game of the newly rebranded American League, 119 years ago today, but the new circuit wasn’t yet considered part of the major leagues.
The American League in 1900 was a renamed version of the Western League, a minor circuit that formed in the Midwest in 1885. On April 19, 1900, at Detroit’s Bennett Park, Amole held the Detroit Tigers hitless while leading the Bisons to an 8-0 victory in the league’s first game of the season. Amole struck out six, walked two and hit two batsmen.
News of the no-hitter “warmed the cockles of the hearts of every true Buffalonian,” according to the Buffalo Enquirer.
“One could hardly squeeze through the bunches of humanity as score after score came in with an “0” down to the Detroits, their pleasure knew no restraint,” the paper noted. “It was nothing, however, to the shout that went up when the same figure was put down in the “hit column” of the Michiganders after the game had closed.
After the 1900 season, the American League rebranded itself as a major league and replaced the Bisons with the Boston Americans (Red Sox). The Bisons returned to the minor Eastern League for the 1901 season and have remained a minor-league team ever since.
Prior to joining Buffalo, Morris George “Doc” Amole pitched in 18 major-league games with the National League’s Baltimore Orioles (’97) and Washington Senators (’98), posting a 4-10 record with a 4.75 ERA.