Dirk Lammers's Blog, page 47

Jones becomes 1st African-American to throw MLB no-no, 63 years ago today

"Toothpick" Sam Jones became the first African-American to throw a Major League Baseball no-hitter, 63 years ago today.

Jones, pitching for the Chicago Cubs on May 12, 1955, no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates for a 4-0 win at Wrigley Field. He completed an accomplishment that likely would have been preceded by such Negro Leagues greats as Dick "Cannonball" Redding, "Bullet" Joe Rogan, Leon Day and Satchel Paige had baseball integrated earlier.

Also throwing no-hitters on this date are Charles "Chief" Bender, Carl Erskine and A.J. Burnett.

Bender, a starter for the Philadelphia Athletics, threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Naps at Shibe Park on Thursday, May 12, 1910. Erskine tossed his second Brooklyn Dodgers no-hitter, a 3-0 win over the New York Giants, on Saturday, May 12, 1956 at Ebbets Field. Burnett, a Florida Marlins pitcher, no-hit the San Diego Padres at Qualcomm Stadium on Saturday, May 12, 2001 for a 3-0 win.

Photo from National Baseball Hall of Fame, used in “Baseball’s No-Hit Wonders.”

No-nos on this date for Leiter, Koufax and Eller

The Cincinnati Reds’ Horace “Hod” Eller Marlins’ the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax and the Florida Marlins’ Al Leiter threw no-hitters on this date.

Eller, a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, no-hit the St. Louis Cardinals at Redland Field 99 years ago today.

Koufax, who threw four no-hitters with the Los Angeles Dodgers, tossed his second no-no against the San Francisco Giants 55 years ago today in 1963.

Twenty-two years ago today, on Saturday, May 11, 1996, Leiter tossed the Florida Marlins’ first no-hitter. The New Jersey native no-hit the Colorado Rockies for an 11-0 win at Joe Robbie Stadium.

Expos’ Lea no-hits Giants, 37 years ago today

The Montreal Expos’ Charlie Lea threw a no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants, 37 years ago today.

On May 10, 1981, during the second game of a Sunday doubleheader, Lea walked four and struck out eight as the Expos beat the Giants 4-0 at Olympic Stadium. It was the Expos’ third no-hitter, with Bill Stoneman throwing one in the Expos franchise’s ninth game in 1969 and following it up in 1972.

105_0516.JPG by Mike Durkin under license CC BY-SA 2.0.

Indianapolis ABC’s Dizzy Dismukes no-hits Chicago, 103 years ago today

Dizzy Dismukes threw a no-hitter for the Indianapolis ABCs, 103 years ago today.

On Sunday, May 9, 1915, no-hit the Chicago Giants at Northwestern Park for a 5-0 win. Only two runners reached base, one on a hit batsman and one on an error, according to newspaper accounts, and Dismukes pitched 1-2-3 innings in seven of the nine frames.

According to the Negro Leagues Baseball eMuseum at the Kansas State University College of Education, Dismukes was a right-handed submariner and was regarded as one of the leagues’ best pitchers during the 1910s and early 1920s. He was a smart, studios college man with a wonderful memory, according to the museum.

Feature photo courtesy of the Ernie Harwell Sports Collection, Detroit Public Library.

Braden tosses Mother’s Day perfecto, 8 years ago today

The Oakland Athletics’ Dallas Braden threw the majors’ 19th perfect game, eight years ago today.

May 9, 2010, was Mother’s Day, a somber yet significant holiday for a man who lost his mom to melanoma when he was 17. Braden’s grandmother “Grandma Peggy” was in the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum crowd that afternoon as Braden retired each of the 27 Tampa Bay Rays he faced. The two shared a touching moment after the 4-0 win.

The majority of the outs were routine, but Braden’s no-no was aided by several great plays by third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff.

Feature image The Coliseum by Amy Meridith under license CC BY ND 2.0

Seattle Mariners’ Paxton no-hits Toronto Blue Jays

The Seattle Mariners’ James Paxton no-hit the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday evening for Major League’s Baseball’s 299th no-hitter, a 5-0 win at Rogers Centre.

Paxton, a native of Ladner, British Columbia, walked three and struck out seven while holding the Blue Jays hitless to become the first Canadian to throw an MLB no-hitter in Canada. Kyle Seager made the most important defensive play of the effort, diving for a ball down the third base line and quickly throwing to first for the seventh inning’s third out.

The last Mariners no-no was 2 years, 8 months, 27 days ago by Hisashi Iwakuma on Wednesday, August 12, 2015, at Safeco Field against the Baltimore Orioles.

The last no-hitter against the Blue Jays was 7 years, 1 day ago, when the Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander, no-hit Toronto on Saturday, May 7, 2011, at Rogers Centre.

Paxton, who wears No. 65, also became the highest-numbered pitcher to toss a no-no, topping 61 by the Boston Red Sox’s Clay Buchholz and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Josh Beckett.

Paxton’s no-hitter was the third thrown at Rogers Centre, formerly named the SkyDome. Oddly, none of the three were thrown by a Blue Jays pitcher.

1
Dave Stewart


 
Oakland Athletics (AL)


 
Friday, June 29, 1990

Oakland Athletics 5, Toronto Blue Jays 0

SkyDome (Toronto)

(With Fernando Valenzuela’s no-hitter thrown in L.A. later that evening, Stewart’s gem marked the second time two no-hitters have been thrown on same day.)


2
Justin Verlander


 
Detroit Tigers (AL)


 
Saturday, May 7, 2011

Detroit Tigers 9, Toronto Blue Jays 0

Rogers Centre (Toronto)

(His second of two no-hitters)

“Catfish” Hunter’s perfecto, 50 years ago today

Today is the 50th anniversary of the perfect game thrown by Oakland A’s pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter.

On Wednesday, May 8, 1968, Hunter retired all 27 Minnesota Twins he faced for a 4-0 win at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. Hunter helped his cause with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, driving in two of the Athletics’ four runs.

Hunter’s perfecto was the third of the 1960s, following gems by Jim Bunning (1964) and Sandy Koufax (1965). He was the first American League pitcher to toss a perfect game since the New York Yankees’ Don Larsen, who dominated the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.

Also throwing no-nos on this date are the Boston Doves’ Frank “Big Jeff” Pfeffer and the New York Giants’ Carl Hubbell. Pfeffer in 1907 no-hit the Cincinnati Reds for a 6-0 win at Huntington Avenue Grounds. In 1929, Hubbell no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates for an 11-0 victory at the Polo Grounds.

Can Conlon join two-man club of Irish-born no-no pitchers?

If the New York Mets’ P.J. Conlon can throw a no-hitter in his MLB debut tonight at Great American Ball Park (no pressure), he’d become the third Ireland-born hurler – and the first in 135 years – to toss a major-league no-no.

The Louisville Eclipse’s Tony Mullane, left, born in County cork, threw the first Irish no-no on Monday, September 11, 1882, at Cincinnati’s Bank Street Grounds. The Eclipse topped the Red Stockings 2-0 in the American Association matchup.

The second Irish no-no came the next season in the National League. On Thursday, September 13, 1883, the Cleveland Blues’ Hugh “One Arm” Daily, right, Irish hometown unknown, no-hit the Philadelphia Quakers for a 1-0 win at Philadelphia’s Recreation Park.

Conlon, who was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is getting the start for the Mets tonight due to Jacob deGrom’s elbow injury. He’d need to be extremely efficient to get the chance to toss a nine-inning complete game.

Can combined no-hitters get their own uniform numbers?

Ever since I added a column of “Uniform number” to my master no-hitters spreadsheet a few years ago, I’ve enjoyed tracking no-hitters by number.

Most prolific? No. 34, with 11 no-hitters: Nolan Ryan (3), Dave Stewart, Fernando Valenzuela, Kevin Millwood, Roy Halladay (2), Felix Hernandez, Homer Bailey (2).

Lowest? No. 11, by the Boston Red Sox’s Hideo Nomo and the New York Yankees’ Doc Gooden.

Highest? No. 61, by the Red Sox’s Clay Buchholz and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Josh Beckett.

Most difficult to duplicate? No. 42, by the Cleveland Indians’ Sonny Siebert. Why? Because it can only be matched each year on April 15, when the entire MLB wears the league-retired No. 42 in celebration of Jackie Robinson Day.

It’s all good fun, but there has always been a bit of frustration related to how combined no-hitters fit into the mix.

On Sunday, just moments after I tweeted out that no MLB pitcher had thrown a no-hitter wearing a number as high as 65, the Yankees pulled Domingo Germán, No. 65, and put Germán’s no-no in the hands of Dellin Betances, No. 68, immediately killing the uniform number angle. (The no-no died an inning later.)

And on Friday night, just moments after I sent out a tweet noting that Dodgers starter Walker Buehler was looking to join Paul Dean, Bob Lemon and Warren Spahn (2) in the No. 21 no-no club, manager Dave Roberts handed the ball to reliever Tony Cingrani, No. 54, as Los Angeles went on to throw a four-pitcher combined no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in Monterrey, Mexico.

To bring combined no-nos into the uniform number conversations, I decided to assign a uniform number to such efforts weighted to the number of innings pitched using the following formula:

 

(P1 UniNo. * P1 IP) + (P2 UniNo. * P2 IP) …

Game’s total innings

 

A table showing the results for each of MLB’s 12 combined no-hitters is below, but here are some highlights:

During the Pittsburgh Pirates’ combined 10-inning no-hitter of 1997, Francisco Cordova, No. 67, threw nine innings of no-hit ball and Ricardo Rincon, No. 73, threw one inning. The weighed average comes out to No. 67.6, the highest of any MLB no-hitter.

Friday night’s Dodgers’ no-hitter featuring Buehler, No. 21 (6 innings), Cingrani, No. 54 (1 inning), Yimi Garcia, No. 63 (1 inning) and Adam Liberatore, No. 36 (1 inning) calculates out to an even No. 31. So the Dodgers tandem (sort of) joins Bob Forsch (2), Jon Lester and Max Scherzer (2) in the No. 31 no-no club.

Two other combined no-hitters arrive at an integer. The Angels’ Mark Langston, No. 12 (7 innings) and Mike Witt, No. 39 (2 innings) gets assigned No. 18, putting the pair in a group with the Chicago White Sox’s Bill Dietrich, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Lon Warneke, the Yankees’ Don Larsen, the Kansas City Royals’ Bret Saberhagen, the San Francisco Giants’ Matt Cain and the Seattle Mariners’ Hisashi Iwakuma.

The Orioles tandem of Bob Milacki, No. 18 (6 innings), Mike Flanagan, No. 46 (1 inning), Mark Williamson, No. 32 (1 inning) and Gregg Olson, No. 30 (1 inning) gets No. 24, giving the White Sox’s Vern Kennedy and the St. Louis Browns’ “Bobo” Holloman some company.

We’ll have to wait and see if a future tandem can match another tandem’s weighted number. Up for grabs are: 13.9, 18.4, 27.7, 45.8, 67.6, 40.7, 32.2 and 42.7. Or even better, imagine a combined no-hitter thrown on Jackie Robinson Day, with a collection of six pitchers, all wearing No. 42, maintaining a zero in the H column.

 

NH
Team
Pitchers used
Year
Weighted Avg


1
BOS
Babe Ruth (0)

Ernie Shore (9)
1917
No numbers


2
BAL
Steve Barber, 13 (8⅔)

Stu Miller, 37 (⅓)
1967
13.9


3
OAK
Vida Blue, 14 (5)

Glenn Abbott, 37 (1)

Paul Lindblad, 25 (1)

Rollie Fingers, 34 (2)
1975
18.4


4
CHW
“Blue Moon” Odom, 13 (5)

Francisco Barrios, 46 (4)
1976
27.7


5
LAA
Mark Langston, 12 (7)

Mike Witt, 39 (2)
1990
18.0


6
BAL
Bob Milacki, 18 (6)

Mike Flanagan, 46 (1)

Mark Williamson, 32 (1)

Gregg Olson, 30 (1)
1991
24.0


7
ATL
Kent Mercker, 50 (6)

Mark Wohlers, 43 (2)

Alejandro Pena, 26 (1)
1991
45.8


8
PIT
Francisco Cordova, 67 (9)

Ricardo Rincon, 73 (1)
1997
67.6


9
HOU
Roy Oswalt, 44 (1)

Peter Munro, 53 (2⅔)

Kirk Saarloos, 23 (1⅓)

Brad Lidge, 54 (2)

Octavio Dotel, 29 (1)

Billy Wagner, 13 (1)
2003
40.7


10
SEA
Kevin Millwood, 25 (6)

Charlie Furbush, 41 (⅔)

Stephen Pryor, 46 (⅓)

Lucas Luetge, 44 (⅓)

Brandon League, 43 (⅔)

Tom Wilhelmsen, 54 (1)
2012
32.2


11
PHI
Cole Hamels, 35 (6)

Jake Diekman, 63 (1)

Ken Giles, 53 (1)

Jonathan Papelbon, 58 (1)
2014
42.7


12
LAD
Walker Buehler, 21 (6)

Tony Cingrini, 54 (1)

Yimi Garcia, 63 (1)

Adam Liberatore, 36 (1)
2018
31.0

 

Verlander tosses 2nd no-no, 7 years ago today

Justin Verlander threw his second career no-hitter, seven years ago today.

On Saturday, May 7, 2011, Verlander no-hit the Toronto Blue Jays to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 9-0 victory at the Rogers Centre. Verlander, now a member of the Houston Astros, walked just one batter in the eighth inning while striking out four.

Also throwing a no-no on this date is the New York Giants’ Jesse Barnes. Barnes no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies at the Polo Grounds on Sunday, May 7, 1922 for a 6-0 win. Barnes faced the minimum 27 batters, walking Cy Williams in the fifth inning but retiring him and batter Art Fletcher on a double play.

Philadelphia coaches asked for the game ball in the middle of the seventh inning and showed umpire Bob Hart several cuts, prompting Hart to throw it out of the game.