Dirk Lammers's Blog, page 82
July 9, 2016
Astros’ Dierker no-hits Expos, 40 years ago today
The Houston Astros’ Larry Dierker no-hit the Montreal Expos, 40 years ago today.
On Friday, July 9, 1976, Dierker walked four and struck out eight at the Astrodome to lead Houston to a 6-0 no-hit victory. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound righthander from Hollywood, California, told the Associated Press’ B.F. Kellum that he figured if he was going to pitch a no-no, it would have come early in his career.
“I didn’t think I had the stuff to pitch a no-hitter,” Dierker told the AP. “It’s hard to believe.”
Dierker nearly threw a perfect game in 1966. In a Sept. 30 game against the New York Mets that remained scoreless until the bottom of the ninth, Dierker took the mound and immediately gave up double to Mets’ third baseman Eddie Bressoud. That set the wheels in motion, as Dierker threw a wild pitch to Ron Hunt (pinch-hitting for left fielder Danny Napoleon) allowing Bressoud to reach third and then served up a pitch that resulted in a Hunt walk-off single to right.
July 8, 2016
Phillies’ Donahue no-hits Beaneaters, 118 years ago today
The Philadelphia Phillies’ Frank “Red” Donahue threw a no-hitter against the Boston Beaneaters, 118 years ago today.
Donahue, who lost a league leading 35 games for the St. Louis (NL) Browns in 1897, was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies after the season. On Friday, July 8, 1898, he no-hit the 1897 NL pennant winners at National League Park. Donahue issued two walks and the Phillies committed one error.
“He gave the most brilliant exhibition of twisting the sphere that has been seen on the local grounds this season,” noted The Times of Philadelphia. “Not a Champion got beyond second base during the entire nine innings, and not a single Champion got a safe hit during the entire nine innings.”
The Beaneaters eventually adopted the name of the Braves, moving to Milwaukee and then Atlanta.
July 7, 2016
Happy 110th birthday, Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige
(Courtesy of the Ernie Harwell Sports Collection, Detroit Public Library)Today would be the 110th birthday of pitching great Satchel Paige.
Paige, born July 7, 1906, in Mobile, Alabama, estimated he threw 55 no-hitters over his long, storied career that included stints with numerous teams. When Paige wasn’t pitching in league games, he was barnstorming across the country competing against anyone who would take the ball field against his All-Stars.
But just two of Paige’s no-nos against professional-level teams are documented in
the most well-researched list, put together by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Negro League Committee and Noir Tech Research:
1
Satchel Paige
Pittsburgh Crawfords
Friday, July 8, 1932 (second game of doubleheader)
Pittsburgh Crawfords 6, New York Black Yankees 0
2
Satchel Paige
Pittsburgh Crawfords
Wednesday, July 4, 1934
Pittsburgh Crawfords 4, Homestead Grays 0
(Paige struck out 17 batters)
Paige was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971 as the first player voted in by the Committee on Negro Baseball Leagues.
July 5, 2016
Happy birthday to Reds’ no-no thrower Hod Eller
Happy birthday to The Cincinnati Reds’ Horace “Hod” Eller, who threw a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1919.
Eller, born on July 5, 1894 in Muncie, Indiana, no-hit the Cards on May 11, 1919 for a 6-0 win at Redland Field. Three St. Louis batters reached first base on walks, but two of them were thrown out trying to steal second.
“This effort of Mr. Eller’s was not only remarkable in that he held the enemy to no bingles, but in that not a single hard ball was hit off him during the entire nine rounds,” noted the Cincinnati Enquirer‘s Jack Ryder. “Not one left a Cardinal bat with a crack of a hard smash resounding from it.”
July 4, 2016
Righetti, Paige, Mullin and Wiltse threw July 4 no-nos
Satchel Paige (Courtesy of the Ernie Harwell Sports Collection, Detroit Public Library)Happy Fourth of July, and on this day we recognize the only four pitchers to throw Independence Day no-nos: The New York Yankees’ Dave Righetti, the Pittsburgh Crawfords’ Satchell Paige, the Detroit Tigers’ George Mullin and the New York Giants’ George “Hooks” Wiltse.
On Monday, July 4, 1983, in front of more than 41,000 fans at Yankee Stadium, Righetti no-hit the Boston Red Sox for a 4-0 win. Righetti struck out nine and walked four in the game, catching the pesky Wade Boggs lunging for a breaking ball to complete the no-no.
You have to go back another 49 years for the next July 4 no-no, and it was thrown in a Negro Leagues match-up between Paige’s Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays. Paige struck out 17 batters in the game for the second of his two documented no-hitters (he likely threw many more).
The next Fourth of July no-no was thrown on July 4, 1912, during the second game of a Thursday doubleheader, Mullin no-hit the St. Louis Browns for a 7-0 win at Navin Field. Mullin was also born on the Fourth of July back in 1880.
The third July 4 no-no was nearly a perfect game. On July 4, 1908, during the first game of a Saturday doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, Wiltse was perfect before hitting the Philadelphia Phillies’ George McQuillen with a pitch. Wiltse finished with a 10-inning 1-0 no-hitter.
Lee breaks up Seaver’s no-no in 9th, 44 years ago today
The San Diego Padres’ Leron Lee killed Tom Seaver’s chance of throwing the first New York Mets’ no-hitter in the ninth inning, 44 years ago today.
Seaver took a no-hitter into the ninth inning at Shea Stadium on July 4, 1972, although he walked two batters in the fourth and two batters in the eighth, so the perfect game was off the board.
Seaver took the mound in the ninth and got Dave Roberts to ground out before Leron Lee lined a ball up the middle to end the no-no bid. He then got Nate Colbert to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game for a 2-0 complete-game shutout, Seaver’s fourth career one-hitter.
Seaver struck out 11 batters, and the Mets scored their only runs with two outs in the third when Jim Fregosi and Ed Kranepool drew bases-loaded walks from the Padres’ Clay Kirby.
It was the Mets’ ninth one-hitter and it marked the team’s 1,692nd game without a no-hitter. On the other side, Kirby lost his no-hitter on Wayne Garrett’s first-inning single to move the Padres’ count to 556 games.
The Mets count ended at 8,019; the Padres count is at 7,572 games and still growing.
July 3, 2016
On this date, 1 Angels no-no, 3 missed Padres no-nos
The California Angels’ Clyde Wright tossed a no-no 46 years ago today, but July 3 is also a big day San Diego no no-no history with three Padres pitchers taking no-hitters into the eighth inning.
On this day in 1975, Randy Jones took a perfect game into the eighth against the Cincinnati Reds but lost it when shortstop Hector Torres fielded a Tony Perez grounder and threw the ball into the stands for an error. Jones got George Foster to ground out to keep the no-no active through 7⅓, but said goodbye to that potential feat on a Bill Plummer double. He had to settle for his second one-hitter, with the earlier one coming in May of the same year.
On July 3, 1994, Andy Benes took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the New York Mets but lost it on a Rico Brogna lead-off double. He held on for the one-hit complete game 7-0 shutout.
And on this day in 2004, the Padres’ Adam Eaton held the Kansas City Royals hitless for seven innings and had a 4-0 lead when Dee Brown lead off the eighth with a double to left. Eaton and reliever Akinori Otsuka wound up yielding three hits as Kansas City tied the game, but the Padres scored a run in the bottom of the eighth and held on for a 5-4 victory.
There has been just one major league no-hitter on this date. On July 3, 1970, Wright tossed a no-hitter against the Oakland Athletics in a 4-0 win at Anaheim Stadium.
July 2, 2016
Reds’ Bailey tosses 2nd no-no, 3 years ago today
The Cincinnati Reds’ Homer Bailey threw his second no-hitter, three years ago today.
Bailey, who is currently with the AAA Louisville Bats trying to return from injury, no-hit the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, for a 3-0 win at Great American Ball Park. Bailey walked just one batter and struck out nine.
Less than 10 months earlier, on Friday, September 28, 2012, Bailey tossed a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates for a 1-0 win at PNC Park. Bailey again walked just one batter but this time struck out 10 batters.
(Feature photo Great American Ballpark by peterrieke under CC BY 2.0)
July 1, 2016
Hall of Famers Johnson, Feller, threw no-nos on this date
Walter JohnsonHall of Famers Walter Johnson and Bob Feller threw no-hitters on this date.
On Thursday, July 1, 1920, Johnson no-hit the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park for a 1-0 Washington Senators victory. Senators second baseman Bucky Harris could be considered both the hero and the goat in the game. He plated the only run with a seventh-inning RBI hit, but he also made an error that allowed the Red Sox’s only base runner to reach first, killing the chance for a perfecto.
A plaque celebrating Bob Feller’s three no-hitters at the Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter, Iowa.On July 1, 1951, during the first game of a Sunday doubleheader, Feller threw his last of three Cleveland Indians no-hitters. Facing the Tigers at Cleveland Stadium, Feller no-hit Detroit for a 2-1 win. No-no No. 3 tied Feller with Larry Corcoran and Cy Young for most career no-nos, a record that would be broken by Sandy Koufax (who threw his fourth in 1965) and shattered by Nolan Ryan, who finished his career with seven no-nos.
June 29, 2016
Same-day no-nos, 26 years ago today
Twenty-six years ago today, on June 29, 1990, the Oakland A’s Dave Stewart and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela threw no-hitters on the same day.
Stewart threw his at the Toronto Skydome against the Blue Jays, striking out 12 for a 5-0 win. He told Sports Illustrated that it was the first no-hitter of his life.
“I didn’t even have one in Little League,” he told SI after the game. “I’ve never felt better than when I walked off that field tonight. As a pitcher, a no-hitter is it. What else can there be?”
Meanwhile, Valenzuela was getting ready for his start against the St. Louis Cardinals in L.A. when his teammates were watching Stewart’s gem in progress on ESPN in the Dodgers clubhouse.
“You’re watching a no-hitter on TV, and now you’re going to see one in person,” he told them.
124 pitches later, Valenzuela kept his word, no-hitting the Cardinals for a 6-0 victory.
The double no-hitter occurred only one other time, and it was back in 1898.
On April 22 of that year, the Cincinnati Reds’ Ted Breitenstein no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates for an 11-0 victory. It was Breitenstein’s second no-no. The same day, Jim Hughes of the NL Baltimore Orioles no-hit the Boston Beaneaters for a 8-0 win.
