Usually when a pitcher has his stuff and is getting the other team out, the manager leaves him in the game. He hopes the pitcher can stay in for nine innings so that the relief pitchers can be rested for another day.
When the Oakland Athletics faced the California Angels at the end of the 1975 season, however, starting pitcher Vida Blue knew he would pitch only five innings.
The Athletics had already clinched a spot in the American League playoffs. Manager Alvin Dark wanted Blue to get a workout, but at the same time he didn’t want the ace left-hander to get too tired. Five innings seemed just right.
Blues fastball was humming and his slider was breaking over the corners. Only three batters reached base against him, two on walks and one on an error by shortstop Bert Campaneris.
Relief pitcher Glen Abbott also needed a workout, and he pitched the sixth inning. He set the Angels down in one-two-three order.
Paul Lindblad pitched the seventh inning for the Athletics. He faced three batters and retired them all. Finally, Rollie Fingers mopped up in the eight and ninth. Nobody got on base against him.
It was the first time four pitchers had ever combined to pitch a no-hit game. Only twice before had two pitchers gotten together on a no-hitter, and both of these occasions were for other reasons.
In 1917, Babe Ruth started a game for the Boston Red Sox. He pitched to one batter and walked him. But Ruth was angry at the umpire’s calls. He complained so bitterly that he was thrown out of the game. Ernie Shore came in to pitch. The base runner was thrown out trying to steal second. Then Shore retired every single batter in order, pitching a perfect game!
The other combined no-hitter happened in 1967. Steve Barber and Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles teamed up to blank the other side of the hit column. But an unearned run scored and the Orioles lost the game.
Football players hate cold weather. Their hands are raw, and every contact with an opponent makes their bodies ache. One player found a way to avoid the cold.
In 1932 Loyola of the South went north to play Butler College in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was so cold that fans were warming their hands over small kerosene stoves. Huge bales of hay were piled along the sidelines near the benches.
Loyola end Mal Simmons almost froze during the first half. Just before the second half opened, Simmons hid inside one of the bales of hay and stayed there, snug and warm. Coach Clark Shaughnessy shouted himself hoarse calling for Simmons. At the end of the game Simmons sneaked out of the hay and ran into the dressing room. He told coach Shaughnessy he hadn’t heard him call because he had his hands over his ears to keep them warm.
From Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
I thought that second bit was leading to kerosene stoves + huge bales of hay = a whole lot of heat for everyone.
That last para about the Orioles is so Orioles — throwing a no-hitter and losing.