Baseball nuts are talking about the 1959 Haddix game. I don;t remember it. I was only 4 at the time. But remember hearing the buzz about it growing up. Talk about lousy luck. 12 innings of perfect ball (by himself – they didn’t have “closers” in those days) only to have it blown by an error.
Haddix took the mound in the 13th inning after retiring 36 Braves in a row, nine more than usually required for a perfect game. The fleet-footed second baseman Felix Mantillia came to bat first. He hit a grounder to Pirate third baseman Don Hoak, who threw the ball across the diamond and into the dirt near first baseman Rocky Nelson. Mantillia was safe, and the perfect game was over, though the no-hitter remained intact. The next batter, Hall of Famer Eddie Matthews, sacrificed Mantillia to second base. Then Hank Aaron, who was leading the National League in batting, came to the plate. Haddix intentionally walked the future career home run king on four pitches. Adcock was up next, and he hit a drive that just cleared the fence in right-center field. In their jubilation over the win, the Braves became muddled on the base paths, and Adcock passed Aaron between second and third base. The umpire Frank Dascoli called Adcock out, changing his three-run homer to a two-run double after several minutes of deliberation.
Pedro Martinez, of the Mets (of course!) became the second person to throw a perfect 9 inning game only to have it blown in extra innings. That was June 3, 1995. He still won the game, though.
One of the weirdest “perfect games” came June 23, 1917 featuring Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore.
His most famous game occurred on June 23, 1917, against the Washington Senators in the first game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park. Ruth started the game, walking the first batter, Ray Morgan. As newspaper accounts of the time relate, the short-fused Ruth then engaged in a heated argument with apparently equally short-fused home plate umpire Brick Owens. Owens tossed Ruth out of the game, and the even more enraged Ruth then slugged the umpire a glancing blow before being taken off the field; the catcher was also ejected. Shore was recruited to pitch, and came in with very few warmup pitches. With a new pitcher and catcher, runner Morgan tried to steal but was thrown out. Shore then proceeded to retire the remaining 26 Senators without allowing a baserunner, earning a 4–0 Red Sox win. For many years the game was listed in record books as a “perfect game,” but officially it is scored as a no-hitter, shared (albeit unequally) by two pitchers.
Baseball. Nothing like.
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