TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

Making baseball history is usually a shining moment or a dream come true.

For the Houston Colt .45s’ knuckleball specialist, it was a nightmare.

On Thursday night, April 23, 1964, Ken Johnson pitched a brilliant nine-inning no-hitter against his former team, the pennant-contending Cincinnati Reds — and lost, 1-0. No major-league pitcher had ever met such a frustrating fate, though nine mound artists before him had lost no-hit games in extra innings. “It’s a heady feeling to know that you have a niche in history,” Johnson said. “So I made history tonight,” grinning as he said it. “Heck of a way to get into the books, isn’t it?”1

Ten days earlier, Johnson had beaten the Reds on Opening Day in Cincinnati for his sixth straight victory, dating back to 1963 when he was 10th lowest in National League earned-run average (2.65). He had dedicated the game to his fellow pitcher, road roommate, and best friend Jim Umbricht, who died of cancer just five days before.2 Seeking his third win of the season, Johnson pitched a spectacular game before 5,426 fans at makeshift Colt Stadium. He recorded 12 groundball outs, nine strikeouts, and three infield popouts. Only three times did Reds batters reach the outfield. Johnson walked only two batters, both on full counts.3

By the seventh inning, Johnson was aware he had a no-hitter. He asked teammate Don Nottebart, who had pitched the first no-hitter in Colts history against the Philadelphia Phillies 11 months earlier, “How’s a guy supposed to feel, Notty? What do you do?” Nottebart replied, “Stay loose and keep going.”4 The next inning, Johnson could have won his own game with a two-run homer when he sent left fielder Bob Skinner back to the base of the fence, a 365-foot drive that was caught for the third out.5

The game began with Johnson’s strikeout of 1963 National League Rookie of the Year Pete Rose, who became the central figure in this history-making event. Winning pitcher Joe Nuxhall — who almost ruined the no-hitter when he nearly beat out a bunt — led off the ninth with a groundout to third baseman Bob Aspromonte.6 Rose came up next and dropped a bunt on the third-base side of the mound, 15 to 20 feet in front of home plate. Johnson pounced on it, half straightened up and threw wildly to first baseman Pete Runnels and Rose made it to second. In the bottom of the inning, Houston coach Jimmy Adair asked first-base umpire Stan Landes if Rose could have beaten the throw. Landis answered curtly, “I don’t have to tell you. If the (official scorer) wants to know, I’ll tell him.” Adair responded, “Why you chicken blanketyblank,” and Landes gave him the heave-ho.7

With Rose on second, Chico Ruiz smashed a line drive off Johnson’s shin that left a mark the shape and color of a large plum. Aspromonte fielded the carom and fired to Runnels at first to nip the speedy Ruiz as Rose took third. Needing one out to preserve the no-hitter and shutout, Johnson delivered to Vada Pinson, who hit a routine grounder to second baseman Nellie Fox. The normally surehanded Fox (in his first year with the Colts and 18th in the majors) fumbled the ball, allowing Rose to score as Pinson reached first.

Fox was near tears for making the error that caused Johnson to make history by losing. He approached Johnson in the Houston dressing room immediately afterward. “Ken, I’m sorry I had to mess it up,” Fox said. “Don’t feel bad about it, Nellie,” Johnson replied as he put his arm around Fox’s shoulder. “I put the guy on myself. I came up throwing. A good throw would have nailed him.”8

Johnson confessed that he could not have continued into extra innings anyway because of the injury suffered on Ruiz’s smash. “Even if we had tied it,” he said, “I couldn’t have gone on.”9 Frank Robinson flied out to Jimmy Wynn in left field to end the inning. The Colts had one last gasp in the bottom of the ninth when Runnels reached on Deron Johnson’s error at first base with two outs. Landes called Runnels out but home-plate umpire Augie Donatelli overruled Landes, saying Johnson did not have control of the ball when he stepped on the first-base bag. The Reds played the game under protest.10 Bob Lillis came in to run for Runnels but pinch-hitter Johnny Weekly was called out on strikes to end the game.

Johnson got both congratulations and condolences from teammates and fans but did not want sympathy and was not bitter. “What else can I do? I pitched the best game of my life,” he said. “I can’t feel bad because I lost it. I feel worse for the guys on the club. I guess that sounds funny but it’s true.”11

Johnson’s modesty and class were one of many things unique about this game. Johnson had no-hit the team that gave him a chance to pitch in the 1961 World Series. Both pitchers went the distance in a snappy 1 hour and 56 minutes, Nuxhall pitching a five-hit shutout. Fox, who made the fateful error that decided the game, was the only player on either side to get two hits. Four days later, Johnson appeared on the CBS-TV game show I’ve Got a Secret. Panelist Henry Morgan, an avid baseball fan and a regular on the show, guessed that Johnson — referred to as “Mr. X” — had pitched a no-hitter and lost.12

Kenneth Travis Johnson spent 18 seasons in professional baseball and pitched for seven major-league clubs with a 91-106 lifetime record. Born in West Palm Beach, Florida, on June 16, 1933, Johnson died on November 21, 2015, at his home in Pineville, Louisiana, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 82 years old.

This article was published in SABR’s “No-Hitters” (2017), edited by Bill Nowlin and written by Steven Schmitt To read more Games Project stories from this book, click here.

Features over dozen starts for the Colt/Astros, including his no hitter

His interview vault includes:

Over several Game Highlights during his time in Houston and a hard to find interview with Steve Hamilton

April 23, 1924 — On WMAQ, Hal Totten, a Chicago Daily News play-by-play reporter, does a play-by-play radio report of the 12-1 Cubs’ victory over the Cardinals. It will be the first broadcast of every Cub and White Sox home game of the season, marking the first time a team’s games have been on the airwaves on a regular basis.

April 23, 1939 — At Fenway Park Rookie Ted Williams goes 4 for 5, including his first major-league home run, a 2 run shot in the first inning of Bud Thomas, but the Boston Red Sox lose to the Philadelphia Athletics, 12 – 8.

April 23, 1940, flooding of the Ohio River causes cancellation of today’s game between the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals at Crosley Field. Weather forecasters predict that the flood’s waters will reach as high as eight feet at the ballpark. The next day’s game will also be postponed.

April 23, 1952 — Giant reliever Hoyt Wilhelm homers in his first major league at-bat, a fourth-inning blast off Dick Hoover in the team’s 9-5 victory over Boston at the Polo Grounds. In his second at-bat, two days later, he will hit a triple. But Wilhelm, a notoriously poor hitter, will never hit another home run or triple in a major league game spanning the next 21 years, covering a then-record 1,070 games.

April 23, 1954 — Jackie Robinson steals second and third base, then steals home on the front end of a triple steal with Gil Hodges and Sandy Amorós in the 6th inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Brooklyn Dodgers win, 6 – 5, in 13 innings, when Robinson doubles home Junior Gilliam with the winning run.

April 23, 1954, In his seventh major league game at Busch Stadium, Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hits the first of his 755 home runs in a 7-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Aaron’s milestone home run-a solo blast-comes against Cardinals right-hander Vic Raschi in the 6th inning. Ironically, his first hit came 8 days earlier also vs Raschi.

April 23, 1956 – manager Walt Alston (left) enjoys a victory smile with 19-year-old rookie pitcher Don Drysdale after the young right-hander won his first major league game as starting hurler against the Phillies, The Dodgers dumped the Phillies, 6-1. Drysdale pitched a complete game striking out 9, including the side in the first inning. Alston said, “Drysdale pitched with the poise of a seasoned hurler.”

April 23, 1966 -- Two days after putting on a Chicago Cubs uniform, Ferguson Jenkins hits his first major league home run, off Don Sutton, drives in a second run, and shuts out the Dodgers to win, 2 - 0. For rookie Sutton, it is the first of 13 straight losses the Cubs will hand him. Read more

April 23, 1978, in the 2nd inning at Candlestick Park, Cincinnati Reds Pitcher, Fred Norman has Jack Clark picked off of first base, Clark runs full steam towards second base and as Dan Driessen throws towards Secondbase Joe Morgan mishandles the throw and makes an error at second base, bringing his major league record of 91 consecutive errorless games to an end. The error did not lead to a run for San Francisco.

April 23, 1999 -- Fernando Tatis of the St. Louis Cardinals becomes the first player in major league history to hit two grand slams in one inning. Tatis connects both times in the 11-run 3rd inning against pitcher Chan Ho Park to lead the Cardinals to a 12 - 5 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. He simultaneously sets a record with eight RBI in one inning. Park becomes the first pitcher in the 20th century, and only the second ever, to surrender two slams in a single frame, joining Bill Phillips of the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys.

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TRIVIA

TRIVIA: Which Hall of Famer is the only pitcher to allow fifty home runs in a season?

Hint: #1 He became a popular announcer for one of the teams he helped win a World Series championship.

Hint: #2 He once surrendered two inside-the-park home runs to the same player in one game.

IF you think you know the answer and bonus points for how many respond with details and if you are right I will give you a shut out! No Googling!

Know someone who loves baseball like you do? Earn rewards by sharing the Rewind!

 ANSWER TO YESTERDAY’S TRIVIA

YESTERDAY'S TRIVIA:  Who was the first pitcher to strike out six consecutive batters in a World Series game?

Hint: #1 He surrendered Stan Musial’s three thousandth career hit and took the loss in Early Wynn’s three hundredth and final career win.

Hint: #2 Once, while sitting in the Orioles’ bullpen in Cleveland, he gave an Indians fan a hotfoot.

Hint: #3 Using the bullpen phone in Baltimore, he ordered take-out from a restaurant in Hong Kong.

MOE DRABOWSKY  [SABR Bio]

- Ans. on 06-Oct-1966, Drabowsky’s name and photo were in every newspaper in the country, a day after winning Game 1 of the 1966 World Series and striking out 11 Dodgers including 6: Jim Barbieri, Maury Wills, Willie Davis, Lou Johnson, Tommy Davis & Jim Lefebvre, in a row!

- #1 Musial’s 3,000^th: 13-May-1958. Wynn’s 300^th victory:  13-Jul-1963(2).

- #2 He became famous for easing the boredom sometimes felt by fellow relief pitchers in the bullpen.

- #3 The food never arrived.

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