Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website. Today's list is a followup to his earlier post, 12 Baseball Feats That Only Happened Once.
1) THE STRANGEST EVER STANDING OVATION
(Image credit: Wikipedia user Pennsylvania Penguin)
Dick Stuart, first baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates, led the league in errors a record seven years in a row, 1958 through 1964. Stuart was renowned for his atrocious fielding and earned the nicknames "Dr. Strangelove," "Stonefingers," and "The Man with the Iron Glove." Stuart was to recall that "One night in Pittsburgh, 30,000 fans gave me a standing ovation for catching a hotdog wrapper on the fly."
2) TWO PLAYERS HIT A HOMER IN THEIR FIRST AT-BAT IN THE SAME GAME
In a game on April 19, 1938, Ernie Koy of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Heinie Mueller of the Philadelphia Phillies both hit a home run in their first-ever Major League at-bat.
3) ONE GUY GETS A HIT IN TWO DIFFERENT CITIES FOR TWO DIFFERENT TEAMS ON THE SAME DAY
On April 4, 1962, Joel Youngblood drove in two runs with a single for the New York Mets in a game at Shea Stadium against the Chicago Cubs.
Joel was promptly traded to the Montreal Expos. He immediately flew to Philadelphia in time to get a hit in the 7th inning at Veterans Stadium.
*
4) PITCHING A NO-HITTER ON LSD
Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates remains the only pitcher to ever hit a no-hitter while on LSD. On June 12, 1970, Dock, not thinking he would be pitching that day, took a dose of LSD. Soon thereafter, he was summoned to start that evening's game against the San Diego Padres, and won the game with a 2-0 score.
Oh yes, he also pitched a no-hitter.
5) 12 FOR 12 STRIKEOUTS
As a rookie for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955, Sandy Koufax came to bat 12 times and struck out all 12 times.
6) STRIKING OUT MORE IN ONE GAME THAN YOUR TOTAL CAREER WINS
On September 12, 1962, Tom Cheney, a pitcher for the Washington Senators, set a still-standing record by striking out 21 Baltimore Orioles in a 16-inning game.
Cheney's lifetime record was 19 wins and 29 losses, and thus he is the only player in history to record more strikeouts in one game than he had wins in his entire career.
7) TWO BROTHERS WIN EVERY WORLD SERIES GAME
In the 1934 World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers 4 games to 3. Jerome "Dizzy" Dean and his kid brother Paul "Daffy" Dean won two games each, accounting for all four cardinal wins.
8) ONLY PLAYER TO REFUSE A HIT
On June 17, 1942, Paul Waner of the Boston Braves had 2,999 career hits. Paul came to bat at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field and hit a grounder that resulted in a close play and could have been ruled a hit or an error. The game's official scorer ruled the play a hit and the crowd went crazy cheering for Waner's 3,000th hit.
But no. Paul Waner refused to accept the hit and insisted the play be changed to an error. He explained that he wanted his 3,000th hit to be clean, not "tainted." And so his hit was taken away and the call was reversed. Two days later he got his clean and "official" 3,000th hit.
9) PITCHING A NO-HITTER AND HOMERING TWICE
On June 23m 1971, Philles pitcher Rick Wise pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium and hit two home runs in the same game.
10) MOST HITS IN ONE GAME
(Image credit: Flickr user Boston Public Library)
On July 10, 1932, in an 18-inning game against the Philadelphia Athletics, Johnny Burnett of the Cleveland Indians got nine hits in 11 at-bats. No other player has ever gotten as many as eight hits in any Major League game.
11) MISSING A WORLD SERIES BY REASON OF INSANITY
In 1903, Pittsburgh pitcher Ed Doheny helped the Pirates win the national League pennant by winning 16 games. But Doheny started acting very strange during the season and was committed to the Danvers Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Danvers, Massachusetts, twice within the span of two months late in the year. Because of his bizarre behavior, Doheny was forced to miss the Pirates' appearance in the first-ever World Series of 1903. Many baseball historians attribute the Pirates' eventual 5-games-to-3 loss to the Boston Pilgrims in the series to the tragic loss of Doheny.
12) MAKING THE FINAL OUT IN TWO NO-HITTERS AGAINST THE SAME PITCHER
Harvey Kuenn made the final out of two no-hitters, both against Dodgers acce Sandy Koufax. On May 11, 1963, Kuenn made the final out of Koufax's no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants. Then on September 9, 1965, Kuenn struck out to end Koufax's perfect game against the Chicago Cubs.
Previously on Neatorama: 12 Baseball Feats That Only Happened Once
The first time I heard of Dock Ellis' extraordinary accomplishment was in a performance by
Chuck Brodsky
(YouTube link to a live performance of his song "Dock Ellis' No-No" SO much fun!)