Cleveland ace Bob Feller took the mound to face Allie Reynolds on July 12, 1951. The two had been roommates on the Indians and knew each other very well.
The game moved through five innings, a taut, tight pitching duel. Neither team had a hit. Gene Woodling homered for the Yanks in the seventh. That was the only run the man they called "Chief" needed.
Retiring the last seventeen batters to face him, Reynolds struck out Bobby Avila for the final out. In the game the big right-hander faced just 29 batters. He won his 10th game, his fifth shutout of the year. More importantly - he gave up no hits.
The second no-hitter was before 40,000 at Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox, the hottest hitting team in the American League.
"I was very much aware of the no-hitter and the ninth inning," Reynolds said. "All I had to get out was Ted Williams. Most times I tried to walk the damn guy. In my opinion it was just stupid to let an outstanding hitter like him beat you."
With two out in the ninth, Ted Williams was all that stood in the way of the Reynolds' no-hitter and the Yankee clinching of the American League pennant.
Reynolds got a fastball strike on Williams. The next pitch - fastball again. Ball popped up behind home plate. Yogi Berra under it, waiting. The ball bounced off his glove. Yogi bounced off Reynolds who was backing up the play.
Helping Berra to his feet, a tired and anxious Reynolds was kind: "Don't worry Yogi, we'll get him next time."
An exasperated and annoyed Williams told Berra: "You sons of bitches put me in a hell of a spot. You blew it, and now I've got to bear down even harder even though the game is decided and your man has a no-hitter going."
On the next Reynolds' offering, Williams again popped up. This time Berra squeezed the ball good. Reynolds had his second no-hitter and the Yankees had an 8-0 triumph and their third straight American League flag.
» Harvey Frommer is the author of 33 sports books, including "The New York Yankee Encyclopedia, "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," "Growing Up Baseball" with Frederic J. Frommer and "Rickey and Robinson," "A Yankee Century." The Great Rivalry: The New York Yankees Versus The Boston Red Sox (with Frederic J. Frommer) will be published in 2004.
Also by Harvey Frommer
» Reaching for the Stars: Sports Book Review
» Mickey Mantle: The Sports Profile
» Don Mattingly: Sports Profile
» Jim Leyritz and the Great World Series Comeback: October 23, 1996
» Red Sox-Yankees, One More Time!
» Bevens' Lost No-Hitter: October 3, 1947
» The Called Shot: October 1, 1932
» World Series: An Opinionated Chronicle: Sports Book Review
» The Eleven-Walk Inning: September 11, 1949
» Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville: Sports Book Review
» Albert Pujols, Meet Joe DiMaggio!
» "Moneyball" and Other Worthy Baseball Books: Sports Book Review
» Something to Write Home About : Sports Book Review
» The Double No-Hitter: Vandy's Masterpiece
» Me and My Dad: A Baseball Memoir: Sports Book Review
» Bucky Dent's Home Run: October 2, 1978
» The Ballpark Book : Sports Book Review
» "Pride of October", Bill Madden's Gem: Sports Book Review
» The Two Rogers: Kahn and Angell on Baseball : Sports Book Review
» "Baseball Timeline" and "Baseball Desk Reference": Sports Book Review
» Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston: Sports Book Review
» Al Gionfriddo's Catch
» David Wells' Perfect Game: May 17, 1998
» Yankee Talk: A Sampler
» "Spring Training" is Here: Sports Book Review
» The Men who Broke Baseball's Color Line: Excerpt from Harvey Frommer's "Rickey and Robinson"
» Books on Ballparks and other Baseball Matters: Sports Book Review
» The Golden Voices of Baseball: Sports Book Review
» By The Numbers: A New York Yankees Sampler
» Super Hot Stove League Reading: Sports Book Review
» The First Yankee Home Game: April 30, 1903
» The Most Memorable Moments in Major League Baseball History: Sports Book Review
» Bravo, Nolan Ryan!
» Johnny Vander Meer's Back-to-Back No-Hitters
» October's Baseball Books: Sports Book Review
» New York City Baseball: Once Upon A Time
» The Big Train: Walter Johnson, Baseball Immortal
» Baseball's Best Shots: Sports Book Review
» Wee Willie Keeler: Good Things Come in Small Packages
» Let's Play Two
» The First World Series
» Sandy Koufax, Out of Brooklyn: Sports Book Review
» The 1919 Black Sox (Part II)
» The 1919 Black Sox (Part I)
» Baseball Books On Parade: Sports Book Review
» Yankee Doodle Dandies: Yankee Books: Sports Book Review
» The Harmonica Incident: August 20, 1964
» "Fenway: A Biography in Words and Pictures": Sports Book Review
» Baseball's Mecca: The Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
» Trade a Player a Year Too Early, Not a Year Too Late
» The Yankee Mystique
» Satchel Paige: World's Greatest Pitcher
» "Red Smith on Baseball": Sports Book Review
» The Barry Halper Collection of Baseball Memorabilia: Sports Book Review
» Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson
» Remembering Irving Rudd
» Subway Series
» Midsummer Classic: Midsummer Mockery
» Yankee Stadium's First Opening Day
» The Birth of Baseball's First Professional Team
» Yankee Stadium's First Opening Day
» Gehrig's Streak
» Willie Mays and the Month of May
» Reese was no Pee Wee
» Yankees vs. Red Sox: Baseball's Greatest Rivalry
» Celebrating Hank Greenberg
» Bobby Thomson's Famous Homer Lives On
» Remembering the Yankee Clipper: Joe DiMaggio
» Shoeless Joe Remains a Scapegoat
» The Mets Have Always Been Amazing
» More submissions
Copyright © 2002 by Harvey Frommer. Posted November 18, 2003.
