Today
we celebrate Allie Reynolds and his two no-hitters in 1951, which he
threw against the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox, in my “Turn
Back The Clock” series.
Take a look at the card I created:
The “Super Chief” had it going on in 1951, winning 17 games and leading the league with seven shutouts.
On July 12th
of that year he faced his old team, the Indians, and beat them 1-0
thanks to a solo home run by Gene Woodling. He retired the last 17
batters he faced, and his rival pitcher, Bob Feller, pitched a no-hitter
himself just eleven days earlier!
On September 28th, he faced Boston and easily beat them 8-0, which allowed the Yankees at least a tie for first in the American League.
Reynolds struck out nine and walked four, and of course we all know that
the final batter he faced was none other than Ted Williams, arguably
the greatest all-around hitter in baseball history.
All Reynolds had to do was, in a sense, retire him TWICE, as Yogi Berra
dropped a foul pop-up for the final out, before catching the very next
one, as Williams popped out to end the game.
Only six pitchers have thrown two no-hitters in one season, with Roy
Halladay (2010) and Max Scherzer (2015) being the most recent to the
exclusive club.