Maloney’s second “official” no-hitter came on April 30th, 1969 when he kept the Houston Astros line-up that included Joe Morgan and Jim Wynn without a knock, while striking out 13 batters on his way to a 10-0 win.
Funny enough, the very next day, Don Wilson returned the favor and threw a no-hitter of his own against the Reds on behalf of the Astros.
Needless to say, expect THAT no-hitter to be profiled next on the blog!
For Maloney, he’d go on to post a record of 12-5 with an ERA of 2.77 in 1969, which would tunr out to be that last productive season of his 12-year career.
He would play 1970 and 1971 but be limited to only 20 games combined, finally retiring for good after 13 games with the California Angels in 1971 when he went 0-3 with a 5.04 ERA.
He twice won 20+ games, with a high of 23 in 1965 when he posted a record of 23-7 with a 2.77 ERA and 265 strikeouts over 33 starts and 250.1 innings pitched.
Two seasons later, when he pitched one “official” and one “unofficial” no-hitter, he went 20-9 with an ERA of 2.54 (his career best), with 244 strikeouts over 33 appearances and 255.1 innings of work.
Definitely one of the forgotten power-arms of the decade with four straight 200+ seasons between 1963 and 1966.
