Next
up in the “No-Hitter” thread I just started a couple weeks back is a
no-hitter thrown the day AFTER this pitchers team was no-hit by my last
entry Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds, and that would be Don Wilson
of the Houston Astros:
Incredibly, just the day after Maloney’s 13-K no-hit gem, Wilson matched
him with 13 K’s of his own on his way to a no-hitter against a Reds
team that had Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez in the line-up.
Wilson did walk six batters, but he easily overpowered the Reds’ line-up
that day, improving his record to 2-3 and lowering his ERA to 3.46 on
the young season.
For Wilson it was his second career no-hitter, with the first coming in
1967 against the Atlanta Braves, with Hank Aaron being the final out.
Wilson would go on to have arguably his best season in the Big Leagues
in 1969, finishing up with a record of 16-12 with an ERA at 4.00 with
235 strikeouts over 34 starts.
He’d match those 16 wins a couple of years later, his high-water mark
for a season, with another 15 wins the following year, with ERA’s under
3.00 each time.
A bright star on the Houston Astros team, tragically, on January 5th of
1975 he passed away under mysterious circumstances in his home of carbon
monoxide poisoning in his car, which also took the life of his
5-year-old son who was sleeping upstairs above the garage. Wilson was
only 29-years-old.