May 26, 1959: Harvey Haddix puts on the greatest pitching performance of all time. And loses.
In 1981, baseball historian John Thorn published Baseball's 10 Greatest Games. He included this game as one of them. He began the chapter on it by referring to Game 3 of the 1951 National League Playoff and Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, saying, "Fate can be cruel, as it was to Ralph Branca; or it can be kind, as it was to Don Larsen. Today, it will be both to Harvey Haddix."
Haddix, a native of Medway, Ohio, outside Dayton, arrived in the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1952. Like his teammate, Harry Brecheen, he was a lefthanded pitcher. Brecheen was nicknamed The Cat, so Haddix was nicknamed The Kitten. He wasn't just a protégé: He made the National League All-Star Team in 1953, '54 and '55.
On the night of May 26, 1959, a crowd of 19,194, a good crowd for a Tuesday night in that era, filed into Milwaukee County Stadium, and saw the 33-year-old Haddix take the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Milwaukee Braves. His fastball and breaking ball were both very sharp: He later said, "I could have put a cup on either corner of the plate, and hit it." Bill Mazeroski, often called the greatest-fielding 2nd baseman of all time, said, "Usually, you have one or two great or spectacular defensive plays in these no-hitters. Not that night: It was the easiest game I ever played in."
The problem was, the Pirates weren't scoring, either. Their starter, Lew Burdette, who won 3 games in the 1957 World Series, was also really on his game. At the end of 9 innings, the Pirates had 9 hits, the Braves none -- but the score was 0-0. Haddix hadn't allowed a single baserunner. He had pitched not just a no-hitter, but a perfect game. Indeed, he had been a baserunner: He had singled off Burdette. And yet, he hadn't won. The game continued.
Pirate 3rd baseman Don Hoak singled in the top of the 10th. He couldn't score. Haddix kept the perfecto going. Shortstop Dick "Ducky" Schofield singled to lead off the top of the 11th. But for the 3rd time in the game, Burdette induced a ground ball that was turned into a double play. Haddix kept his end going, becoming, still, to this day, the only man to go through the 1st 11 innings of a game without allowing a hit, and he still hadn't allowed a baserunner.
Mazeroski singled in the top of the 12th, but was stranded. Haddix still didn't budge in the bottom of the 12th: 36 men up, 36 men down. It had never happened before, and it has never happened since. Schofield singled again in the top of the 13th, to no avail. Haddix took the mound for the bottom of the 13th. It was still 0-0. He still hadn't allowed a baserunner.
Félix Mantilla led off for the Braves. He hit a bouncer to Hoak at 3rd, but Hoak bobbled it, lost his composure, and made a bad throw to 1st base. Mantilla was safe. An error. The perfect game was gone. But the no-hitter still had a chance.
Eddie Mathews, one of the best sluggers in the game, bunted Mantilla over to 2nd. With 1st base open and 1 out, the next batter was Hank Aaron. Pirate manager Danny Murtaugh ordered Haddix to intentionally walk him. It was the 39th batter of the game for Haddix, and his 1st walk. But it did set up an inning-ending double play.
There would be no double play. Joe Adcock was the next man up, and he hit the ball over the right-center field fence, into the bleachers, for a game-winning home run.
Or so everyone thought. With less than 2 outs, Aaron didn't know whether the ball would be caught, so he was stuck between 1st and 2nd base. He later said he thought the ball landed in front of the fence, so he got to 2nd base, and the next thing he knows, Adcock has passed him. National League President Warren Giles ruled that Adcock was out, since only Aaron was entitled to the base, and ruled that the final score was Braves 1, Pirates 0.
It didn't matter to Haddix: He had pitched 12 perfect innings, only to lose the perfect game, the no-hitter, the shutout, and the win. For his valiant effort, he walked away with only a loss.
God, or "the baseball gods," or Fate, or whatever you want to ascribe it to, made it up to Haddix: He became the winning pitcher for the Pirates in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, the Bill Mazeroski Game. (John Thorn included that game in his book, too.) He finished his career in 1965, with a record of 136-113, an ERA of 3.63, 1,575 strikeouts, 3 Gold Gloves, and a World Series ring.
Haddix later became a pitching coach. In 1991, Major League Baseball officially redefined a "no-hitter" as "a game in which a pitcher or pitchers complete a game of nine innings or more without allowing a hit." This retroactively disqualified Haddix: Despite his having thrown more perfect innings than anyone in a single game, his achievement was taken off the lists of perfect games and no-hitters. He said, "It's okay. I know what I did." So did everybody else. He died in 1994, at the age of 68.
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May 26, 1959 was a Tuesday. Ed Walsh, who pitched a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox in 1911, and was on the losing side of Addie Joss' 1908 perfect game despite striking out a then-record 15 batters, died that day. These other baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 12-2 at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox did this without Ted Williams, who did not play. Tom Brewer outpitched Bob Turley. Mickey Mantle went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Yogi Berra went 0-for-3.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson did not play for the Orioles. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4 with a walk for the Senators.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Frank Robinson went 1-for-4. The winning pitcher was former Brooklyn Dodger ace Don Newcombe.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Don Ferrarese (6 2/3rds innings) and Jim Perry combined for a 4-hit shutout.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Athletics, 9-5 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Al Kaline went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Roger Maris was on the A's roster, but did not play in this game. But future managing great Dick Williams hit a home run, and another, Whitey Herzog, went 3-for-4.
* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-4 at Seals Stadium in San Francisco. Sandy Koufax, not yet the superstar that he would become, started for the Dodgers, but ran out of gas in the bottom of the 9th, allowing a game-winning grand slam to Leon Wagner. Willie Mays went 1-for-2 with 2 walks.
* And the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals, arch-rivals, having wrapped up a series the day before, were not scheduled.
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