Despite the opponent and the 4th of July holiday, only 41,077 fans come out to The Stadium. Why? Well, it is the 4th of July, and it's really hot, so it's a beach day, not a baseball day. And neither team is really in the AL East race. The Baltimore Orioles will end up winning the Division by 6 games over the Detroit Tigers, 7 over the Yankees, and 20 over the Red Sox.
This game would be totally forgotten by anyone who wasn't there... if it wasn't for Dave Righetti.
"Rags" was the AL's 1981 Rookie of the Year, and helped the Yankees win the Pennant. He was having a good season in 1983, good enough to be selected for the All-Star Game 2 days hence. But Yankee manager Billy Martin started Righetti on this day, meaning he couldn't pitch in the All-Star Game.
Righetti was also unhappy about the intense heat. He also didn't like that the game was delayed due to WPIX-Channel 11 broadcasters Phil Rizzuto and Frank Messer being on the field, running contests with prize giveaways. Pitchers, more than most players, are creatures of habit, and don't like things interfering with their routine.
Righetti didn't look fazed. In the 1st inning, he walked Jim Rice, but otherwise struck out the side. He ended up striking out 7 of the 1st 9 batters he faced. Retroactive Star Trek joke: Seven of Nine. For the Red Sox, resistance was futile.
Righetti walked Reid Nichols in the top of the 5th, but he was caught stealing. With 1 out in the bottom of the 5th, the Yankees got on the board, with 3 straight singles from Steve Kemp, Roy Smalley and Andre Robertson. Don Baylor hit a home run in the 6th, to make it 2-0.
Righetti walked Rice again in the 7th, but induced a double play to end the inning. In the 8th, Dave Winfield singled, Baylor and Butch Wynegar drew walks, and Kemp singled Winfield and Baylor home, to make it 4-0.
No Yankee had pitched a no-hitter since Don Larsen's World Series perfect game, 27 years earlier. Only 1 previous lefthander had pitched a no-hitter for the Yankees, and it was the 1st no-hitter in Yankee history: George Mogridge in 1917, 66 years earlier. And only twice before had a pitcher thrown a no-hitter on the 4th of July: Hooks Wiltse of the New York Giants in 1908, and George Mullin of the Detroit Tigers in 1912. (And none has since.) So this was a bigger deal than just a no-hitter, as big a deal as that is.
Righetti began the 9th by walking Jeff Newman. But he got Glenn Hoffman to ground into a force play that eliminated Newman. He got Jerry Remy to ground out, advancing Hoffman to 2nd. The batter was Wade Boggs, already considered one of the best hitters in the game, and a man who would go to make being very hard to strike out part of his reputation. But Righetti struck him out swinging.
Yankees 4, Red Sox 0. Righetti had his no-hitter.
Despite this, the following season, he was converted into a reliever. In 1986, he saved 46 games, a major league record, albeit one that stood for only 4 years. He turned out to not be as reliable as the Yankees had hoped, and his career looks like one of missed opportunities. He later returned to his native San Francisco Bay Area, and became the pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants, winning 3 World Series rings that way.
*
July 4, 1983 was a Monday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball that day:
* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-0 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Steve Carlton pitched a 4-hit shutout. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3 with a walk. So did Pete Rose.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* A doubleheader was split at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the opener, 7-2. The St. Louis Cardinals won the nightcap, 11-4.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Robin Yount went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI, Paul Molitor went 1-for-4, and Ben Oglivie hit a home run.
* The Montreal Expos swept a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago, 6-3 and 4-2.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 12-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4 at the Astrodome in Houston. Neither Astrodome nor the Metrodome was a good place for baseball, and, certainly, neither was a good place for baseball on the 4th of July: Fireworks never really worked well at an indoor stadium.
* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 5-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). George Brett went 0-for-3, but drew 2 walks. Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew were injured, and did not play, although Reggie did play in the All-Star Game.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 4-3 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 2-for-3 with a walk and 3 stolen bases.
* The Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays were supposed to play at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, but it was rained out. It was made up as part of on September 19, with the M's beating the Jays, 9-6.
* The Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers were supposed to play at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, but it was rained out. It was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 21. The Orioles swept it, 6-0 with a 5-hit shutout by Mike Boddicker, and 7-3. Eddie Murray went 2-for-7 with 2 walks and 3 RBIs, and Cal Ripken went 2-for-9 with an RBI.
No comments:
Post a Comment