July 9, 1969: The New York Mets host the Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium. The Mets had ranged from absolutely dreadful to merely mediocre over their 1st 7 seasons. But here, in their 8th season, and the 1st season of Divisional Play in Major League Baseball, came into the game just 4 1/2 games behind the Cubs in the National League Eastern Division. The day before, the Mets had beat the Cubs, 4-3.
The starting pitchers were Tom Seaver for New York, 13-3; and Ken Holtzman for Chicago, 10-4. Seaver, 24 years old, the 1967 NL Rookie of the Year and just named an All-Star for the 3rd time in as many seasons, breezed through the top of the 1st inning. Tommie Agee greeted Holtzman with a leadoff triple, and Bobby Pfeil doubled him home.
Holtzman got the 1st out in the bottom of the 2nd, but errors by 3rd baseman Ron Santo and shortstop Don Kessinger created RBI situations. Seaver, who had struck out the side in the top of the 2nd, helped his own cause by singling home Jerry Grote. And Agee doubled home Al Weis. It was 3-0 Mets. Cleon Jones hit a home run in the 7th, to make it 4-0.
That would be the final score, as Seaver kept sending the Cubs down. While he didn't have an overwhelming fastball, he had an array of pitches that all seemed to find the strike zone. As he got closer and closer to the achievement of not just a no-hitter, but a perfect game, the crowd of 50,709 got wilder and wilder.
In the 8th, Seaver got Santo to fly out, and struck out Ernie Banks and Al Spangler. They were his 10th and 11th strikeouts of the game.
The 9th inning began, and Shea Stadium hadn't been so loud since The Beatles played there. Three outs to go. Randy Hundley grounded back to Seaver. Two outs to go.
The batter was Jim Qualls. A 22-year-old rookie center fielder from Exeter, California -- 54 miles southeast of Seaver's hometown of Fresno -- was considerably less likely to break up the gem than were future Hall-of-Famers Banks, Santo and Billy Williams. But that's what he did, sending a looping single into short left-center field for a clean base hit.
Willie Smith was sent up to pinch-hit for pitcher Ted Abernathy, and Seaver induced a popup to 1st base. He then got Kessinger to fly to left to end it. Seaver had come very close to a perfect game, but had to settle for a 1-hit shutout.
This was the game that cemented Seaver as "The Franchise" to Met fans, and the game that served notice that the Mets' good start was not a fluke. They were not going to go away. A "Miracle" was in progress.
If there was a fluke, it was Qualls. It was the 12th hit of his major league career. There would be only 19 more.
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July 9, 1969 was a Wednesday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Stan Bahnsen started for the Yanks, Dave McNally for the O's. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Boog Powell singled off Ken Johnson, and Brooks Robinson singled him home. Earlier, Powell and Frank Robinson had hit home runs. Jerry Kenney, Ron Woods, Gene Michael (yes, the Stick) and Bobby Cox (yes, the future Braves manager) each got 2 hits for the Yankees, to no avail.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski hit a home run for the Red Sox. Al Kaline did not play for the Tigers.
* A doubleheader was split at at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Phillies won the opener, 7-1. The St. Louis Cardinals won the nightcap, 5-3. Over the 2 games, Lou Brock went 4-for-9 with 2 RBIs, and Joe Torre went 4-for-8 with an RBI. Each of them homered in the nightcap.
* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-0 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington. Joe Coleman Jr. pitched a 4-hit shutout. His father, Joe Coleman Sr., was also a major league pitcher, going 52-76 from 1942 to 1955, including as an original Baltimore Oriole in 1954. Joe Jr. went 142-135 from 1965 to 1979, helped the Detroit Tigers win the 1972 American League Eastern Division title, and was a World Champion in his last season, with the Pittsburgh Pirates. His son, Casey Coleman, was also a major league pitcher, going 8-13 from 2010 to 2014, including with the 2014 AL Champion Kansas City Royals.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Montreal Expos at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, 4-3 and 3-2. Jose Martinez won the 1st game with an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-6 with a walk. Willie Stargell went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew hit a home run, and Rod Carew went 1-for-4, but it wasn't enough.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 4-3 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Pete Rose went 2-for-5, and Johnny Bench went 1-for-4.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Hank Aaron went 2-for-4, including a single that drove in the Braves' only run.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 10-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.
* And a doubleheader was split at Sick's Stadium in Seattle. The Seattle Pilots -- a poorly-run franchise that went bankrupt, and were moved to become the Milwaukee Brewers during the following year's Spring Training, and were memorialized in Jim Bouton's 1970 book Ball Four -- won the 1st game, beating the California Angels, 8-0. Fred Talbot pitched a 3-hit shutout, and hit a grand slam home run. As Pilot manager Joe Schultz might have said, he zitzed 'em. As former Pilot pitcher Gary Bell might have said, he smoked 'em inside.
The Pilots had a promotion titled "Home Run for the Money": If a radio listener had his name drawn, he was assigned a certain hitter. If that hitter hit a home run in a certain inning, the listener won the jackpot. If the hitter in question hit a grand slam, there was a $25,000 bonus. Talbot's grand slam won $27,500 -- about $220,000 in 2022 money -- for Donald Dubois of Gladstone, Oregon.
Bouton and the other Pilot relievers decided to play a practical joke on Talbot. Talbot received a telegram, allegedly from Dubois, thanking him for helping him win the money, and saying that a check for $5,000 was in the mail. Since Talbot was making only $17,000 for the entire season, this was a big deal. It took 3 days without Talbot getting a check before Bouton slipped up and revealed to Talbot that he was behind the joke.
The Angels won the 2nd game, 5-0. George Brunet, soon to be traded to the Pilots (and, Bouton discovered, a man who never wore underwear), pitched a 5-hit shutout. John Gelnar was the losing pitcher. Bouton pitched 2 innings of relief, allowing 2 hits, but no runs and no walks, and struck out 3.
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