Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Hard-Luck Harvey Haddix and the Greatest Game Ever Lost by Lew Freedman Harvey Haddix's near-perfect game. On May 26, 1959, Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched a perfect game for 12 innings against the Milwaukee Braves, but lost the no- hitter and the game in the 13th inning. The game was played at Milwaukee County Stadium. [1] Contents. The 13th inning Aftermath References External links. Haddix' perfect game bid was broken up in the bottom of the 13th inning, when a throwing error by Pirate third baseman Don Hoak allowed Félix Mantilla to reach base. Haddix lost the no-hitter, and the game along with it, when Joe Adcock hit what appeared to be a walk-off three-run home run. A baserunning mistake caused Adcock's home run to be ruled a one-run double by National League President Warren Giles, some time later. Braves starter Lew Burdette, despite giving up eight hits through nine innings, was pitching a shutout of his own. Three times, the Pirates came close to scoring the winning run for Haddix. In the third inning, a baserunning blunder by Hoak negated three consecutive singles; in the top of the ninth inning, Bill Virdon, after reaching base on a one-out hit, advanced to third on Rocky Nelson's single; however, Bob Skinner grounded back to Burdette to end the threat. In the 10th inning, with the Pirates still scoreless, slugging pinch hitter Dick Stuart flied out to center fielder Andy Pafko on a ball that came within a few feet of being a two-run home run. The Pirates also recorded hits in the 11th, 12th and 13th innings, but left a runner on base in each of the latter two innings. [1] In 1989 it was revealed that during the game the Milwaukee bullpen tracked Haddix's intended pitches and signaled the batters what pitch was to come. All the players except Hank Aaron took the stolen signals. The 13th inning. Félix Mantilla, who entered the game in the 11th after Del Rice had pinch-hit for Johnny O'Brien, was the Braves' first hitter in the 13th inning. Mantilla hit a ground ball to third base, Hoak fielded the ball cleanly but threw wide to first, pulling Nelson off the base. Mantilla was then sacrificed to second by Eddie Mathews. Haddix, his perfect game bid gone but his no-hit bid still intact, then intentionally walked Hank Aaron to set up a double play situation for the slow-footed Adcock, who had already grounded out twice earlier in the game, striking out the other two times. Adcock hit a fly ball to deep right-center field, just beyond the reach of right fielder Joe Christopher, who was making his Major League debut (he replaced Román Mejías in right field after Stuart had pinch-hit for Mejías), for an apparent home run, the ball landing between the outfield fence and another fence behind it, in front of a line of pine trees. [2] Mantilla rounded third and touched home plate for the winning run; however, in the confusion, Aaron saw the ball hit the second fence but did not realize it had carried over the first and, thinking that the game had ended when Mantilla scored the winning run, rounded second and headed for the dugout. Adcock rounded the bases, running out his home run. First base umpire Frank Dascoli ruled that the final score was 2-0; he was overruled by National League president Warren Giles, who changed Adcock's home run to a double and declared that only Mantilla's run counted for a final score of 1-0. [2] [3] [4] In addition to Stuart being used as a pinch hitter, two other Pirate regulars did not play in this game: Dick Groat, who would win the 1960 National League Most Valuable Player Award, was mired in a slump and had been benched, and Roberto Clemente was sidelined with a sore shoulder. Aftermath. In 1989, during a banquet attended by players from both teams commemorating the game's 30th anniversary, Milwaukee pitcher Bob Buhl told Haddix that the Braves' bullpen had stolen signs from Smoky Burgess, the Pittsburgh catcher, who was exposing them due to a high crouch. From their bullpen, the Braves pitchers repeatedly repositioned a towel to signal for a fastball or a breaking ball, the only two pitches Haddix used in the game. If a fastball was coming, the towel was made visible to the batter; if a breaking pitch was coming, the towel was out of sight. Despite this assistance, the usually solid Milwaukee offense managed only the one hit. All but one Milwaukee hitter, Aaron, took the signals. [2] Haddix's 12 2/3-inning complete game, in which he struck out eight batters against a team that had just won the previous two National League pennants (including the 1957 World Series championship), and featured one of the top offensive lineups in the Major Leagues, is considered by many to be the best pitching performance in big league history. Pirate second baseman Bill Mazeroski would say, "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." [2] In 1991, Major League Baseball changed the definition of a no-hitter to "a game in which a pitcher or pitchers complete a game of nine innings or more without allowing a hit." Under this new definition, Haddix's masterpiece was one of 12 extra-inning no-hitters to be struck from the record books. Haddix's response was, "It's O.K. I know what I did." [2] Haddix's near-perfect game is immortalized by the Baseball Project, whose song, "Harvey Haddix", appears on their 2008 debut album, Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails . [5] Related Research Articles. In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a single hit through conventional means. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter". In most cases, no-hitters are recorded by a single pitcher who throws a complete game; one thrown by two or more pitchers is a combined no-hitter. Joseph Wilbur Adcock was a major league baseball player and manager in the Major and Minor Leagues. He was best known as a first baseman and right-handed slugger with the powerful Milwaukee Braves teams of the 1950s, whose career included numerous home run feats. A sure- handed defensive player, he later retired with the third highest career fielding percentage by a first baseman (.994). His nickname "Billy Joe" was modeled after Vanderbilt University basketball star "Billy Joe Adcock" and was popularized by Vin Scully. The 1960 World Series was played between the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League (NL) and the New York Yankees of the American League (AL) from October 5–13, 1960. In Game 7, Bill Mazeroski hit the series winning ninth-inning home run, the only time a winner-take-all World Series game ended with a home run. Harvey Haddix, Jr. was an American professional baseball left-handed pitcher and pitching coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1952–1956), Philadelphia Phillies (1956–57), Cincinnati Reds (1958), Pittsburgh Pirates (1959–1963), and Baltimore Orioles (1964–65). The 1958 World Series was a rematch of the 1957 World Series. The New York Yankees defeated the defending champion Milwaukee Braves in seven games for their 18th title, and their seventh in 10 years. With that victory, the Yankees became only the second team in Major League Baseball history to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win a best-of-seven World Series; the first was the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1925. These teams would meet again in the fall classic 38 years later—by that time, the Braves had moved to Atlanta. As of 2019, this is the most recent World Series featuring the two previous Series winning teams. The 1957 World Series featured the defending champion New York Yankees of the American League playing against the Milwaukee Braves of the National League. After finishing just one game behind the N.L. Champion Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956, the Braves came back in 1957 to win their first pennant since moving from Boston in 1953. The Braves won the Series in seven games, behind Lew Burdette's three complete game victories. The Braves would be the only team besides the Yankees, Dodgers, or Giants to win a World Series title in the 1950s. Selva Lewis Burdette, Jr. was an American right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played primarily for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves. The team's top right-hander during its years in Milwaukee, he was the Most Valuable Player of the 1957 World Series, leading the franchise to its first championship in 43 years, and the only title in Milwaukee history. An outstanding control pitcher, his career average of 1.84 walks per nine innings pitched places him behind only Robin Roberts (1.73), Greg Maddux (1.80), Carl Hubbell, (1.82) and Juan Marichal (1.82) among pitchers with at least 3,000 innings since 1920. Forrest Harrill "Smoky" Burgess , was an American professional baseball catcher, pinch hitter, coach, and scout, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1949 to 1967.