On This Day: Ron Necciai Strikes Out 27 Batters

BRISTOL, TN, May 13th—In the Class D Appalachian League on this night in 1952, a 19 year-old righty from Monongahela, Pennsylvania, pitched one of the most impressive games in the history of professional baseball. 

Ron Necciai, a Pittsburgh prospect then on option with the Bristol (Va.) Twins, absolutely dominated the Welch Miners in a game in which he struck out twenty-seven batters in a nine-inning no-hitter. 

Twenty...seven. Let that sink in. And yet, three years later, Necciai was out of baseball at age twenty-two.

From The Cincinnati Enquirer; May 15th, 1952

It was Shaw Stadium in Bristol, Virginia, that would be the stage for this fairy-tale performance. Necciai had a special bond with the manager of the Twins. George Detore was a baseball lifer, and had been a longtime friend and mentor of Necciai's since the death of Necciai's father Attilio at age thirty-one. He was a steadying influence on the teenage fireballer, one that he sorely needed. The difficulty of adjusting to professional baseball was causing Necciai a tremendous amount of stress, most of which was being internalized, and would soon lead to a bleeding ulcer and a visit to a specialist. 

Necciai was tremendously gifted; he had a fantastic arm. The problem was, he didn't know how to use it. He was all over the place. A Pittsburgh barber named Tony Rockino discovered Necciai while he was pitching for Monongahela High in the suburbs, and passed this information on to the Pirates. The Pirates actually signed him as a first baseman, as Necciai had been moved to the position after breaking two ribs of an opposing batter with a wayward fastball, but after seeing his arm strength on display during practices they quickly moved him to the mound. It was Detore who broke the news to Necciai. 

After two frustrating weeks struggling to learn a new position, Necciai quit the game and returned to Monongahela. He was working in an auto parts plant when Charlie Muse, the scout who originally signed him, finally persuaded him to return to baseball. 

After only the briefest of moments with Salisbury and Shelby, Class D teams in the North Carolina State League and West Carolina League, respectively, Necciai returned to Salisbury and the steadying presence of Detore. Branch Rickey, who watched Necciai throw in spring training, convinced him to drop down to a sidearm delivery, and also taught him an overhand curve. Still, consistent control eluded him. Once again, Necciai was ready to head back to Pennsylvania and the auto parts plant, but Detore convinced him to remain.

The stress continued to eat him up, inside. The Pirates saw fit to push him all the way up to Class-AA (referred to as Class-B, back then) and the New Orleans Pelicans in the Southern League, an awful long way from the ranks of the Class-D ball, and the results were fairly predictable: 1-5 record, 8.45 ERA in 33 innings, but he did strike out 42, in the process.

Still, the organization was continually impressed with his potential, and he received an invitation to Spring Training for 1952. He performed reasonably well, all things considered, though he was now struggling with the bleeding ulcers, frayed nerves (chain-smoking in order to cope), and unpredictable control. He gave up two runs on four hits in three innings in an appearance vs. the St Louis Browns on March 9^th. He picked up a win vs. the San Francisco Seals on March 15^th, then struck out two and walked only one in five shutout innings on March 18^th against the Giants. In a 4-2 loss to the White Sox, Necciai gave up a run on two hits in two innings, striking out one. The Browns touched him up for four runs in the first inning of his March 26^th appearance, but he shut them out over the next four innings in the 4-2 loss. On April 5^th, the Cubs touched him up for three singles and a double, while Necciai cut loose two wild pitches, and allowed four runs in the 7-1 loss.

His lost time and continuing struggle with ulcers wore him down all through spring training (he was down to around 150 pounds, at the time), and the 6'5” righty pushed through it the best he could. He asked the organization to return him to Bristol in order to give him a little more time to get into game shape. On Opening Night in 1952, Necciai faced the Kingsport Cherokees and sent twenty of them down on strikes. In his next start, it was nineteen Ks vs. the Pulaski Phillies.

Then came the masterpiece that was his May 13^th start.

His catcher was an eighteen-year-old named Harry Dunlop (more on Mr. Dunlop, in a later post), a young man who was unknowingly beginning a lifetime career in baseball that would begin with 980 games at various levels in the minors, stints as a minor-league coach and manager, then 21 seasons as a major-league coach with the Royals, Cubs, Reds, Padres, and Marlins. Dunlop later recalled that Necciai threw an unnaturally-light fastball; that it barely felt like it hit the glove, as compared to other so-called “heavy” fastballs. He said it had a natural rise to it (perhaps owing to a tremendous spin rate), and that his curve would drop either to the left or right depending on subtle changes in fingertip pressure by Necciai.

Necciai cruised through the first six innings, and all the while the 1,183 fans present were beginning to count the strikeouts, yelling out the K count as the number became more and more unbelievable. At one point in the game, Detore had to send a glass of milk and a couple of stomach pills to the mound, as Necciai's gut was roiling like an active volcano. Detore said that he remembers Necciai throwing up in the dugout, at some point in the game.

In the ninth inning, pinch-hitter, Frank Whitehead managed to make just enough contact to lift a foul pop-up between home and first. First baseman Phil Filiatrault yelled at Dunlop, who had the ball in his sights, to drop it. Dunlop, of course, denies dropping the ball intentionally, instead blaming poor stadium lights. Nevertheless, the ball fell foul, Dunlop took the big “E” for his trouble, and Whitehead ended up striking out looking. 

Miners center-fielder Billy Hammond was strikeout #26, breaking the previous record of 25, set by Hooks Iott in 1941 and at the time the accepted nine-inning strikeout record. However, Hammond swung and missed at a curve that hit the plate and skipped past Dunlop, and reached first before Dunlop could make a play. 

Bob Kendrick, the Miners' cleanup hitter, stepped in representing the final chance that Welch had to break the mystical hold that Necciai seemed to hold over them, that night. It wasn't long before he, too, was out on strikes. That made it twenty-seven. 

Since Dunlop let a third strike get past him in the ninth inning, that meant the team would end up recording 28 outs that night. Two batters managed to put the ball in play: the aforementioned error came when shortstop Don DeVeau couldn't find the handle on a grounder in the third inning, and the other on a groundout to DeVeau in the second. Necciai was seemingly unfazed by his monumental performance, although the true meaning of it didn't set in until statisticians and writers began checking the record books. 

“I don't know what did it,” Necciai said after the game. “I just did my best and kept it up all the way.”

Interestingly, Necciai told bullpen catcher Don Becker before the game started that he didn't think he'd be able to go the distance, that night. 

In his final start for Bristol, May 21^st, Necciai was showered with gifts from fans in appreciation for his record-setting feat. That game, appropriately, was on “Ron Necciai Night”, an honor shown to him by the Twins and the Pirates organization. Necciai actually handed out his own gifts, as well: to Detore, he gave a watch with the inscription “To the man who made it possible”, and to every teammate he gave a fountain pen inscribed with the words “We did it on May 13th”. His mother even made the trip to Bristol, which Necciai hadn't expected.

Facing Kingsport that night, he struck out 24 batters and allowed a meager two hits in the shutout. 

At the end of his final game in Class-D for the 1952 season, Necciai had put up numbers which seem like typos: 109 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings, 20 walks, two earned runs on ten hits. His season ERA was 0.42. Nobody could touch him, at least that year. 

Even so, the 27-K game had a legitimate challenger for “most impressive performance of the season” in the Appalachian League. More on that, to come. 

On This Day: Detroit, Philadelphia Form Conga Line on Basepaths

PHILADELPHIA, MAY 9th-It was on this day in 1916 that the Detroit Tigers took on the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park, in what would become a game for the ages. Some such games are better than others; this one was a farce, with a sequel.

One could say that neither the Tigers nor A's pitchers had their best stuff, that day, and one would be spot on. The two teams combined to walk a total of thirty batters, an astounding total in any era.

RHP George Cunningham started for the Tigers, while fellow righty Jack Nabors took the mound for the Athletics, and both put up some ugly numbers. For Nabors, he faced only nine batters, five of whom accounted for three hits and two walks in the second inning. He walked three, allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits, and struck out not a single batter. Harry Weaver took over to pitch in the second inning, but he wasn't able to stem the onslaught. Weaver gave up four runs on only two hits, managed zero strikeouts and walked three in facing seven batters.

But it was southpaw Carl Ray who would upstage the pitchers of both teams. He took over in the third and promptly gave up a double and two walks but stranded them all. He also put up a scoreless fourth, despite the somewhat-less-than-perfect control. The fifth inning saw him surrender six more runs, but by now it hardly mattered to either side.

Ray went seven innings in relief, giving up seven runs on six hits (four earned), striking out three and walking an absurd twelve batters.

Cunningham, however, had an unusual line. He went only 2 1/3 innings, but allowed no hits and gave up only one run while walking six in the process, so he certainly mitigated the damage well enough. RHP Bernie Boland took over for Cunningham and performed slightly better; he went 6 2/3 to finish out the game, allowing one run on three hits, struck out two, and also walks half a dozen batters.

The A's further sabotaged themselves by committing five errors, two of which belonged to Nabors, both occurring in the first inning when he threw away a pair of comeback grounders. Philly shortstop Whitey Witt tacked on a pair of miscues, himself, in a season that would see him commit seventy-six more.

A bit of trivia about Witt: he was the first Yankee to bat in Yankee Stadium, and the first to score on a Babe Ruth homer.

Among the best performers that day at the plate were Ty Cobb (2-5, 2 R, 2 doubles, 4 RBI), LF Harry Heilmann (3-5, 2 R, 1 double, 3 RBI), and 1B George Burns (2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 Sac Hits). As for the A's, if any of them could have been considered "standout performers" on this particular day, it would have to be LF Bill Stellbauer, who went 2-4 with a double, a triple, and an RBI.

Often, when a team (or teams, as the case may be) has a poor performance like this, they bounce back in a big way the next day. For both the Tigers and A's, not so. Three pitchers (one Tiger, two Athletics) combined for eighteen walks in a 9-3 Detroit victory. Philadelphia righty Tom Sheehan went seven innings, giving up six runs on six hits (none earned; we'll get to that), walking seven ans striking out one batter. Nabors was at it again when he came in to relieve Sheehan, as he gave up three runs on four hits, struck out one and walked four in two innings. Once more, the A's committed five errors, one by Sheehan and two more by Witt (remember him?), while 3B Charlie Pick and C Wally Schang added one, each.

For the Tigers, George Boehler went the distance, allowing three runs on five hits, striking out seven but walking seven, as well. Considering the seven walks, five hits, one error by Donie Bush at short, and one hit batsman, the fact that Boehler allowed only three runs from fourteen base-runners that day was fairly impressive.

From The Philadelphia Inquirer; May 10th, 1916 (written by "Jim Nasium"...heh):

Back From The Dead

MAY 9th-Here we are in the second week of May, and I find myself missing my old digs.

Last year, it was SB Nation's Minor League Ball, where I got to work for and with one of my favorite writers from my early days as a fan: Mr John Sickels. Then I joined Baseball Prospectus, which was a real joy for me and a milestone in my relatively-nascent career as a baseball writer. At the end of the year, both sites shut down their minor-league coverage and we all went our separate ways. John ended up at The Athletic, which seems to have become The Home For Wayward Writers; seriously, they're snapping up some big, big names.

This year, I've been a writer/photographer for a site called Big Blue Banter, which helped me land a season pass to the University of Kentucky's baseball games. I also covered my first college softball game (also at UK), and that was a real blast. Talk about fast action; it's certainly not like covering baseball. It seemed like every single grounder led to a bang-bang play. I'd wanted to cover girls' softball for some time, and now that UK is heading to the SEC Tournament and further postseason play, I'll get to cover a bit more.

Apart from BBB, I haven't had a regular byline in 2019 apart from my occasional freelancing with The Jessamine Journal in Nicholasville. I started wondering why I didn't just write for myself, for a while, instead of putting in so much work at sites which paid little to nothing. After all, if I'm going to do this anyway, why not write what I want?

So I decided to dust off this old blog, where my earliest work was posted, and thought I'd take a shot at writing about whatever struck me as interesting. That covers an awful lot of ground. One day, I might write about current minor-league prospects. The next, I may bring up a bit of the history of professional baseball in Australia. It's likely that posts will be somewhat erratic, in the interest of full disclosure; sometimes, the spirit is plenty willing, but the flesh is a weak lump of dog poop.

Let's see where this road takes us, shall we? Oh, and I'll also take requests, from time to time.

Welcome to The Grand Old Game. 

Are You There, God? It's Me...Carlos

AUGUST 6th, 2015-This young man is Carlos Mesa. He plays for The Greenville Drive​ in the South Atlantic League. He's 27 years old, and yes, that's considered a bit old for Class-A ball. 

His numbers don't seem especially noteworthy; at first glance, one wonders what chance he has of advancing up the ladder. He does appear to have a significant amount of power. But numbers have nothing to do with why I'm posting this photo. 

Procyshen practices precision in putting the
pellet in play. Yeah, I know; sounds goofy.
But I'm a big fan of alliteration.

On April 21st, the Drive paid us a visit here in Lexington. Being a Red Sox affiliate, I naturally had to be there. Specifically, I was there to see catcher Jordan Procyshen, a recent draftee from Alberta, Canada, and a player at Northern Kentucky University. This being a double-whammy for me (Canadian AND with ties to Kentucky), I made him my first target. But Mesa caught my attention, as well. 

Every batter has a particular mental and physical approach that they go through before they walk to the batter's box. Mesa intrigued me with his, and I was seated not more than 10 feet from the on-deck circle so I couldn't have missed it. 

Before each at-bat, Mesa would go through the routine of taking some warm-up swings with the bat weight. He'd stretch a bit, watch the pitcher, try to work out his timing. 

Then he would kneel and pray. Each at-bat, no exception. He would just lean on his bat and pray for a moment. And I decided that I liked that. 

I'm not the most religious guy around. In many cases, I've often felt that 'religion' in and of itself is vastly overrated; that it's more of a show we perform for one another's own edification. God Himself may or may not have a role. But religion is a man-made construct, and has little if anything to do with true faith and belief. For my part, I most definitely believe in God. But that's just how I see it. 

And because I believe that God knows our hearts, no matter what we do outwardly, I believe that He will reward this young man's faith and perseverance (if he truly does believe; only God can know with certainty). 

Because I believe that what we say and do is reflective of what we feel in our heart to be right, I believe that this moment captured here in lights and bytes is an illustration of what Mr. Mesa holds dear. Again, only God can know for certain. 

In the world of professional baseball, his journey may never lead him to the Majors. But in his journey through life, he may be on a comparatively more significant path. His actions, his choices, will ultimately show what kind of man he is, and what he holds most precious in this world. 

Mesa hits one over the moon.

Nevertheless, I appreciated the gesture. I took it for what it was worth. And it stuck with me. Maybe it was just the timing of it all for me, but it made an impression; at least, enough of an impression that I made the decision to write here about it now. 

Each time, Carlos went though his routine: first tending to matters of game-related importance, then to decidedly more significant priorities. It made me smile. 

Incidentally, right after this image was shot, Mesa had a shot of his own. It flew out to left-center field and probably clipped a Cessna on its way out. Was it his praying that powered that missile?

Who knows for sure? But it couldn't hurt to try. 

Season Update Part 2: Lexington Legends, 6-18-2015

Until recently, Lexington’s pitching was a true strength. Thing is, the numbers don’t always tell the whole story.

While the team’s pitching overall has recorded a second-to-last 4.11 ERA in the South Atlantic League, there have been quite a few strong performances from both starters and relievers. Here’s just a little info on a few of those who have stood out to me the most:

RHP Evan Beal (2.05 ERA in 26 1/3 IP) has acquitted himself well after his 21^st round selection in 2014. Despite obvious struggles with control (16 BB thus far in 2015), he has also averaged a strikeout per inning and is mitigating the damage in preventing those base-runners from crossing the plate.

Lefty Matthew Strahm (2.08 ERA in 26 IP, 38 K, 12 BB) earned every bit of his recent promotion to High-A Wilmington. Rangy and almost whip-like in his delivery, Strahm showed good sink and tail on his fastball and solid command over his off-speed selections. A 21^st round selection in 2012, Strahm is likely to greatly surpass his draft position. Most impressive, this season: his 3 shutout innings in relief at Kannapolis on May 27^th in which he struck out 9 of a possible ten batters faced. Keep an eye on his progress.

Another youngster on this significantly talented team, Scott Blewett was KC’s 2^nd round pick last year. He’s had only 4 starts in pro ball, all this year, but he’s allowed only a total of 4 runs in those starts (17 IP, 4 BB, 20 K). It’s a little early to project what he’s going to show us this season, but he’s another one to keep an eye on. Guys like Blewett will keep Lexington in many a game.

LHP Emilio Ogando (2.70 ERA in 46 2/3 IP, 17 BB, 38 K) was a 12^th rounder in 2014, and has done nothing but put up strong numbers since he debuted in Rookie-League Idaho Falls last year. Appearing in 13 games so far in 2015 (3 starts), Ogando has shown an ability to perform well in both roles. He also has a solid tailing fastball and consistently keeps the ball low. I would expect his groundout rate to increase as the season progresses.

RHP Pedro Fernandez (3.25 ERA in 44 1/3 IP, 46 K) has been an important swingman for the Legends in 2015. In 11 games he’s made 6 starts for the team, recording a fantastic 0.95 WHIP as well as a K/BB ratio slightly over 3/1. In addition, batters are hitting only .183 against him. While he’s allowed a meager 2 homers in those 11 games, he’s shown himself to be a fly-ball pitcher throughout his career. As he climbs the ladder, this might end up hurting him significantly.

2012 sixth rounder Zach Lovvorn (3.56 ERA in 65 2/3 IP, 11 BB, 47 K) has been a stalwart in the Legends’ rotation. He’s allowed slightly more than a hit per inning, but has limited the damage by keeping his walks down and keeping his head with runners on. He’s also 6 innings or more in 5 of his last 10 starts, giving relief to the relief corps. Lovvorn has a bit of projectability left, and could end up sitting 93-94 on his velocity, and already shows a solid-plus changeup to go with easy arm action and good movement on his fastball (seems like a recurring trend with Legends pitchers).

That’s a quick view at some of our Legends staff, and there’s more to come soon as the season moves on.