On September 4, 1993 I took my son (then age 9) to what I consider to be the greatest athletic feat I have ever seen.  It was the Yankees versus the Indians at Yankee

Yankee Stadium Matinee, ltd ed litho

Stadium and Jim Abbott, born with one arm, pitched a no-hitter against one of the best hitting teams in baseball.  Nobody ever seems to talk about it.

As a hoot in about the 4th inning I said to my son, “Abbott hasn’t allowed a hit yet, but let’s not jinx him.”  So instead of talking about it I suggested we wink every time he got an out.  Wink wink wink wink wink wink wink wink… When Carlos Baerga, who hit .321 that year,  grounded out to short to end the game, the place went nuts.  When we got home, my wife said to our son, “I don’t ever want to hear you say, ‘I can’t.’”

It was the second no-hitter I attended.  On my 18th birthday, June 4, 1964, I went with

Dodger Thirty-Two, ltd ed litho

a friend to Connie Mack Stadium to see my beloved Phillies play the Dodgers.  Sandy Koufax against Chris Short (remember the 1964 Phillies: Short and Bunning and then start running- collapse).  Koufax was damn near perfect that day. He faced the minimum. He walked Dick Allen who was promptly erased by a double play, and he never allowed another runner.

Someone else shared both of those no-hitters with me, Frank Howard.  Howard had won the game for Koufax with a 3 run homer in the 6th, the only runs of the game.  He was also the the first base coach for the Yankees in 1993.   Me and Frank Howard. Frank Howard and me. However, back to Jim Abbott.

Does anyone care to comment on a greater athletic feat than Jim Abbott’s no-hitter?

No Hitter Box Score June 4, 1964 Connie Mack Stadium

Name Pos AB R H RBI Willie Davis cf 4 0 0 0 Maury Wills ss 4 0 1 0 Jim Gilliam 3b 4 1 1 0 Tommy Davis lf 4 1 2 0 Frank Howard rf 3 1 1 3 Ron Fairly 1b 1 0 0 0 Ken McMullen 1b 3 0 1 0 Wes Parker rf 1 0 1 0 Doug Camilli c 4 0 0 0 Dick Tracewski 2b 3 0 1 0 Sandy Koufax p 3 0 1 0 Totals 34 3 9 3 Name Pos AB R H RBI Cookie Rojas cf 3 0 0 0 Johnny Callison rf 3 0 0 0 Dick Allen 3b 2 0 0 0 Danny Carter lf 3 0 0 0 Gus Triandos c 3 0 0 0 Roy Sievers 1b 3 0 0 0 Tony Taylor 2b 3 0 0 0 Ruben Amaro ss 3 0 0 0 Chris Short p 2 0 0 0 Ed Roebuck p 0 0 0 0 Ray Culp p 0 0 0 0 Bobby Wine ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 26 0 0 0 Hitting & Fielding Notes Doubles: Tracewski, Parker. Double Play: Philadelphia 1. Error: Allen. Home Run: Howard. Left On Base: Los Angeles 4, Philadelphia 0.

Line Score Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Los Angeles 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 9 0 Philadelphia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Name IP H R ER BB SO Sandy Koufax (W) 9 0 0 0 1 12 Name IP H R ER BB SO Chris Short (L) 6.2 8 3 3 0 4 Ed Roebuck .1 0 0 0 0 0 Ray Culp 2 1 0 0 0 2

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