Birthday wishes to Buchholz, Horlen and Dean

Happy 31st birthday to Clay Buchholz, who threw a no-hitter as a Boston Red Sox rookie on September 7, 2007. Other no-no throwers born on this day are Joel “Joe” Horlen (1937) and Paul Dean (1912).

Buchholz, sidelined since July 10 this season with an elbow injury, threw a no-no in just his second career start as the Red Sox topped the Baltimore Orioles 10-0 at Fenway Park. Buchholz walked three batters and struck out nine.

Horlen, who turns 78 today, tossed a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox during the first game of a Sunday doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers on September 10, 1967. Horlen didn’t walk a single Tigers batter but hit one with a pitch as the Sox topped the Tigers 6-0 at Comiskey Park. Another base runner reached on an error.

Dean, the brother and St. Louis Cardinals teammate of Dizzy Dean, no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers during the second game of a Friday, September 21, 1934 doubleheader at Ebbets Field. (Dizzy Dean notched a three-hit, complete-game shutout in game one.) Paul Dean’s no-no broke the longest no-hitter drought in Major League baseball history in terms of game days at 535, a record that stands today.