Jimmy Lavender

Jimmy Lavender

Chicago Cubs pitcher Jimmy Lavender’s no-hit the New York Giants, 101 years ago today

Lavender’s gem came during the first game of a Tuesday, August 31, 1915 doubleheader at the Polo Grounds.

The Giants’ Fred Merkle, immortalized by a 1908 baserunning blunder that became known as “Merkle’s Boner,” was the only New Yorker to reach first base this game. He took first once on a second-inning error by Bob Fisher and another time on Lavender’s only walk in the eighth. Merkle never reached second.

Also throwing a no-hitter on this date is the Chicago White Sox’s Vern Kennedy, who no-hit the Cleveland Indians on Saturday, August 31, 1935 at Comiskey Park — 80 years ago today.

Category: This day in no-no history1 Comment
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Author: Dirk Lammers

Dirk Lammers is a veteran journalist who began rooting for the New York Mets in the early-1970s when the team’s no no-hitter count was barely 2,000 games old. Lammers has since turned his research into Baseball’s No-Hit Wonders: More Than a Century of Pitching’s Greatest Feats (Unbridled Books) and NoNoHitters.com, where he maintains the Internet's largest archive of no-hitter information.

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