39_frankreddonahueThe Philadelphia Phillies’ Frank “Red” Donahue threw a no-hitter against the Boston Beaneaters, 119 years ago today.

Donahue, who lost a league leading 35 games for the St. Louis (NL) Browns in 1897, was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies after the season. On Friday, July 8, 1898, he no-hit the 1897 NL pennant winners at National League Park. Donahue issued two walks and the Phillies committed one error.

“He gave the most brilliant exhibition of twisting the sphere that has been seen on the local grounds this season,” noted The Times of Philadelphia. “Not a Champion got beyond second base during the entire nine innings, and not a single Champion got a safe hit during the entire nine innings.”

The Beaneaters eventually adopted the name of the Braves, moving to Milwaukee and then Atlanta.

Category: This day in no-no history2 Comments
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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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