Happy 131st birthday, Grover Cleveland Alexander

Feb262018

Happy 131st birthday to Grover Cleveland “Ol’ Pete” Alexander, one of the greatest pitchers not to throw a no-hitter.

Alexander compiled a 373-208 record with a 2.56 ERA over a 20-year career with the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals. Alexander came close to a no-no in 1915. He was dominating the St. Louis Cardinals on June 5, 1915, and was one out away from a no-hitter when Cardinals shortstop Artie Butler popper a single into short center field. Alexander held on for a 3-0 complete-game one-hit shutout. It was the first one of his four career one-hitters.

Category: No-no birthdaysFebruary 26, 2018 Leave a comment

Tags: grover cleveland alexander phillies

Author: Dirk Lammers

http://www.nonohitters.com/about-the-author/

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).

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“… delightfully written … story after fascinating story about the most compelling characters and unlikely events.”

Matt SutherlandForeword Reviews ★★★★★

“It’s fantastic. My kinda baseball book. Just the right combo of pure stats, information, obscure history and incisive commentary. I know I’ll be going back to it often for reference (and, hey, maybe a song or 2!).”

Steve WynnMusician, The Baseball Project, The Dream Syndicate

“… an exuberant romp through the history of one of baseball’s most impressive achievements.”

Paul HagenMLB.com

“As an official scorer, I’m aware of the tension and drama when a pitcher takes a no-hitter into the later innings. In Baseball’s No-Hit Wonders, Dirk Lammers has captured this drama and added to it with insights and analysis for those who achieved this honor. Mixed in with fun facts about more than 100 years of no-hitters, Baseball’s No-Hit Wonders is entertaining and enlightening.”

Stew ThornleyMLB Official Scorer for Minnesota Twins games

“In “Baseball’s No-Hit Wonders,” Lammers takes a topic that might seem narrowly focused and opens it up with all sorts of interesting angles.”

Ross AtkinsChristian Science Monitor

“Like the book’s subject, Baseball’s No-Hit Wonders is full of intrigue, suspense and just enough random good fortune to go down in history. In revisiting the unforgettable and revealing the forgotten, Dirk Lammers deals a quirky treasure for baseball lovers.”

Jon SpringerAuthor of Mets by the Numbers

“This volume is the complete – and I mean fully complete – story of the no-hit games in the long history of Major league Baseball, and it will serve as the place to look if one wonders why baseball makes such a big deal of no-hit games. With prodigious research, Lammers has produced not just the bare bones of each no-hit game but adds to each game story the little and telling details that are so alluring.”

Fay VincentFormer MLB commissioner, foreword writer

“I do think you have a winning idea. This is a book that should sell. Bo Belinsky was my favorite, followed by Don Larsen, and the only one I saw in person, Bob Forsch.”

W.P. KinsellaAuthor of Shoeless Joe, adapted into "Field of Dreams"

“I loved reading about all of the no-hitters. There are a lot of things that I had no idea about, like “Hooks” Wiltse also losing his perfect game in the ninth inning but saving his no-hitter. Even if you do not know anything about baseball, this is a great book about the great history of the game.”