Happy birthday to “Cannonball” Dick Redding, a Negro Leagues pitcher who threw a Lincoln Giants no-hitter against the Cuban Stars in 1912 and likely threw dozens more.
Redding, born on this date in 1890 in Atlanta, no-hit the Cuban Stars at Inlet Park in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Wednesday, August 28, 1912 for a 1-0 victory.
Redding played for a variety of teams from 1911 through 1928 and has been noted over the years as throwing as many as 30 career no-hitters — seven in 1912 alone. Unfortunately, finding box scores for Negro Leagues games is a challenging endeavor and not all those games were against top talent, so it’s tough to add more to our list.
One other Redding no-hitter was referenced in the New York Press story about the August 28 no-no — an August 5 perfect game against the Cherokee Indians during that club’s East Coast barnstorming tour. According to a New York Press clip about that game, Redding blanked the visiting Cherokees for a 1-0 win at New York’s Olympic Park, using his speed and control to strike out 14 batters while not allowing a single base runner. The game is not on our Negro Leagues list, as the eight Negro Leagues teams generally considered to be top-level during the 1912 season were the Lincoln Giants, the St. Louis Giants, the Chicago American Giants, the Cuban Stars, the Brooklyn Royal Giants, the Leland Giants, the West Baden Sprudels and the French Lick Plutos.
