The no-hitter almost nobody saw

Per Roch:

On this date in 1968, Baltimore native Tom Phoebus tossed a no-hitter to defeat the Red Sox 6-0 at Memorial Stadium. He walked three, struck out nine and retired the last 12 batters.

The game was delayed 1 hour, 23 minutes by rain and drew 3,147 fans.

I watched this game on television. We had this really old black & white TV with an antenna, and on a good day I could get a snowy picture of Baltimore channel 13 at my house in Bethesda. Oriole games were only on TV occasionally in those days, so I was excited to get a rare chance to watch my favorite team. Getting treated to a no-hitter was very exciting, even if I did have to adjust the antenna 7,000 times during the course of the broadcast!

I remember virtually no details about the game, but BB-ref shows that Brooks Robinson hit a bases loaded three-run double in the bottom of the third inning, and Davey Johnson had two RBI singles.

Per Roch:

I watched this game on television. We had this really old black & white TV with an antenna, and on a good day I could get a snowy picture of Baltimore channel 13 at my house in Bethesda. Oriole games were only on TV occasionally in those days, so I was excited to get a rare chance to watch my favorite team. Getting treated to a no-hitter was very exciting, even if I did have to adjust the antenna 7,000 times during the course of the broadcast!

I remember virtually no details about the game, but BB-ref shows that Brooks Robinson hit a bases loaded three-run double in the bottom of the third inning, and Davey Johnson had two RBI singles.

Thanks.

Maybe hardly anybody saw it, but it's the 2nd time today that it has been recognized on the OH:

On this date in 1968, Tom Phoebus threw a no-hitter to defeat the Red Sox by a score of 6-0 at Memorial Stadium.

https://twitter.com/masnRoch/status/725383001778081792

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/72461-Who-was-your-favorite-Orioles-non-superstar/page8

Whats weird? Blefary caught the game. No Etchebarren nor Elrod.

How many games did Clank catch in his career?

How many games did Clank catch in his career?

66. 57 starts. Never caught a single inning until 1968, af the age of 24 despite turning pro as a teenager. Apparently was made a catcher in the majors. The expeiment ended with the O's after that season, but he caught a handful of time after he left Baltimore several years later.

Does anyone know the story here? Can you even imagine, say Mark Trumbo, catching 50 games this year? Buck would sooner have Dempsey come out of the booth to catch in his 60s.

66. 57 starts. Never caught a single inning until 1968, af the age of 24 despite turning pro as a teenager. Apparently was made a catcher in the majors. The expeiment ended with the O's after that season, but he caught a handful of time after he left Baltimore several years later.

Does anyone know the story here? Can you even imagine, say Mark Trumbo, catching 50 games this year? Buck would sooner have Dempsey come out of the booth to catch in his 60s.

According to his wiki:

Nicknamed "Clank" by Frank Robinson, in part for his below-average fielding abilities, Blefary started his career in the outfield, tried at first base, then switched to catcher, in an effort to keep his bat in the lineup.

According to his wiki:

That just seems... odd. The catcher is involved defensively in every pitch, and you're going to let a bad left fielder learn the position with OJT in-season?

Found this fascinating: Curt Blefary's numbers during his 4 years in Baltimore:

Year / Age / OPS

1965 / 21 / .851

1966 / 22 / .839

1967 / 23 / .750

1968 / 24 / .623

Any idea what happened? He would only top .700 one more time in his career in 69, then he was out of baseball by age 29.

Earliest peak ever?

Found this fascinating: Curt Blefary's numbers during his 4 years in Baltimore:

Year / Age / OPS

1965 / 21 / .851

1966 / 22 / .839

1967 / 23 / .750

1968 / 24 / .623

Any idea what happened? He would only top .700 one more time in his career in 69, then he was out of baseball by age 29.

Earliest peak ever?

Pure speculation: They tried to convert him to catcher during the biggest pitcher's season from 1920-present. He went from 3-4 wins to ~0, and the pressure/frustration derailed his career. Traded to the Astros when the Astrodome was the best pitcher's park in baseball, that was probably a contributing factor. Was also a low-average power hitter with good plate discipline in an era where batting average was still supreme, so he may have gotten pressured to change the approach that made him successful.

Fits the narrative, no idea how much of that is true.

Eh, he was with the Astros in 1969 only, and that's when he rebounded a bit. He had a .766 Home OPS that year.

Things went bad when he went to NY the next year, and he never really recovered after that. The rest of your guesses may have been some part of it.

It's really sad if you read his entire wiki article. Sounds like he was a really emotional guy, and I bet being traded around got to him. He says he blamed his offensive decline on all the defensive shuffling.

Sounds like after he left the game he never stopped trying to get back involved with MLB, but never could do it successfully...........and his final request was that he be buried at Memorial Stadium. he died in 2001 and was cremated there which happened to be the year the city demolished the stadium so that at least worked out.

I feel like there's a movie in here somewhere............even if it's just a sappy made-for-TV movie.

Quite a rise and fall.