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1966 • Baseball Clip • Bob Feller on No Hitters - Radio Show · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

• 0:00
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• 0:07
  It's not often when baseball fans can point to a pitcher and say he hurled two no-hitters in a week.
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  It's especially rare when a fan can say that it almost happened to the same team the second time.
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  I remember in 1938 when Cincinnati's great left-hander Johnny Van Dammeer pitched a no-hitter against the Boston Braves.
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  And I also remember Johnny coming right back and doing the same thing against the old Brooklyn Dodgers.
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  Well, nine years later, Cincinnati had a big fellow by the name of Yule Blackwell.
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  He could really fire that ball.
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  Matters compare Blackie to a man falling out of a tree when he came in with his sidearm pitch.
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  In June 1947, just nine years after Van Dammeer's double no-hit feat, Blackwell found himself in the same spot.
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  He had just no-hit Boston, and Cincinnati's next rival would be the Dodgers.
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  Blackwell didn't disappoint the loyal Reds fans this day.
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  Ending after ending, he mowed down the Dodgers.
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  The first inning, the second, the third, the fourth.
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  Blackie was pitching another no-hitter, but his opponent on the mound, Joe Hatton, was tough too.
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  In fact, Blackie and Joe were hooked up in not only a scoreless game, but neither had a lot of hit.
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  Hatton was wired in the fifth inning, and the Reds took advantage of it and scored a run, but they still failed to get a hit.
• 1:24
  In the sixth inning, the Reds finally broke the hitless spell.
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  Eddie Miller lined one of Hatton's pitches into left field corner for a double.
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  This took some of the tension off Hatton, but it still remained as Blackwell set the Dodgers down one, two, three, and the sixth.
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  Blackwell walked the first Dodger in the eighth, but he was quickly erased on a fast double play.
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  But Blackwell was not in trouble yet.
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  Duke Snyder was the next batter.
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  Blackie received more support from the fans as he reared back to pitch to Snyder.
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  Strike one, then strike two.
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  The park erupted with a roar as Snyder went down swinging.
• 1:59
  Eddie Miller drove in three more Cincinnati runs in the ninth, so Blackwell had a comfortable lead as he went into the ninth inning.
• 2:06
  Only three outs to go, and Blackie would join another Cincinnati hurr as the only pitcher ever to hurl back-to-back no-hitters.
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  We'll find out what happened in the ninth inning at Crowsley Field in 60 seconds.
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  Gene Hermansky was the first batter to face Blackwell in the ninth, and he lifted an easy fly to the outfield.
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  Only two more outs to go.
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  The next batter was Eddie Stanky, always dangerous to plate.
• 2:29
  He slammed the first pitch back to the mound through Blackwell's legs over second base, and into center field, the first Brooklyn hit.
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  Before the inning was over, Jackie Robinson had also signaled, but the damage had already been done.
• 2:43
  Blackie retired to side, and Cincinnati won the ballgame.
• 2:47
  But for a couple of pitches, Blackwell would have had a second straight no-hitter.