Wee Willie Goes Deep
Two homers from a man who never hit any, a bolt from the sky, twenty losses undone, and three outs that never came.
Ed. 08.24.26
Wee Willie Goes Deep (1904)
Willie Keeler built a Hall of Fame career out of singles. He hit .341, collected 2,932 hits, and finished with 33 home runs, 30 of which never left the ballpark. On this afternoon at Hilltop Park, the smallest man in the New York lineup hit two of them in the same game, both inside the park, in a 9-1 win over the Browns. The man who told hitters to hit 'em where they ain't spent one day proving he could also hit them where nobody could get there in time.
The Bolt at League Park (1919)
Ray Caldwell had been released by Boston in July and was pitching his first game for Cleveland. He carried a 2-1 lead into the ninth and retired the first two Athletics as the sky went black. Then lightning struck the field and Caldwell went down on the mound. His teammates thought he was dead. He got up, stayed in, and retired the last batter for a complete game. Seventeen days later he no-hit the Yankees, the club that had let him go the year before.
Twenty Down, One Up (1943)
Connie Mack's Athletics had not won a game since August 6. When they dropped the opener in Chicago 6-5, the streak reached 20, tying the American League record. Then they came back out for the nightcap, scored eight in the second inning, and won 8-1, ending the thing on the same afternoon they matched the mark. They finished 49-105. For one hour, the worst team in the league remembered how.
Three Outs Short (1985)
Dave Stieb had not allowed a hit through eight innings in Chicago, and he said afterward that his arm had already begun to tighten. Rudy Law led off the ninth with a home run. Bryan Little hit another. Gary Lavelle relieved him and Harold Baines hit a third, three straight, before Tom Henke closed out a 6-3 Toronto win. Stieb would lose two more bids with two outs in the ninth before finally getting his no-hitter in 1990.
