The Pitcher Who Never Came Out

The Pitcher Who Never Came Out (1906)

Jack Taylor of the Cubs beat Brooklyn 5-3, and nobody thought much of it. It was the last of 187 straight complete games, a streak that started in June 1901 and ran five years without a manager taking the ball from him. Four days later Frank Chance finally did, in the third inning. Taylor won 20 that season for a club that won 116, then went home to Ohio and mined coal. Nobody in the press noticed. Later researchers had to work it out.

The Streak Ends in His Brother's Glove (1949)

Dom DiMaggio batted five times at Fenway and made five outs against Vic Raschi. Groundout, fly out, strikeout, groundout, and then, in the eighth, one more fly ball to center. The center fielder was his brother Joe. That ended a 34-game hitting streak that is still the Red Sox record. Boston won 6-3, which was small comfort. There is no good way to have your season stopped by your older brother standing exactly where he needed to be.

Baseball Comes Back (1981)

The strike wiped out nearly two months and knocked the All-Star Game off the calendar. In its place, writers gathered in Cleveland and played a simulated version on a Strat-O-Matic board. When the real game was finally staged on August 9, 72,086 came, a record All-Star crowd at the time. Gary Carter hit two homers and took MVP, Mike Schmidt won it in the eighth, and the NL took it 5-4. Crews worked overnight to repair a field the Browns and Steelers chewed up hours earlier.

A Door Finally Opens (2025)

One year ago today, Jen Pawol worked first base in Atlanta and became the first woman to umpire a regular-season major league game. She was 48, out of West Milford, New Jersey, a former Hofstra catcher who started in rookie ball in 2016. Her first inning was quiet. When Xavier Edwards grounded into a double play in the third, she rang him up with a leg kick, because she had waited long enough to make that call. Afterward she gave her cap to the Hall of Fame.