17 Inning No Hitter
A forgotten gem
17 Inning No Hitter
I came across this image on Twitter earlier today:
I was curious, so I decided to take a look and see what I could find.
The pitcher in question is Fred Toney. He threw this 17 inning no-hitter for a team in Winchester, Kentucky back in 1909. Toney would go on to a long and successful major league career, though he never really had a game like this one again.
Let’s take a look.
No Hitter Celebration
Every now and then I read things about the early days of baseball intended to make you believe that no hitters were treated as something commonplace in the deadball era.
That couldn’t be further from the truth. And, yes, this game was a big deal.
Sadly, I don’t have access to any Winchester, KY newspapers from the correct date in 1909. But we can get really close:
This article was from Louisville, KY, which is as close as we’re going to get in this case.
A few interesting things stand out:
The attendance somehow increased as the game went on (probably an exaggeration?).
Baker, the Lexington pitcher, also pitched a 17 inning complete game, only giving up a single run.
The winning run scored on a squeeze play, which was the second bunt of the inning (told you they bunted more often in those days).
The whole thing only took 2 hours and 45 minutes to beat. Don’t tell the Commissioner.
Here’s an account from Lexington:
The boxscore here gives you an idea of just how dominating Toney was on this day. Of the 51 outs his defense recorded, only 6 were recorded by outfielders — including no fly balls to right field. Toney also only gave up a single walk, and managed to pitch around 4 errors despite his side not turning a single double play.
And here’s one more report from another Lexington paper:
There were only 300 people in attendance.
And, if you’re curious, here’s what the Bluegrass League standings looked like that day:
Word Spreads
Word of this feat did spread eventually, though it took a little while for news to be reported in those days.
Variations of the following wire piece, complete with photo, were printed in papers around the country a week and a half later:
It’s not quite getting your highlight reel on Twitter, but it will do.
Also note that there was no talk of Toney leaving Winchester until he could be drafted in the fall. We’ll talk more about the old minor league system later.