Jul 01

This Day in D.C Baseball History – Big Train’s No-Hitter

Earlier this year, Mark Hornbaker wrote a great post summarizing Walter Johnson‘s no hitter against the Boston Red Sox 92 years ago today at Fenway Park — The Big Train actually had a near perfect game through six innings.
Nor surprisingly, the ball that was used to record the final out is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, courtesy of  a donation from the Cushing family. So if you’ve never seen it before, here it is:
Here’s Mark’s post: Almost Perfect – Big Train’s No Hitter
As most of you know by now Phil Humber of the Chicago White Sox tossed a perfect game yesterday. Humber’s perfect game was the 21st perfect game in Major League history. This morning I wanted to see how close Washington’s Walter Johnson came to pitching a perfect game during his July 1, 1920 no-hit game against the Boston Red Sox.

I was amazed to find out that the Big Train missed pitching a perfect game by one error. The Big Train pitched a perfect game through six innings. In the bottom of the seventh inning Boston’s Harry Hooper hit a routine grounder to the Senators’ rookie second baseman Bucky Harris who misplayed the ball and allowed Hooper to reach first base.

The 24 year-old Bucky Harris went from being the star of the game when he drove in the game’s only run in the top of the seventh inning to being the scapegoat who ruinEd Johnson’s perfect game a half inning later

The Big Train registered his ninth and tenth strikeouts when he fanned the first two batters of the bottom of the ninth inning. Harry Hooper came to bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. This time Hooper almost ruined the no-hitter when he hit the ball over first base that is when the Senators’ sure handed first baseman Joe Judge made a remarkable play when he got his mitt on the ball and was able to throw the ball to Johnson who was covering first base for the third out.

Washington Senators 1, Boston Red Sox 0

Game Played on Thursday, July 1, 1920 (D) at Fenway Park

WAS A    0  0  0    0  0  0    1  0  0  -   1  7  1
BOS A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0  0  1
BATTING
Washington Senators          AB   R   H RBI      BB  SO      PO   A
Judge 1b                      4   0   1   0       0   1       2   1
Milan lf                      4   0   0   0       0   0       3   0
Rice cf                       3   0   1   0       0   1       3   0
Roth rf                       4   1   0   0       0   2       0   0
Shanks 3b                     4   0   3   0       0   0       1   0
Shannon ss                    3   0   0   0       0   1       1   0
Harris 2b                     2   0   1   1       0   1       0   3
Picinich c                    3   0   1   0       0   1      14   0
W. Johnson p                  2   0   0   0       1   0       3   0
Totals                       29   1   7   1       1   7      27   4
FIELDING - 
E: Harris (14).
BATTING - 
HBP: Rice (3); Harris (7).
Team LOB: 4.
BASERUNNING - 
SB: Rice (31).
CS: Shanks (1); Harris (8).
Boston Red Sox               AB   R   H RBI      BB  SO      PO   A
Hooper rf                     4   0   0   0       0   1       1   0
McNally 2b                    3   0   0   0       0   1       1   3
Menosky lf                    3   0   0   0       0   0       2   0
Schang cf                     3   0   0   0       0   2       0   1
McInnis 1b                    3   0   0   0       0   1      11   1
Foster 3b                     3   0   0   0       0   0       2   4
Scott ss                      3   0   0   0       0   0       3   3
Walters c                     2   0   0   0       0   1       7   3
  Karr ph                     1   0   0   0       0   1       0   0
Harper p                      2   0   0   0       0   2       0   1
  Eibel ph                    1   0   0   0       0   1       0   0
Totals                       28   0   0   0       0  10      27  16
FIELDING - 
DP: 1. Walters-McNally.
E: Harper (2).
BATTING - 
Team LOB: 1.
PITCHING
Washington Senators          IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP
W. Johnson W(8-8)             9     0   0   0   0  10   0  28
Boston Red Sox               IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP
Harper L(2-4)                 9     7   1   1   1   7   0  32
HBP: Harper 2 (2).
Umpires: HP - Ollie Chill, 1B - George Moriarty
Time of Game: 1:46
The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by
Retrosheet. Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at "www.retrosheet.org".

Doug is the author of the book A BITTER CUP OF COFFEE;  HOW MLB & THE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION THREW 874 RETIREES A CURVE.

Douglas J. Gladstone