A Look at Dominating Phillies Pitching Performances: Rick Wise No-Hits the Reds in 1971


With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Rick Wise faced the Reds’ right fielder for the final out.  Up until this point, the only blemish on Wise’s performance had been a sixth inning walk to shortstop Dave Concepcion.  In order to preserve the no-hitter, and make history, Wise would have to retire one of the most dangerous hitters, and indeed, the eventual Major League hit king, Pete Rose.

The Phillies led 4-0.  Three of those runs were driven in by Wise himself, with a two run home run in the fifth and a solo shot in the eighth.

But now Wise bore down on Rose.  With a full count, Rose hit a line shot, right at third baseman John Vukovich.  The date was June 23, 1971.  It would be another nineteen years before another Phillies pitcher would throw a no-hitter.

Despite an All-Star season, where Wise won seventeen games and posted a 2.88 ERA, he would not return to a Phillies uniform in 1972.  Instead, Rick Wise would forever be known as the answer to a trivia question for Phillies fans, namely, who did the Phillies trade in order to receive Hall of Famer Steve Carlton from the Cardinals.

And yet, being remembered only for the trade that brought the left-handed strike-out king to Philadelphia fails to do justice for a solid career. Wise made a second All-Star appearance in 1973 for the Cardinals, when he won sixteen games and struck out 144.  In 1975, Wise received votes for both the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards, when he won nineteen games for the Red Sox.  Indeed, Wise was the pitcher of record when he came in relief in game six of the World Series, which the Red Sox won due to a Carlton Fisk home run.

After eighteen seasons, Wise ended his career with the Padres, having won 188 games and lost 181.  While Wise never posted Hall of Fame numbers, he still left an indelible mark in Phillies history having performed a most remarkable athletic feat one night in Cincinnati in 1971.
 
By:  William J. Kovatch, Jr.
 
References
 
Baseball Almanac, "Box Score of No-Hitter by Rick Wise," http://www.baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/06231971.shtml.
 
Baseball Almanac, "Cincinnati Reds vs Boston Red Sox October 21, 1975 Box Score," http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=197510210BOS.
 
Baseball-Reference.com, "June 23, 1971, Riverfront Stadium," http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197106230.shtml.
 
Baseball-Reference.com, "Rick Wise," http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wiseri01.shtml.
 
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hall of Fame Should Reverse the Slight to Dick Allen

Image
Despite a career average of .292, 351 total home runs, 1,119 total RBIs, the 1964 NL Rookie of the Year award, seven All-Star appearances, and the 1972 AL MVP award, during his fifteen years of eligibility of 1982 through 1997, Dick Allen never garnered more than 20% of the vote from the BBWAA for Hall of Fame induction. The oft-cited reason for this has been the character issue. Baseball writers viewed Allen as a divisive figure in the clubhouse. Bill James has accused Allen of “manipulat[ing] racism as an explosive to blow his teams apart.” But far from manipulating racism, Allen was a victim of racism, who was saddled with an undeserved reputation because of his reactions to regrettable treatment by players and fans alike.  Allen broke into the major leagues in Philadelphia, a city Curt Flood described as “[t]he nation’s northernmost southern city.”  Philadelphia was infamous for its treatment of Jackie Robinson when he broke the color barrier in 1947. The Phillies, led b
Read more

Jimmy Rollins: The Best of the Phillies Shortstops

Image
From a certain set of Phillies fans, Jimmy Rollins gets no love.   It’s hard to see why.   Rollins is only the all time Phillies leader in hits (2,306) and doubles (479).   In stolen bases, he’s second only to the legendary Slidin’ Billy Hamilton, whose numbers may be inflated due to how stolen bases were credited in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.   He’s second only to Mike Schmidt in extra base hits and total bases.   In triples, he is third behind Hall of Famers Ed Delahanty and Sherry Magee. Certainly, in a team that has suffered through the likes of Steve Jeltz and Ivan DeJesus, Rollins has been a highlight of the shortstop position. Having grown up in the 1970s, I loved Larry Bowa.   He was a team leader.   In his twelve years with the Phillies, Bowa batted .264 with 1,798 hits and 421 RBIs.   But, in his fifteen years with the Phillies, Rollins edges out Bowa, his mentor, with a .267 average, and 887 RBIs.   Additionally, Rollins’ career fielding
Read more

Dick Allen: Integrating Philadelphia’s Baseball Culture

Image
Much of what has hurt Dick Allen in reaching the Hall of Fame has been his reputation in the press of creating racial divisions on the teams for which he played. This is a reputation that has been perpetuated unfairly. To the contrary, Allen has been caught in a world where American society in general, and baseball in particular, has had to come to grips with racial discrimination. While white America preferred to sweep the problem of racial discrimination under the rug, players such as Allen were outspoken, refusing to let the issue be covered up. It is his outspokenness, when many Americans preferred to turn a blind eye to societal ills, that handicapped Allen’s chances of being inducted into the Hall, and which to this day haunts his candidacy.  Some have called Allen Philadelphia’s Jackie Robinson. And rightly so. Allen’s career was marred by racial discrimination by fans in Philadelphia. His endurance of this mistreatment, while acting as one of the greatest power hitters o
Read more