In the 149-year history of Major League Baseball there’s only been *one Opening Day no-hitter. It was thrown by Cleveland Indians’ 21-year-old future Baseball Hall of Famer, Bob Feller.
A special Fan Teaser within a Fan Teaser, there has actually been one other Opening Day no-hitter, thrown by the man in the following photo. It occurred on May 5, 1946, as the Newark Eagles defeated the Philadelphia Stars in the Negro National League opener, 2-0. We’ll get to him in a moment.
It was not Feller’s best-ever performance, as he walked five batters and was, by his own admission, wild early. He did fan eight White Sox and has the claim to fame of owning the first Opening Day no-hitter in MLB history during Cleveland’s, 1-0, victory. (Full boxscore here.)
no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental
Graphics, Getty Images)
Six years later another Baseball Hall of Famer, Leon Day, joined Feller in keeping the opposition hitless. Of course it would be another 78 years until MLB began crediting Negro Leagues statistics in the official record. Making Day’s feat even more remarkable is the fact that he was just discharged from the Army in February of 1946 and rounded into form by Opening Day.
Since Day’s no-no, there’s only been one other pitcher hold the opposition hitless into the ninth inning on the season opener: Philadelphia Phillies’ Hall of Famer Robin Roberts against the New York Giants on April 13, 1955. Alvin Dark laced a 1-out single in the ninth to break it up.
Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.