THE BOTCHED PERFECTO

Author

Matthew Garringer
May 28, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. We’re the kind of guys that grew up playing MVP ‘05 and Slugfest.

To this day, I can recite every word of “Tessie” by the Dropkick Murphys

Let's dive in.

Today's story is about a pitcher who was better than perfect and STILL lost.

In my opinion, this is even worse.

On May 26, 1959, Harvey Haddix had, potentially, the greatest pitching performance in the history of baseball.

Harvey was on the bump for the Pirates; facing off against the Braves.

Through the first nine innings he was absolutely perfect.

27 up, 27 down.

Apparently, that wasn't enough to get the Pirates a W that day.

The game went into extras, Haddix stayed on the mound, and miraculously carried the Perfect Game into the 13th inning.

So at this point, Harvey had retired 36 Braves hitters without a single walk, hit, or run.

Pittsburgh had TWELVE hits at this point, and still failed to manufacture a single run.

The bottom of the 13th was led off by Felix Mantilla, a reserve infielder for the Braves who had come into the game as a defensive sub in the 11th.

Mantilla hit a little dribbler to third, but Don Hoak, the Pirates third baseman, bounced the throw to first, allowing the runner to get on base and end the perfecto.

But Haddix still had the no-hitter intact.

But as we all know, this game only gives you so many chances before it punishes you for your mistakes.

Eddie Matthews sacrificed Mantilla to second, then the Pirates walked Hank Aaron.

Milwaukee's first baseman Joe Adcock stepped in the box with one out and two ducks on the pond.

On the second pitch, Haddix hung a slider and Adcock launched a dinger into the bleachers.

With one swing, Harvey lost the no-hitter, the shutout, and the win.

All he was left with was the best one-hitter ever thrown.

Funny enough, Hank Aaron, thinking the game was over, rounded second base and jogged off the field.

Thus, upon touching third, Adcock was called out and his home run, officially, went down as a double.

It was still enough to get Mantilla home, and walk off a 1-0 victory.

A good pair of sandals is a summertime essential.

Whether you’re on a beach or at the ballpark, these will come in clutch.

Some teams are already sold out, but they’re running deals on everything they have left!

The best part?

Every pair of Reef sandals comes with a bottle opener built into the shoe.

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

I bet you can’t say Greg Legg five times fast - I know I can’t.

Legg played 13 seasons in the Phillies organization, but only got 22 AB’s.

He did well, but never made it back to the Big Leagues for some reason.

Either way, he stayed with the Phillies, and has been a coach in their minor league system for over 30 years.

Legg helped develop guys like Ryan Madson, Carlos Ruiz and Ryan Howard in AA - which led to the Phils getting a World Series ring in ‘08.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

That's it for today. Tomorrow we're back at it like a bad habit. See ya!

If you like this email, don't keep it to yourself.

Or copy and paste this link to others: deadlegends.co