Ewell Blackwell Nearly Throws Consecutive No-Hitters

On June 22, 1947, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Ewell Blackwell came within two outs of throwing consecutive no-hitters. He had no-hit the Boston Braves on June 18. Four days later, against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Crosley Field, he carried another no-hitter into the ninth inning before Eddie Stanky singled with two outs.

Blackwell was six feet six and threw sidearm, an intimidating combination that made him nearly unhittable in the summer of 1947. Right-handed batters said the ball appeared to come from third base. His motion was so deceptive and his arm angle so extreme that hitters often bailed out of the box before recognizing that the pitch was a strike.

The June 18 no-hitter against Boston was his eighth straight win. Blackwell struck out three and walked four, and the Reds won 6-0. The game was clean but not dominant. He needed his defense behind him several times.

Against Brooklyn on June 22, Blackwell was sharper. He retired the first 24 Dodgers he faced. The Crosley Field crowd of 31,204, enormous for Cincinnati in that era, sensed what was happening. They stood for every pitch in the late innings. Jackie Robinson, in his rookie season, was in the Brooklyn lineup, along with Pee Wee Reese and Dixie Walker.

Stanky broke it up with a hard grounder that skipped between Blackwell's legs and into center field for a single with two outs in the ninth. Gionfriddo flied out, but Jackie Robinson followed with another single. Blackwell retired the final batter and won the game 4-0, but the bid for consecutive no-hitters was gone.

No pitcher had thrown consecutive no-hitters since Johnny Vander Meer did it in 1938, also as a Red. No one has done it since. Blackwell finished 1947 with a 22-8 record and a 2.47 ERA, the best season of his career. Arm trouble shortened his prime, and his effectiveness as a frontline starter was gone by 1952, though he pitched sporadically through 1955. But for those four days in June 1947, he was the most untouchable pitcher alive.