Nick Maddox only played four seasons in the major leagues for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In that short amount of time, Maddox became one of two players in the history of the Pirates to throw a no-hitter and win a World Series game.
The 20-year old rookie’s no-hitter was a Pirates 2-1 win over Brooklyn on Sept. 20, 1907. All three runs in the game were scored on errors.
Brooklyn scored in the top of the fourth on errors by Maddox and Honus Wagner.
In the fifth, the Pirates tied the contest on a miscue by Tim Jordan. Two innings later, another error by Jordan gave the Pirates the winning run.
Maddox had five strikeouts as he walked three and hit another batter, while his counterpart for Brooklyn, Elmer Stricklett, gave up a pair of hits to Fred Clarke. Ironically, Clarke didn’t score either run for the Pirates.
Stricklett walked four and didn’t strikeout a batter in his unlucky effort.
Two years later, Maddox likely wasn’t as sharp on the mound during game three of the World Series against the Detroit Tigers, but that didn’t matter.
Pittsburgh scored five times in the first inning as Maddox tossed a complete game in an 8-6 victory as the Pirates were on their way to winning the World Series. Maddox gave up 11 hits and fanned four in the contest as he surrendered just one earned run as the Pirates committed a pair of errors.
A 20-Game Winner
After posting a 5-1 record in his rookie season, Maddox was 23-8 the following summer in 1908.
Maddox was 13-8 in 1909 before falling to 2-3 in his final season of 1910.
The Maryland native was 43-20 over his four seasons with the Pirates.
Once his big league career was over, the right-hander pitched four more seasons in the minors until 1914. His best year was in 1911 when he was 22-13 for the Kansas City Blues of the American Association.
Other No-Hitters
John Candelaria is the only other Pirate to toss a no-hitter and win a game in the World Series. He also won 20 games in 1977.
Candelaria held the Los Angeles Dodgers without a hit in 1976, while later winning game six of the 1979 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles.
Overall, there have been six no-hitters in the history of the Pirates.
After Maddox, Cliff Chambers was next in 1951 followed by Bob Moose in 1969 and Dock Ellis in 1970.
The most recent no-hitter for the Pirates was when Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon combined for a 10-inning affair in 1997.
Like Maddox and Candelaria, Moose and Ellis were members of a world championship team with the Pirates, but neither was able to post a victory during the 1971 World Series.