It seems like a long time ago for me, but at one point I was covering a minor league professional baseball team for my hometown newspaper, the Palladium-Item in Richmond, Indiana.
The Richmond Roosters were in existence for 11 seasons from 1995-2005. It was a fun time to follow the team through a pair of Frontier League championships in 2001 and 2002. I got to know so many players over that time and there several that I “see” regularly on social media.
One of the players who I saw pitch for an opposing team was Brett Gray. The Canadian right hander threw for the Kalamazoo Kodiaks in 1998 and the league champion London Werewolves the next season.
Gray would only last one game during the 2000 season with London.
On June 3, Gray tossed a three-hitter against the Chillicothe Paints in a 9-1 victory by the Werewolves.
As good as those stats appear, it was done in an independent league contest. My experience says, there could be a few scouts show up to look at 23-year old trying to make it to the next level in baseball.
However, it’s the 25 strikeouts he had that day that grabbed everyone’s attention. Two days later, he signed with the Cincinnati Reds and joined the Class A Dayton Dragons. He finished that year 5-3 with a 3.02 ERA.
In 2001, Gray was 10-4 for Class A Mudville. He made it to Double-A Chattanooga the next two years before playing in Single-A Potomac. He finished his career back in independent ball in the Northern League with Schaumburg.
Gray also pitched for Canada in the Baseball World Cup in 2001 and 2005 before injuries ended his career.
The Minor League Record
Ron Necciai was 19-years old when he tossed a no-hitter and fanned 27 for the Bristol Twins against the Welch Miners in a Class D Appalachian League 7-0 victory on May 13, 1952.
A walk, a hit batter, an error and a dropped third strike allowed four base runners to prevent a perfect game. There was a ground out in the second inning and he four strikeouts in the ninth.
In his next start, Necciai threw a two-hitter with 24 strikeouts. He had 109 strikeouts in 43 innings for Bristol as he went 4-0 with a 0.42 ERA.
Moving up to Class B Burlington-Graham, Necciai was 7-9 with a 1.57 ERA.
The big leagues proved to be a little tougher for Necciai as he was only with the Pirates at the end of the 1952 season. He finished 1-6 with a 7.08 ERA.
In his first three starts, Necciai pitched 16 innings and gave up 23 hits and 18 runs. He did have a three hitless innings of relief with five strikeouts against the Cincinnati Reds during that stretch.
Necciai’s victory came in his fourth start at home against the Boston Braves. He pitched eight innings giving up three runs on seven hits with just one strikeout. Murry Dickson came on after Necciai pitched to one batter in the ninth to earn a save in a 4-3 Pirates win.
Major League Best
Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood and Max Scherzer have each fanned 20 batters in a nine-inning game, but only one person has had 21 strikeouts.
Tom Cheney needed 16 frames to get to 21 as he posted a 2-1 victory for the Washington Senators in Baltimore. He had what would have been a season-high 13 strikeouts after nine, but the game was tied at 1-1.
Cheney gave up 10 hits and allowed a pinch-hit RBI single by Charlie Lau in the seventh inning.
After surrendering a single to Boog Powell in the eighth, Cheney didn’t give up a hit until the bottom of the 16th.
Bud Zipfel, who had a RBI ground out in the first inning for the Senators, hit what turned out to be the game-winning homer in the top of the 16th.
In eight seasons in the majors, Cheney was 19-29 as he worked for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Senators from 1957 to 1966. He pitched three games for the Pirates as they won the World Series over the New York Yankees in 1960.