{"id":130,"date":"2018-07-21T15:45:11","date_gmt":"2018-07-21T20:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/?page_id=130"},"modified":"2023-05-30T11:12:42","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T16:12:42","slug":"george-culvers-no-hitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/?p=130","title":{"rendered":"George Culver’s No-Hitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pitcher’s premonition comes true against Philadelphia July 29, 1968\"Culver<\/em><\/h3>\n

Fifty years ago, Reds pitcher George Culver<\/span> pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies. It was one of the more improbable no-hitters thrown in the big leagues.<\/p>\n

It was not improbable because of Culver\u2019s ability; despite his claims that he was a \u201cmediocre\u201d pitcher (he pitched in the majors for nine years, after all) but because of the back story that accompanies it.<\/p>\n

On Monday, July 29, 1968 the Reds played a twi-night doubleheader \u2013 remember those? — at Connie Mack Stadium. George was scheduled to pitch the second game, against Chris Short.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t feel well \u2013 \u201cone of those days where you just can\u2019t digest any food\u201d \u2013 so he stayed at the team hotel during the first game.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that game, of course, took forever [final score 7-6 in 2:58]\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Finally, he took a cab to the ballpark, and for reasons he can\u2019t explain, he told the cab driver that he would throw a no-hitter in Game 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a premonition, for some reason,\u201d he said. \u201cI had it all day. I think the Good Lord was just talking to me, saying \u2018hey, look. This is your day. Don\u2019t screw it up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When he got to the park, a troublesome ingrown toenail made warming up impossible. So he went to trainer Bill Cooper for treatment, which ended up being a shot of Novocain to numb the toe.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time I got through with all that, the umpires were out [to start the game]. So I grabbed a catcher and only had time for about 15 warmup pitches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite all that, Culver took the mound for the first inning, telling himself to take it easy so he wouldn\u2019t hurt his arm.<\/p>\n

The team behind Culver was not one that would inspire thoughts of a no-hitter. There were plenty of great bats in the Reds\u2019 lineup, but as I told George, if ever there was a second-game-of-a-doubleheader lineup, this<\/em> was it:<\/p>\n

Pete Rose CF
\nTommy Helms 2B
\nAlex Johnson LF
\nLee May RF
\nTony P\u00e9rez 3B
\nDon Pavleitch 1B
\nPat Corrales C
\nWoody Woodward SS
\nGeorge Culver P<\/p>\n

And sure enough, that defense was tested in the second inning, when Richie Allen hit a ground ball to Tony P\u00e9rez at third base.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Tony, but he was not a third-baseman,\u201d Culver said. \u201cHe was a first-baseman. The ball was a little bit to his left, and it ricocheted off him to Woody Woodward at short, and he threw the ball into the stands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culver figured that with Allen hitting in his home park, the play would surely be ruled a hit; it wasn\u2019t. P\u00e9<\/span>rez and Woodward received errors on the play, as Allen took second base.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, they\u2019ll change that later,\u201d Culver thought. Allen eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Cookie Rojas, and Culver and the Reds trailed 1-0.<\/p>\n

\n

I think the Good Lord was just talking to me, saying \u2018hey, look. This is your day. Don\u2019t screw it up.\u2019 — <\/span><\/em>Culver, about his no-hitter premonition<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Culver pondered the possibility of pitching a no-hitter and losing the game. But the Reds scored six runs in the next two innings as George settled in and his arm was ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t remember one tough play for the rest of the game,\u201d Culver told me. \u201cAnd they never changed Allen\u2019s ball to a hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t strike out that many [four]; I never did,\u201d Culver said. \u201cIn the eighth inning, Richie Allen hit a sharp ground ball to my roommate, Tommy Helms. I thought it was a hit, but Tommy had him played just right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the only ball I can remember being hit hard the whole night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hits were not a problem, but walks were. Culver walked five Phillies, including the first two hitters in the eighth inning.<\/p>\n

Out of the dugout came manager Dave Bristol \u201cto chew me out,\u201d Culver said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Do you want to finish this game?\u201d Bristol barked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d Culver said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, if anyone else gets on, you\u2019re coming out. This is your last hitter if that happens. You better start throwing strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culver then retired the Phillies in order.<\/p>\n

And how was the ninth inning, with all the excitement and pressure?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were about 1,000 people left at the game; it was about 1:00 in the morning,\u201d Culver recalled. \u201cThe people who were left hung around by our dugout, rooting for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culver retired Bill White and Don Lock to begin the ninth inning, then had to face Cookie Rojas to get the no-hitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cCookie had been my manager in winter ball the year before, and was one of my best friends,\u201d Culver said. \u201cI said to myself, \u2018Come on, Cookie. Don\u2019t screw this up, please!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, he popped up to Don Pavletich at first base. I could have caught the ball, I was so excited, jumping up and down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Culver
Courtesy George Culver<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Culver received a $1,000 raise from the Reds, but that wasn\u2019t the best benefit from the no-hitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got back to Cincinnati, they had a day for me. One of the fans paid for my mom and stepdad to come back for the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big thrill for me, because she worked all the time and had never seen me play any game of any kind until I was in the big leagues with the Reds.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the irony of the no-hitter was not lost on Culver.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game before, Clay Carroll and I combined on a 13-hit shutout against Pittsburgh,\u201d he laughed. \u201cAnd the next game, I got beat 1-0.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how screwy baseball is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe so, but there was nothing screwy about George Culver\u2019s performance July 29, 1968.<\/p>\n

It was not, however, his greatest thrill in baseball.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy greatest thrill was seeing my name on that locker every day for nine years,\u201d \u201cNow that<\/em> was a thrill!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Culver<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pitcher’s premonition comes true against Philadelphia July 29, 1968 Fifty years ago, Reds pitcher George Culver pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies. It was one of the more improbable no-hitters thrown in the big […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-a-moment-in-time"},"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4211,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/4211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}