The Drubbing

July 19th, 1974 was an interesting day in Cleveland. It was in the 70′s most of the day and there was some rain. When the day started, it was like any other day, but by the time it ended, it would be a day that many would soon forget. For one man, it would be day he probably can never forget.

As he strode to the mound, Dick Bosman was still a serviceable major league pitcher. His glorious 1969 season was well behind him. That 2.19 ERA was the pinnacle of his career, but he was not through. He had been struggling through a few years but still enjoyed the glory that comes with playing in the big leagues. His 30 year old body took the mound wearing the home uniform of the Cleveland Indians to face the Oakland Athletics. Later that year, these same A’s would go on to win the World Series.

As he toed the rubber to face the A’s centerfielder Bill North, 24,302 looked on. For a stadium that could hold 78,000 for baseball, the stands were far from full. North would ground to first unassisted and the game was underway. Bert Campaneris would strike out and Sal Bando would follow that by grounding out. Bosman returned to the dugout. He wouldn’t be there for long as the Indians went down in order.

The game would continue without much fanfare until the bottom of the third where Bosman would be staked to a two-run lead on a homer by Joe Lis. Bosman came out quickly afterwards to get back to work. Bill North struck out looking and Campaneris grounded out to third. Stepping into the box 0-1, Bando would hit what amounted to a swinging bunt to the third-base side of the mound. Bosman would quickly field the ball and fire to first. His throw would go wide of first baseman Tommy McGraw and Bando hustled to second on the error. Bosman buckled down and struck out Reggie Jackson to end the inning. The Indians would give their pitcher some rest as they went out and scored two more runs for their starter. At the end of the fourth inning, the Indians led 4-0.

As we fast-forward to the top of the 7th inning, Bosman strode to the mound having faced one more than the minimum through six. Campaneris would ground out to third to bring up Bando. Just like he had in the bottom of the third, Bando would hit the ball back to Bosman. However, this time he fielded the ball cleanly and fired to first for the out. He would get Reggie Jackson to ground out again and he left the mound after seven innings having faced only 22 men. The Indians would go down in order and Bosman would head out for the 8th inning. Two groundouts and a flyout would set our hero up for a dramatic ninth inning.

As he walked to the mound to face Dick Green, Bosman said to his catcher John Ellis: “Catch me on your belly if you have to, but make me keep the ball down.” (Source). Rusty Torres joined him in the field replacing John Lowenstein in left field as a defensive replacement. Dick Green would groundout to third. Before catcher Larry Haney could get to the plate, A’s manager Alvin Dark would pull him back and send designated hitter Jesus Alou up in his place. Like 25 of the 26 men before him, Alou would prove unsuccessful and ground out to second. One out to go.

That last batter would be Bill North. After a brief battle, Bosman would strike out North swinging. Dick Bosman, one of the more unlikely pitchers to ever throw a no-hitter, had just accomplished baseball mortality. As you may have realized, Bosman had done something that day that no pitcher had done before and no other pitcher has done since. He missed a perfect game because of an error, and the error was his own.

In an interview a week or so ago after Mark Buehrle’s perfect game, Bosman said: “I had more time than I thought” “It’s one of those things. It was a play I made many times, I just didn’t make it that particular day” (Source) After the game he was also quoted as saying: “It wasn’t McCraw’s fault, this was may night all the way-even the throwing error.” (Source)

I decided to write this short little story to remind us all that there are some great stories out there that are either forgotten or rarely told. Bosman’s near perfect game is one of them. After his career he would have a second career restoring and selling classic cars. Since 2002, he has been a coach in the Rays farm system. Although I could not find a ton of other information on Bosman and his near perfect game, I get the sense that he is a pretty good guy from this quote about his brush with perfection and a quote about baseball itself:

“This is the culmination of everything I’ve worked for and dreamed about. I almost feel like I am dreaming”

“When you shut the door on baseball, you have to keep it shut or it will never let you go.”

Thanks for having some great perspective Dick. Let’s just hope that someone doesn’t convince Kevin Costner to play you in some terrible baseball movie that doesn’t need to be made.