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| Ken Holtzman pitched a no-hitter on Aug. 18, 1969 without striking out a single batter. |
A once-favored pitching philosophy ("let your fielders help you") that's become somewhat passe in this age of power pitching-on-power hitting, hit-or-miss baseball.
But there's something to be said for everyone -- fielders, fans, pitchers, maybe not hitters -- getting in on the fun with batters being put out by putting the bat on the ball. It's not boring.
And Ken Holtzman put on a clinic of pitching to contact on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1969, when he threw a no-hitter without the benefit of one single strikeout. The left-hander, in his fourth year in the major leagues, set the Atlanta Braves down on 12 ground outs, 12 fly outs and three pop-ups as he ran his record to 14-7.
The only blemish on Holtzman's day before 37,514 at Wrigley Field -- amid the Cubs' ill-fated run at a National League East Division title -- were the three walks he dealt out, to Gil Garrido, Clete Boyer and Rico Carty. But in each case he disposed of the Braves in short order. One-onewalk to Garrido in the second followed by two fly outs. Two-out walk to Boyer in fourth followed by a fly out. One-one walk in the seventh to Carty followed by two more fly outs, then six more straight in the next two frames to close out the no-no.
Facing the top of the order to finish off the no-hitter in the top of the ninth, Holtzman went around the horn and retired Felipe Alou on a pop to shortstop Don Kessinger, got Felix Millan on a grounder to Ron Santo at third, and Hank Aaron ended it when he grounded out to Glenn Beckert at short.
Aaron did threaten Holtzman's no-hitter and shutout leading off the seventh. "Holtzman was aided by a wind that blew in from center field and kept a seventh-inning drive by Henry Aaron in the park; left fielder Billy Williams caught it at the wall," Rich Puerzer wrote in his biography of Aaron for the Society for the American Baseball Research. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/453be7e7
What's impressive about Holtzman's outing, beyond the no-hitter itself and the no strikeouts, is that it came against a pretty potent lineup that included two Hall of Famers in Aaron and Orlando Cepeda. Not to mention Carty with a .299 lifetime batting average and Alou with a .289 lifetime average and three All-Star selections. The Braves finished third in the NL that year in batting average and fifth in runs scored in the 12-team NL (up from 10 for the first time in that expansion year).
And the southpaw did it against a lineup that included all but one hitter being right-handed. No platoon advantage here.
Beckert was the busiest Cub on the day with seven assists, while Jim Hickman had six put-outs in right field. Holtzman kept everybody happy. Kessinger had three assists and Santo two, while in the outfield Williams had three put-outs in left and Don Young three in center.
A look at retrosheet.org's play-to-play for the game reveals Holtzman, despite facing a right-handed heavy lineup most of the time, got the Braves to hit the ball to his left most of the time, with 13 outs going to second or right, six to third or left, and eight up the middle to short or center. Maybe the wind had something to do with it.
And it wasn't as if Holtzman couldn't make 'em swing and miss. In fact he had 10 strikeouts in his next start and double-figure K's in two others. He was fifth in the league in strikeouts the next year.
Holtzman finished 1969 with a 17-13 record and 3.58 ERA.
Meanwhile the Cubs, who led the New York Mets by 7 1/2 games in the East following Tuesday's win, lost seven of their next nine, beginning a tailspin that saw them lose out to the Miracle Mets by eight games in the end, denying them their first postseason berth since 1945. (Holtzman stopped the beginning of their bleeding by getting the win on Aug. 23 after three straight losses).
Holtzman came into the major leagues with ballyhoo that he couldn't quite live up to. From Puerzer's bio: "Upon his arrival in the major leagues, Ken Holtzman was promoted as the new Sandy Koufax."
Perhaps that was just because he was a left-hander rather than a flamethrower. Nevertheless, Holtzman had a distinguished 15-year career with a 174-150 lifetime record with a 3.45 ERA. He was a mainstay on Oakland A's teams that won World Series titles in 1972-74, when Holtzman went 59-41 with a 2.85 ERA.
Holtzman was the No. 2 man on the A's staff behind Catfish Hunter in Oakland, just he was understudy to Fergie Jenkins in Chicago.
But on the afternoon of Aug. 19, 1969, Holtzman was front and center by getting the Atlanta Braves to get themselves out.
Box score and play-by-play: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B08190CHN1969.htm
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