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| Dick Allen settles into the batter's box against Nolan Ryan with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Aug. 9, 1974, at Chicago's Comiskey Park. Ryan had a no-hitter going, and his California Angels led the Chicago White Sox 1-0. |
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| Ryan peers in for the signal from catcher Ellie Rodriguez. |
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Ryan wheels and delivers a 2-1 pitch to Allen.
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(Editor's warning: This game account is accompanied by frequent interjections from Harry Caray at the mike.)
By Phil Ellenbecker
No one has ever questioned the talent Dick Allen brought to the baseball diamond. From the time he entered the major leagues in 1964, Allen displayed the abilities of a top-caliber player along the lines of contemporaries such as Wilie Mays and Hank Aaron.
What was so questioned about Allen, and what has probably contributed to keeping him out of the Hall of Fame, was his commitment to the game, how much effort he put into it and how much he was willing to sacrifice for his team.But in the book "Cult Baseball Players," in the chapter on Allen contributed by pitcher Jim Kaat, who played with Allen for the Chicago White Sox in 1973 and '74, he raves about what a good teammate and leader Allen was. Kaat probably had to be thinking of the night of Aug. 9, 1974, in making his statements.
On that night Allen, two years removed from an American League MVP season, demonstrated the effort he was capable of putting forth. With White Sox announcer Harry Caray cheering him every step of the way, Allen showed that he could be Mr. Hustle, the type of player teammates could not only count on but who could put them on his back and carry them if need be.
On that Wednesday night at Comiskey Park, Allen beat out a check-swing nubber down the third-base line to break up a no-hit bid by Nolan Ryan in the ninth inning, sparking an uprising that gave the White Sox a 2-1 victory.
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| Dick Allen at the plate was one of the most fearsome sights for American League pitchers from 1972 to 1974. He was the AL MVP in 1972 and led the league in homers in '72 and '74. |
Allen came up after Ryan had made Jorge Orta, who had been third in the league in batting average entering the game, a strikeout victim for the fourth time of the night (giving him the "Golden Sombrero"). The Angels led 1-0 on Frank Robinson's second-inning homer, and the way Ryan was humming it looked like a superb pitching effort by Kaat was going to go for naught.
But Allen thought differently. “Old timer, we’re going to win this game,” he said to Kaat as the two headed to the dugout after the Angels were retired in the ninth, according to an article by Ken Carrano for the Society for American Baseball Research's Games Project.
Caray wasn't discounting the Sox getting to Ryan."I've seen it happen before, where a guy loses not only a no-hitter but the game," Caray said on the telecast at the beginning of the White Sox's turn in the ninth. Carey was in the fourth year of an 11-year tenure with the White Sox in his 53-year career.
The strikeout of Orge was Ryan's 13th overall and turned out to be his last, although he continued to try to bring it."It's all powder river now," Caray said.
So it was powder on power as Allen stepped up to the plate, and Allen was ready to deliver. Although not exactly with the power.
On a 2-1 curveball, low and outside of the strike zone, Allen barely made contact and sent a high bouncer toward the third base-shortstop hole. A charging third baseman Rudy Meoli made a fine scoop to cut it off. But he had trouble getting the ball out of his glove, taking three extra steps while the ball stuck in the webbing. That allowed Allen to barely beat the throw to Bruce Bochte at first as umpire Jim McKean, arms flailing, declared Allen safe. (Bochte is not to be confused with the Bruce Bochy who played later in the1970s and managed four pennant winners and three World Series winners before retiring last year with San Francisco.)
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| Nolan Ryan was on pace to throw his third no-hitter in two years for the California Angels on Aug. 9, 1974, but had the bid broken up in the ninth inning and lost the game 2-1. |
"Oh, what a heartbreaking way to lose a no-hitter," Caray bellowed into the microphone. "Allen tried to stop his swing, but you've got to give Allen credit for hustling down the line. I've seen guys not too far away who've hit ground balls like that and they haven't run, but Allen gave it everything he had and beat it out."
The White Sox put runners at first and second when Bochte let a hard-hit grounder right at him by Carlos May skip off his glove into right for an error. Lee "Bee Bee" Richard ran for May.
Ryan's shutout was spoiled when Ken Henderson, deemed "Colonol Clutch" by Caray, singled to center to score Allen. Henderson, on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, reached out for a high, outside 2-2 fastball and dribbled a ground ball up the middle. He took second on a throw from Mickey Rivers trying to nab Richard at third.
Bill Melton then popped a first pitch foul toward the first-base dugout that catcher Ellie Rodriguez gathered in with a one-handed stab near the stands. Two outs, 1-1 tie.
That brought up Bill Sharp, then in the second year of a four-year career, cut short by knee injuries, during which he batted .255, including .253 in 320 at-bats in '74. He nearly won the game when, on an 0-1 pitch, he drag-bunted a low pop toward third. Meoli alertly let the ball go as it fell fair by about five feet, 15 feet away from the bag. It then took a spin upon hitting the turf and rolled foul by about a foot, just shy of the base.
And it was closer than that to being fair, according to Harry. "Less than the thickness of a Falstaff beer bottle cap," Caray said afterward, giving a nod to the White Sox's broadcasting sponsor.
Then, with Caray rooting for a wild pitch, passed ball, error, balk -- anything that would get Richard home -- Sharp won the game when he singled sharply to right to score Richard easily. Sharp had run the count to 2-1 when he lined a high, inside fastball past a diving Bochte. "Sox win, Sox win," roared Caray, the guy who'd make "Cubs win, Cubs win" such a trademark phrase while winding up his career with 16 years as the Bruins' announcer at WGN in Chicago.
Sharp made a winner of Kaat, who finished with a six-hitter with no walks and six strikeouts as he improved to 13-8 on the year. Ryan, in falling to 14-12, had a final line of three hits allowed and five walks to go with the 13 Ks.
"Nolan Ryan will never lose a tougher game, and Jim Kaat will never win a sweeter one," Caray said. "Ho-o-o-ly cow, what a ballgame."
It was the second time in 10 days Kaat and Ryan had engaged in an unyielding pitcher's duel, with Kaat coming out on top both times. On July 30, the White Sox won 3-2 in 10 innings, with Ryan going the full 10 and Kaat nine.
Afterward on Aug. 9, the camera flashed to Caray giving his wrap-up in the booth as he described Allen's pivotal infield hit with hand gestures.
"If he'd have dogged it for a half-step, Ryan would have had his no-hitter," Caray said. "But he was hustling from the time he touched the ball up. And that ought to be a lesson to a lot of ballplayers on a lot of clubs including the Sox. It's not asking too much to run 90 feet, and here you've got a guy who's the highest-paid ballplayer in the world and he didn't give up on it, even though it looked like a routine out."
Bill Melton then popped a first pitch foul toward the first-base dugout that catcher Ellie Rodriguez gathered in with a one-handed stab near the stands. Two outs, 1-1 tie.
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| Bill Sharp, in the second year of a four-year major league career, singled in the game-winning run off Nolan Ryan in the ninth inning Aug. 9, 1974, giving the Chicago White Sox a 2-1 victory over the California Angels. |
And it was closer than that to being fair, according to Harry. "Less than the thickness of a Falstaff beer bottle cap," Caray said afterward, giving a nod to the White Sox's broadcasting sponsor.
Then, with Caray rooting for a wild pitch, passed ball, error, balk -- anything that would get Richard home -- Sharp won the game when he singled sharply to right to score Richard easily. Sharp had run the count to 2-1 when he lined a high, inside fastball past a diving Bochte. "Sox win, Sox win," roared Caray, the guy who'd make "Cubs win, Cubs win" such a trademark phrase while winding up his career with 16 years as the Bruins' announcer at WGN in Chicago.
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| Jim Kaat, shown in his pitching days with the Minnesota Twins, emerged the winner over Nolan Ryan as the Chicago White Sox beat the California Angeles, 2-1, on Aug. 9, 1974. Frank Robinson's second-inning homer was the only run given up by Kaat. |
"Nolan Ryan will never lose a tougher game, and Jim Kaat will never win a sweeter one," Caray said. "Ho-o-o-ly cow, what a ballgame."
It was the second time in 10 days Kaat and Ryan had engaged in an unyielding pitcher's duel, with Kaat coming out on top both times. On July 30, the White Sox won 3-2 in 10 innings, with Ryan going the full 10 and Kaat nine.
Afterward on Aug. 9, the camera flashed to Caray giving his wrap-up in the booth as he described Allen's pivotal infield hit with hand gestures.
"If he'd have dogged it for a half-step, Ryan would have had his no-hitter," Caray said. "But he was hustling from the time he touched the ball up. And that ought to be a lesson to a lot of ballplayers on a lot of clubs including the Sox. It's not asking too much to run 90 feet, and here you've got a guy who's the highest-paid ballplayer in the world and he didn't give up on it, even though it looked like a routine out."
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| Chicago White Sox announcer Harry Caray gives his postgame wrap-up in the booth at Comiskey Park on Aug. 9, 1974. Caray is demonstrating how the ball stuck in the glove of California third baseman Rudy Meoli on Dick Allen's check-swing single that broke up Nolan Ryan's no-hitter in the ninth inning. The White Sox defeated California 2-1. |
The only thing missing, as far as Caray was concerned, was a few more thousand fans than the 11,636 who showed up at Comiskey.
"It's a shame we didn't have 70,000 people here tonight," he said. "Well, we can't hold 70,000, but it's too bad we didn' t have 50,000. That's one of the most dramatic games I've seen here."All in all, this one deserved a hearty toast.
"To Dick Allen and the White Sox and Bill Sharp and Jim Kaat and Henderson and everybody, I salute," Caray said with outstretched beer bottle.
Moving on
Ryan, who after the game said he might have lost something off his fastball in the ninth, would get his third no-hitter later that year, with a 4-0 win over the Twins in his last start of the season. He finished with a record of 22-16 (a career high for wins) to go with a 3.29 ERA and 367 strikeouts, after a record 383 the year before, to give him three straight strikeout titles. It was his second straight 20-win season, but also his last.
Kaat finished the season 21-13 with a 2.92 ERA, the second of his three 20-win seasons.
Allen, in the last of his three seasons with the White Sox before being traded, led the AL in homers (32) and slugging (.563) for the second time in three years, and maybe the only reason it wasn't three straight is because he suffered a hairline fracture of a bone in his right leg in 1973 and played only 72 games. He also hit .301 with 88 RBIs in '74.
Cases for the Hall
Ryan went on to throw a record seven no-hitters with a record 5,714 strikeouts and 12 K titles in a 27-year career that set a record for longevity. Needless to say, a Hall of Fame career.
While there's little to dispute Ryan's Cooperstown credentials, Allen and Kaat have been left outside the shrine with many claiming they should be in. Both have been finalists on the Golden Era ballot for Veterans Committee inclusion in the Hall.
First, the case for Kaat. "Kitty" went 283-237 in his career with a 3.45 ERA and 16 straight Gold Gloves, a record number for a pitcher. He almost pitched as long as Ryan, 25 years, and ranks 17th all time in number of games started and 31st in wins. Veteran baseball writer Tracy Ringolsby says seven of Kaat’s top 10 most comparable statistical matches are Hall of Famers, including Robin Roberts and Fergie Jenkins.
As for Allen, he fell one vote shy of enshrinement in 2014 in Golden Era ballot voting, and George Stockburger, in a 2019 online article, said he'd be likely to make it in the next time the Golden Era committee meets in 2021.
"According to Hall of Fame analytics such as Black Ink, Gray Ink and the Hall of Fame monitor, Allen is well beyond the standards for a Hall of Famer," Stockberger wrote. He noted Allen's WAR (the modern metric that attempts to summarize a player's total contributions to their team in one statistic) is superior to Hall of Famers from his era such as Willie Stargell and Tony Perez.
Allen finished his 15-year career with a .292 average, 351 homers and 1,119 RBIs.
More Allen tribute
Sharp, who played with four Hall of Famers in his short career including Goose Gossage, Ron Santo, Hank Aaron and Robin Yount, treasured being a teammate of Allen and appreciated his knowledge of the game as well as his talent.
“I hit right in front of Allen a lot of times, and I’ll tell you he had the greatest ability to play situational baseball I’ve ever seen, absolutely fundamentally sound," he said in an interview with his hometown Lima (Ohio) News. "He really was a five-tool player, and when he hit a ball, there was just a different sound when it came off the bat.
“He had a mental book on every pitcher he would face, and unlike some veterans who were reluctant to have much to do with rookies and young guys that may one day take their jobs, Dick helped me a lot.”
No doubt about it, Dick Allen was The Man for the Chicago White Sox from 1972 to 1974, and the night of Aug. 9, 1974, was a vivid demonstration of that.
“He had a mental book on every pitcher he would face, and unlike some veterans who were reluctant to have much to do with rookies and young guys that may one day take their jobs, Dick helped me a lot.”
No doubt about it, Dick Allen was The Man for the Chicago White Sox from 1972 to 1974, and the night of Aug. 9, 1974, was a vivid demonstration of that.
Sources:
Play-by-play: https://www.
Biographical information: https://www.
Hall of Fame consideration: https://www.
Additional background came from various sources on the Retrosheet and Society for American Baseball Research's Biography Project websites, as well as baseballreference.com.
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