By David Mullen
As is the tradition of this column at the beginning of a new year, we look back at the personalities who passed away in the previous year but had a profound impact on the sports that they served. Many were pinnacles of their game, including seven baseball Hall of Famers and one who deserves enshrinement.
Members of Cooperstown who passed were Al Kaline, 85, the classy right-handed hitter called “Mr. Tiger,” Tom Seaver, 75, the most visible player on the “Amazing Mets” 1969 World Series champion team, St. Louis Cardinals legends Lou Brock, 81, one of the greatest leadoff hitters and base stealers of all-time and Bob Gibson, 84, one of the most competitive pitchers in MLB history, Whitey Ford, 91, the greatest starting pitcher in New York Yankees history, Joe Morgan, 77, who was born in Bonham, raised in Oakland and a two-time NL MVP as a member of Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine and Phil Niekro, 81, a knuckleballer with 318 career victories.
In memoriam: the Royals we lost in 2020
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Photo credit should read DAVE KAUP/AFP via Getty Images
The end of the year allows us some time to reflect and remember. Baseball lost many major figures this year, seven of them Hall of Famers - second baseman Joe Morgan, outfielder Al Kaline, Lou Brock, and pitchers Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Phil Niekro, and Tom Seaver. The game also lost other big figures such as Dick Allen, Tony Fernandez, Jim Wynn, Jay Johnstone, Claudell Washington, Matt Keough, Ed Farmer, Roger Moret, Tony Taylor. and Ron Perranoski. We also lost some Kansas City Athletics, including Jay Hankins, Jack McMahan, Dan Pfister, Bobby Prescott, Hal Raether, Hal Smith, and most notably, Don Larsen, who is the only pitcher to ever throw a perfect game in the World Series.
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Even though the 2020 season lasted only 60 games, it saw its fair share of notable individual performances. There were two no-hitters, 10 three-homer games, six five-hit outbursts and much more.
Some of these games produced stat lines never before seen in baseball history at least as far back as is covered by available game-by-game data. (Baseball-Reference’s Stathead tool now goes back to 1901 for those purposes).
Before we gratefully flip the calendar to 2021, here is a look back at seven of these unique performances from this past season.
Aug. 25 vs. Pirates: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 13 K, 101 pitches
When the White Sox ace mowed down the Bucs for the 19th no-hitter in franchise history, he did so in especially dominant and efficient fashion. The 13 strikeouts alone were impressive, with Giolito becoming one of 22 pitchers to pile up that many in a no-no. Combine that with just one walk the lone baserunner Giolito allowed and you have something truly
share-square-1910777
Even though the 2020 season lasted only 60 games, it saw its fair share of notable individual performances. There were two no-hitters, 10 three-homer games, six five-hit outbursts and much more.
Some of these games produced stat lines never before seen in baseball history at least as far back as is covered by available game-by-game data. (Baseball-Reference’s Stathead tool now goes back to 1901 for those purposes).
Before we gratefully flip the calendar to 2021, here is a look back at seven of these unique performances from this past season.
Aug. 25 vs. Pirates: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 13 K, 101 pitches
When the White Sox ace mowed down the Bucs for the 19th no-hitter in franchise history, he did so in especially dominant and efficient fashion. The 13 strikeouts alone were impressive, with Giolito becoming one of 22 pitchers to pile up that many in a no-no. Combine that with just one walk the lone baserunner Giolito allowed and you have something truly
share-square-1908635
Even though the 2020 season lasted only 60 games, it saw its fair share of notable individual performances. There were two no-hitters, 10 three-homer games, six five-hit outbursts and much more.
Some of these games produced stat lines never before seen in baseball history at least as far back as is covered by available game-by-game data. (Baseball-Reference’s Stathead tool now goes back to 1901 for those purposes).
Before we gratefully flip the calendar to 2021, here is a look back at seven of these unique performances from this past season.
Aug. 25 vs. Pirates: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 13 K, 101 pitches
When the White Sox ace mowed down the Bucs for the 19th no-hitter in franchise history, he did so in especially dominant and efficient fashion. The 13 strikeouts alone were impressive, with Giolito becoming one of 22 pitchers to pile up that many in a no-no. Combine that with just one walk the lone baserunner Giolito allowed and you have something truly