Hagerty: Meet SABR member Chuck McGill, who has discovered 500 minor-league no-hitters
From SABR member Tim Hagerty at The Sporting News on March 22, 2015, on SABR member Chuck McGill:
Some Vermonters hunt moose. Chuck McGill hunts no-hitters.
McGill has personally discovered more than 500 minor league no-hitters that were previously absent from record books.
“I love finding a new one that’s not documented before. It’s something that has been kind of lost. Lost to history,” McGill said.
A National Weather Service employee in Burlington, Vt. by day, McGill spends his time off mining newspaper archives. His exploration started in 2010 and focuses on games before 1930. He’s already uncovered and tweeted four no-hitters this month.
“I come across a lot of one-hitters and that really bothers me, I hate one-hitters. So close,” McGill said with a laugh. “What could have been.”
McGill combs online box scores for hours at a time, from Class A to Class D, from Aberdeen to Zanesville. The Houston Post recently added annals to a website and in the process added an assignment to McGill’s to do list.
The results of his quest brighten the baseball history of cities and towns across the country. Great grandchildren of professional pitchers could read about their ancestor’s finest hour because of McGill. His comprehensive spreadsheet is a resource for writers and historians. But McGill is modest and deflects praise.
Read the full article here: http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2015-03-22/discovered-500-no-hitters-sabr-chuck-mcgill-minor-league-baseball-history
Originally published: March 25, 2015. Last Updated: March 25, 2015.