July 22, 1973: Freddie Velázquez breaks 4-year hitless streak; Braves lose anyway

Between May 5, 1969, and July 22, 1973, Freddie Velázquez went 0-for-4 as a major leaguer. Not hitless for four at-bats, but hitless for four years.

A big-league debutant at 31, Velázquez collected two hits in six appearances for the Seattle Pilots in the early weeks of the 1969 season.1 He then returned to the minors, playing in four different teams’ farm systems, until the Atlanta Braves gave him a second shot at the major leagues four years later.2

On July 22, 1973, Velázquez collected two singles – off future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, no less – in the first game of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies. They were his first major-league hits since May 3, 1969, a span of 4 years, 2 months, and 19 days. But they came in a losing cause as Atlanta blew a late-game lead and lost to the Phillies, 6-5.

The Braves had captured the inaugural National League West Division title in 1969. But by 1973 they had fallen into a funk that lasted the remainder of the decade.3 The appointment of former Braves great Eddie Mathews as manager in August 1972 failed to rouse the team. They entered the July 22 doubleheader fifth in the six-team NL West at 45-55 and one tie, 18½ games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.4 The Braves still had one of the majors’ biggest attractions in Henry Aaron, who was pushing steadfastly toward Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs. He’d hit Number 700 off Philadelphia’s Ken Brett the night before in an 8-4 Braves’ loss, their fourth straight defeat.

The Braves had selected Velázquez from the Montreal Expos’ organization in the November 1970 minor-league draft. The native of the Dominican Republic had a long and distinguished record in minor-league and winter ball, but had only his six Seattle games to show for a major-league résumé. Undaunted, he continued to give it his all in the minors. Velázquez was leading the Double-A Southern League in home runs and RBIs when Braves catcher Johnny Oates damaged ligaments in his left knee in a game against the New York Mets on July 16.5 Summoned from Savannah, Velázquez made his first Braves appearance as a late-game substitute on July 18. July 22 marked his first major-league start since the opener of a Seattle Pilots doubleheader on May 4, 1969.

While the Braves were settling into a fallow period, the Phillies were starting to bounce back from one. After a dismal 59-97 showing in 1972, the Phillies improved to 71-91 in 1973 and kept building from there. They won 80 games in 1974, 86 in 1975, and 101 in 1976, when they reached the postseason for the first time since 1950.

Manager Danny Ozark’s 1973 team already boasted some of the players who later carried the Phillies to glory, including Carlton, Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski, and rookies named Mike Schmidt, Bob Boone, and Dick Ruthven. The golden days were still a ways away in July 1973, though. Schmidt entered the doubleheader hitting .215 – he finished the season at .196 – and the Phillies sat in fifth place in the NL East Division at 44-51, 6½ games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs.

Phillies starter Carlton, coming off an epic 27-win season and a Cy Young Award in 1972, was struggling.6 He entered the game with a 9-10 record and a 4.16 ERA. He’d started against Atlanta twice, taking a loss on May 5 and a no-decision on July 9. His opponent for Atlanta was New Mexico-born, Oklahoma-raised lefty Jimmy Freeman, who entered with an 0-2 record and a 7.27 ERA in 10 appearances. Freeman had worked in relief against the Phillies on July 9 and 11. He lost the latter game, being touched up for a Willie Montañez double, a Luzinski home run, and a Del Unser triple in one inning of work.

On a Sunday afternoon in Atlanta, 18,788 fans turned out on Fan Appreciation Day7 to see the teams face off. The first three batters of the game handed Philadelphia a 1-0 lead as Bill Robinson singled to left field, Terry Harmon worked a walk, and Montañez singled to score Robinson. Freeman settled down from there, getting Luzinski to pop to first base and José Pagán to ground into an around-the-horn double play.8

The Braves responded in the second, starting with a walk by Aaron. Dusty Baker followed with a single to left field. When Luzinski misplayed it for his first error of the season, Aaron wound up on third and Baker on second. Davey Johnson, who had never hit more than 18 homers in any previous season, followed with his 23rd round-tripper to give the Braves a 3-1 lead.9 One out later, Velázquez singled to right field. He didn’t get to savor the hit for long, as Freeman forced him at second with a grounder.

Marty Perez reached third with one out in the Braves’ third inning, but Aaron and Baker stranded him there.10 The Phillies were no more productive in the top of the fourth. Luzinski and Pagán led off with singles, and Freeman’s wild pitch allowed them to take third and second. But Boone flied to right, Unser struck out looking, and Bowa popped foul to first.

The teams traded runs in the fifth inning. The Phillies pulled to within one run, 3-2, on two-out singles by Harmon and Montañez and a double by Luzinski. The Braves riposted with a leadoff double by Ralph Garr, a sacrifice by Perez, and a single by Darrell Evans that made the score 4-2. One out later, Baker doubled to center, and Johnson was walked intentionally, loading the bases for Dick Dietz. Dietz watched strike three, one of nine strikeouts for Atlanta batters that afternoon.

Velázquez led off the sixth with his second single. The pair of hits doubled his lifetime major-league total – but again, Freeman forced him at second.

Schmidt led off the seventh, pinch-hitting for Carlton; he fouled to Velázquez. Robinson followed with his 13th homer, and Harmon doubled to left, chasing Freeman in favor of righty  Max León.11 It was León’s second big-league appearance. Montañez welcomed him with a single that scored Harmon to tie the game at 4-4 before León worked out of the jam.

Ruthven took over from Carlton and retired Aaron, Baker, and Johnson on grounders in the seventh. It was the right-hander’s 19th big-league game, but only his second in relief.

León returned for the eighth. Boone beat out a bunt,12 and Unser’s double moved him to third. One out later, Tom Hutton, batting for Schmidt, hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field that scored Boone and moved Unser to third.13 León threw a wild pitch on ball four to Robinson, allowing Unser to hustle home. Robinson stole second, Harmon walked, and Robinson moved to third when Velázquez threw away a pickoff attempt.14 But Montañez, who was 3-for-5 with two RBIs for the game, flied out to limit the Phillies’ lead to 6-4.

A pair of infield hits and a walk loaded the bases for Atlanta with one down in the eighth. The first single, off the bat of Frank Tepedino, caught Harmon in the mouth, requiring 15 stitches; he stayed in the game.15 Perez’s bang-bang double-play grounder ended the rally.16 Mike Lum pinch-hit for Velázquez during the inning, and Paul Casanova replaced him behind the plate. Danny Frisella pitched a scoreless ninth for the Braves, working around two walks, one intentional.

Evans led off the bottom of the ninth with his 27th homer. Aaron singled to center field to give the Braves hope; one out later, he moved to second on a wild pitch. Johnson struck out looking, though, and Tepedino grounded to Bowa to wrap up the Phillies’ 6-5 win in 2 hours and 43 minutes. Philadelphia also won the nightcap, 5-1, capitalizing on seven Atlanta errors to score five unearned runs. The wins brought the Phillies into fourth place, 5½ games back.17

After the doubleheader, the teams scattered for the All-Star break. Atlanta’s Aaron, Evans, and Johnson all took part on July 24 when the NL beat the American League 7-1.18 Velázquez wasn’t there, but he did get to stay in the majors for the remainder of the season. In 15 games, he collected 8 hits in 23 at-bats for a .348 average, going 1-for-2 with an RBI in his final major-league game, against the Houston Astros on September 30.19 He wrapped up his American minor-league career in 1976 and played his final games in his home country in 1978-79. Velázquez, who played for six Dominican League champions, was elected to the country’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.

Acknowledgments and author’s note

This game was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Len Levin.

This story was inspired by the Baseball-Reference Immaculate Grid game of August 25, 2023, which challenged participants to name a player who had appeared for both the Pilots/Brewers and Braves. The author was proud to have come up with Velázquez as a relatively obscure choice. After reading Velázquez’s SABR biography, the author decided to write a Games Project story about him.

Photo credit: Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites for general player, team, and season data and the box scores for this game. Malcolm Allen’s SABR Biography Project article on Freddie Velázquez also served as a primary source.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL197307221.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1973/B07221ATL1973.htm

Notes

1 It would probably violate some unwritten baseball law to write a story about Freddie Velázquez without mentioning the nickname “Poor Devil,” given to him by Pilots teammate Gary Bell and mentioned in Jim Bouton’s Ball Four. According to Bouton, Bell coined the name because Velázquez “just sits there in the bullpen, warming up pitchers, and he never gets into a game and just looks sad.” (At the time, “Poor Devil” was third on the Pilots’ catching depth chart, behind Jerry McNertney and Larry Haney.)

2 Velázquez’s SABR Biography Project article, written by Malcolm Allen, reports that the catcher was called up to the Oakland A’s for two weeks in June 1969 but did not appear in a game. According to Baseball-Reference, Velázquez played in the farm systems of the Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers, A’s, Montreal Expos, and Braves between 1969 and 1973.

3 Between 1970 and 1979, the Braves finished fifth or sixth in their six-team division seven times.

4 The Braves fired Mathews in July 1974 and he never managed again in the majors. His lifetime managing record was 149 wins and 161 losses. David Fleitz, “Eddie Mathews,” SABR Biography Project, accessed August 2023.

5 Wayne Minshew, “Mets’ 7-Run Rally Nips Braves in 9th,” Atlanta Constitution, July 18, 1973: 1D. At the time of his promotion, Velázquez had 18 homers and 64 RBIs for Double-A Savannah.

6 In one example of Carlton’s troubles, Chuck Newman of the Philadelphia Inquirer pointed out that Davey Johnson’s homer on July 22 was the 18th given up by the Phillies’ star lefty in 1973. By comparison, Carlton had surrendered just 17 round-trippers in all of 1972. Carlton went on to give up 29 homers en route to a 13-20 season in which he did not receive a single Cy Young Award vote. Chuck Newman, “Phillies Defeat Braves Twice, Sweep Series, Move Into 4th,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 23, 1973: 1C.

7 Wayne Minshew, “Phillies Sweep By Fumbling Braves,” Atlanta Constitution, July 23, 1973: 1D.

8 The 38-year-old Pagán, a Giant and Pittsburgh Pirate for most of his career, was playing his only season as a Phillie. He hit just .205 in 78 at-bats across 46 games, made his final appearance on August 15, and was released the next day, ending a 15-season career.

9 Johnson ended the season with an improbable 43 homers, then settled back to a more typical 15 homers in 1974.

10 Perez’s double extended his hitting streak to 12 games; it was snapped by an unsuccessful pinch-hit at-bat in the second game. Minshew, “Phillies Sweep By Fumbling Braves.”

11 Freeman pitched only two more games in the majors, on July 27 and 31.

12 Retrosheet describes the play as “On a bunt Boone singled to catcher,” which presumably means Velázquez ultimately picked up the ball. Game stories do not describe the play more specifically.

13 Newman, “Phillies Defeat Braves Twice, Sweep Series, Move Into 4th.”

14 Game stories do not specifically describe this play. Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference both give the order of events described here – Robinson stole second, Harmon walked, and a wild throw by Velázquez on a pickoff attempt allowed Robinson to take third. A “How They Scored” roundup on page 66 of the July 23, 1973, Atlanta Journal gives a different version of events: It has Robinson stealing second and taking third on a wild throw by Velázquez, after which Harmon walked. (The Journal roundup misidentifies Harmon as Tommy Hutton.)

15 Newman, “Phillies Defeat Braves Twice, Sweep Series, Move Into 4th.” Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News, cited below, reported that Harmon received 14 stitches; Minshew, of the Atlanta Constitution, said 19. Harmon, who started the game at second base, had just been shifted to third. He might have stayed in the game because the Phillies had already used both Schmidt and Pagán.

16 Bill Conlin, “What a Relief! Phils Highest since ’64,” Philadelphia Daily News, July 23, 1973: 60.

17 Conlin.

18 The Phillies’ representative to the 1973 All-Star Game was relief pitcher Wayne Twitchell, who didn’t appear in the first game of the July 22 doubleheader.

19 The September 30, 1973, Braves-Astros game was more historically noteworthy as the final game ever managed by future Hall of Famer Leo Durocher. The eyes of the baseball world were also on the game to see if Aaron would tie Ruth with homer No. 714 before the end of the ’73 season. (He didn’t, and went into the offseason with 713 round-trippers.)