Cliff Chambers

Pitcher Cliff Chambers showed both flashes of greatness and spells of rotten luck during his professional baseball career. He compiled a 48-53 major-league record with the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, and St. Louis Cardinals, along with a 4.29 earned run average. His most notable performance – and the one that hinted at greater things to come – occurred on May 6, 1951, when he pitched a no-hitter for Pittsburgh over the Boston Braves. Ironically, even Chambers’ finest hour has often been remembered less for its brilliance than for its blemishes, as the eight walks he issued while holding the Braves hitless earned the game a place on lists of baseball’s most improbable no-hitters.1

Three years of military service interrupted his ascent, and injury ultimately curtailed what appeared would be a long and promising career. His performance declined sharply in 1952, and he was out of baseball after the 1954 season.

Clifford Day Chambers was born on January 10, 1922,2 in Portland, Oregon, to Clara Hazel (née Burnworth) (1893-1992) and Day Theodore Chambers (1891-1973), who were married in Montana in 1918.3 Chambers was an only child.

His father was a painter and his mother worked at the Dexter Horton Bank in Seattle after they married and before they moved to Bellingham, Washington, on Puget Sound, following Cliff’s birth. There, his father continued as a painter while his mother worked at their grocery store, Chambers Grocery.4 During school-year summers, Chambers assisted his father on painting jobs and in the store and worked as a truck driver after that.5

Chambers embraced the American pastime at a young age and by sixth grade, he was convinced that baseball was what he would do with his life. He worked especially hard at developing his grip and arm strength. “I noticed how the guys who milked cows had strong hands, strong forearms. … I was trying to get milker’s muscles,” he said.6

“Lefty” – the nickname the other kids gave him – starred at pitcher, first base, and right field for Bellingham High School; he played for Junior American Legion, community league, and semipro teams as well. Chambers was being compared to Pacific Northwest legend Fred Hutchinson, according to one sports writer.7 Big and strong at 6-feet-2, 195 pounds by his junior year (he grew an inch and gained another 13 pounds by the time he played in the majors), Chambers had caught the eye of Chicago Cubs scout Walter “Dutch” Ruether.8

The boastful youngster believed he threw as hard as Bob Feller did: “I had what was undoubtedly a hundred-mile-an-hour fastball in those days before the radar guns.”9 Indeed, over his entire career, the big lefty relied almost entirely on his fastball.10 On June 23, 1939, Chambers pitched a no-hit, no-run game and smacked a home run for his Legion team in Bellingham.11

Having skipped an academic year, Chambers entered the College of Washington State (later re-named Washington State University) in 1939 at age 17. According to the WSU Athletics website, over the two years he hurled for the Cougars (1941-1942), Chambers recorded an overall 11-5 record with 12 complete games and three shutouts.12

Chambers was also bird-dogged by the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees – not only for his pitching but for his bat as well. “They said, ‘We’ll use you as an outfielder or first baseman first, and if you don’t hit, then you can pitch,’” Chambers said.13 As a sophomore in 1941, he hit .444 in conference games, and .354 overall, which was second best on the team.14 Chambers was later inducted into the Washington State University Athletics Hall of Fame.

On April 4, 1942, Chambers married Emma Louise (“June”) Bryant, a psychology major from Boise, Idaho, whom he had met at Washington State. Barely two months later, on June 1, the 20-year-old signed with Ruether and the Cubs and received a $1,500 bonus, a $250 per month salary, and a promise of 10% of whatever price the Cubs’ Class AA affiliate Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League received for him in the future.15

“I didn’t go professional [before that] because I was after a bonus,” he said. “All the talk in my area was about Freddie Hutchinson, who signed on with the Seattle Rainiers, and the big bonus money he got when they sold him [on December 12, 1938].”16 Chambers’ drive for financial security throughout his career was rooted in his upbringing. “I was a [D]epression kid who lived in a fairly poor neighborhood. So there was a lot of economics involved in my wish to become a major leaguer,” Chambers explained.17

After one game with the Angels (who were already stocked with ace southpaws Ken Raffensberger and Ray Prim), Chambers was optioned to the Tulsa Oilers in the Texas League (Class A-1), where he appeared in 15 games, winning six, with a 2.01 ERA.

In September, the newlyweds were on the move again, as Chambers enlisted in the US Army Air Forces. The couple moved to Fort George Wright in Spokane, Washington, where Chambers was stationed for 38 months. While there, June delivered two daughters, Jane Ann in 1943 and Lynne Louise in 1945.18

In 1946, Chambers played for the Angels in the PCL, where he went 18-15 with a 3.02 ERA. His career-best 215 strikeouts were tops on the team and second best in the league. Chambers was selected to start in the PCL All-Star game in August. He struck out two and allowed no runs on two hits in three innings of work against Lefty O’Doul’s league-leading San Francisco Seals, but the Seals defeated the All-Stars, 3-0.19 

The Halos finished the season in fourth place and were eliminated in the first round of the Governor’s Cup playoffs by Casey Stengel’s Oakland Oaks, which won a thrilling Game Seven in the bottom of the ninth to take the series, four games to three. Chambers fanned 13 batters in Game Two and won, 5-4. He lost Game Six, 2-0, despite ringing up six Ks and allowing only three hits.

Back in July 1946, Chambers had been purchased by the Chicago Cubs to report in 194720; however, when he did not make the cut with the Cubs in the spring, Chambers was back with the Angels and had an outstanding year. He led the staff with a 24-9 record, 23 complete games, four shutouts, and 3.13 ERA. His 175 strikeouts and 24 wins led the league. This time, his first-place Angels hosted the PCL All-Stars, who thrashed the home team, 12-2. Angels’ manager Bill Kelly chose to save his ace for regular season contests, so Chambers did not appear in the exhibition game.21

Chambers’ finest hour was his complete game shutout on September 29 to win a one-game playoff for the pennant against the defending PCL champion San Francisco Seals. “My ballplayers wanted me to pitch, and I did,” he said, so he pitched on just one day’s rest.22

Chambers was deadlocked in a 0-0 pitching duel with Jack Brewer in front of 22,996 nail-biting fans until the Angels scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on a dramatic grand slam by left fielder Clarence Maddern and a solo homer by first baseman Larry Barton. As Chambers walked toward the mound for the final inning, he told Kelly, his manager, that he “could hardly lift his arm.” This panicked Kelly, but Chambers held on for the win, 5-0.23 He struck out five and scattered five hits. The Chicago Cubs were finally convinced and after the game, they purchased Chambers’ contract for the 1948 season.24

Lefty had one piece of business to finish before he left the Angels – the 1947 playoffs. He was the winning pitcher in Game Five that gave the semifinal series to Los Angeles, four games to one. Chambers left the game in the sixth inning with a 4-2 lead and the Angels held on to defeat the Portland Beavers, 5-4. In the championship series, Chambers pitched seven innings without a decision (Games Three and Four), as the Angels defeated the Oakland Oaks, four games to one.

The following season, Chambers finally made it to the highest level. A big crowd of 28,862 came out to see Chambers’ debut on April 24, 1948, the Cubs against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals, and the rookie did not disappoint. He struck out two batters in the first inning: leadoff man Erv Dusak and, two batters later, the player Chambers said was the best hitter he ever played with or against in the majors – Stan Musial.25 Chambers scattered eight hits over nine innings – two of them Musial’s career 1,000th and 1,001st hits – and he picked up his first career victory as the Cubbies defeated the Cards, 6-2.

That was the first of the two wins Chambers recorded that season; the other came in his final start of the year. In between, he suffered nine consecutive losses and after the first five of those losses he was moved to the bullpen for most of the remainder of the season. Never at a loss for words, the confident 26-year-old claimed that his experiences with the Cubs that year “were on the nightmarish side.” He explained: “In the first place, I wasn’t satisfied with my contract. I actually made less money pitching in the majors with the Cubs in 1948 than I did with Los Angeles in 1947.” Then he added that he “lost some pretty tough games that year” because of weak run support.26

Thus, Chambers was very happy when the Cubs traded him and All-Star catcher Clyde McCullough to Pittsburgh for three-time All-Star infielder Frankie Gustine, and future All-Star pitcher Cal McLish on December 8. “It seemed too good to be true,” Chambers said. “[T]he Pirates were the one club I desperately wanted to join.”27

Over the next two seasons, Chambers was in Pittsburgh’s starting rotation, and he led the staff with 13 wins in 1949 and 12 in 1950. He ranked number 16 in 1949 and number eight in 1950 in Wins Above Replacement among qualified National League starters.28

Nineteen-fifty was an eventful year for Chambers on and off the field. After attending WSC in the offseasons, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physical education.29 “Not many guys that played in the big leagues [then] had a college degree,” he said.30 He also negotiated a large increase from his $7,500 salary the year before to $13,500.31

On the mound, he enjoyed his most productive year, with career and team highs in strikeouts (93, which matched his 1949 output), innings pitched (249 1/3), starts (33), complete games (11, which he matched in 1951), and shutouts (two, which tied both his Pirate mound-mate, Bill Macdonald, in 1950, and his own total in 1951 with two teams).

And then there were the home runs.

On June 8, 1950, Chambers took the mound against Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Branca slugged a home run off Chambers in the third inning to tie the game at 1-1, the first of only two career homers for Branca. In the seventh inning, Chambers retaliated with a home run of his own – the first of his three career round-trippers – to put the Pirates up, 4-1. The Pirates held on, 4-3, to break their five-game losing streak; Branca took the loss, and Chambers picked up the win.

On September 22, 1950, Chambers hit the home run that he “liked best.” In a meaningless game – the Reds finished in sixth place that season, the Pirates in eighth – Chambers connected off Cincinnati’s knuckleballer Willie Ramsdell: “It was like hitting a butterfly,” Chambers laughed. “Hitting is the fun part of the game.”32

Coming off that excellent year, Chambers found himself in the middle of a widely publicized salary dispute with Branch Rickey, the Pirates’ new vice president and general manager hired to rebuild the club as he famously had done in Brooklyn with the Dodgers. Slugger Wally Westlake and Chambers were the two longest holdouts. Chambers was seeking a “substantial” boost, and he met with Rickey four times in February 1951 to press his argument. Before the month was out, Chambers settled for $16,000.33 Westlake signed for $22,000. Rickey did not shy from Chambers’ combativeness; in fact, he probably desired it.34 Yet, it was Rickey who four months later landed the last punch.

Chambers drew the Opening Day assignment and faced the Reds in Cincinnati. He singled home the Pirates’ first run of the season in the second inning and outlasted perennial All-Star pitcher Ewell Blackwell as the Pirates held on for the 4-3 victory. On May 1, Chambers threw a complete-game win, 6-2, over the Brooklyn Dodgers as every Buc batter collected at least one hit. Chambers had two.

The next day he came down with the flu and battled the symptoms right up to the day of his next start, which took place as the nightcap of a Sunday afternoon doubleheader on May 6 against the Boston Braves in Braves Field. As Chambers recalled it, “[Acting manager Bill Posedel] said, ‘Can you give us four or five innings? We don’t have anybody to pitch.’ Half the club was sick.”35

Chambers walked the first Brave he faced . . . and then he walked seven more over the course of the game. Yet, the only real scare Chambers faced in the game was when Bob Elliott, who had four hits and three RBIs in the first game of the doubleheader, cracked a long fly ball in the sixth inning that Gus Bell caught on the warning track in right center with two runners on base.36 Chambers singled home a run in the eighth to help his own cause in an historic 3-0 no-hit victory. At the time, it was only the second no-hitter in the Pirates’ long history.37 Chambers’ unusual game matched that of Johnny Vander Meer. On June 15, 1938, in the second of his two consecutive no-hitters, Vander Meer walked eight Dodgers.38

Although he never earned the All-Star selection he sought, Chambers ranked among the National League’s better left-handers from 1949 through 1951.39 Recognizing an opportunity to sell high, Rickey moved quickly. On June 15, he traded Chambers and Westlake to the Cardinals for lefty starter Howie Pollet, finisher Ted Wilks, plus three youngsters, Dick Cole, Bill Howerton, and Joe Garagiola. On only two other occasions did a pitcher get traded after tossing a no-hitter earlier in the season: Edwin Jackson in 2010 and Cole Hamels in 2015.

Was Rickey punishing Chambers and Westlake for holding out earlier that year, or was “El Cheapo” – the nickname given to Rickey by sportswriters and critics – anticipating another salary dispute in the upcoming offseason with Chambers and Westlake? Or, and more likely given Rickey’s penchant for trading away players before they declined, perhaps Rickey knew  something that the Cardinals did not when Chambers lost four straight decisions and saw his ERA climb from 3.03 to 5.58 with Pittsburgh after his no-hitter.

In any event, the gamble paid off for St. Louis. Chambers won 11 games with a career-best 3.83 ERA over 21 appearances with the Cards after the trade. The 14 games he won with two teams that season were a career high.

In 1952, the Cardinals fought to stay in pennant contention, and Chambers fought to stay in the starting rotation. In spring training, new manager Eddie Stanky announced, “Only four Cardinals are sure of their jobs. They are Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Cliff Chambers and Gerry Staley. Everything else is wide open.” Chambers started off well with a 4-2 record, including two complete-game victories, one of which was a shutout against the New York Giants, the defending NL champs.

However, on May 25 against the Cincinnati Reds, he was struck by a line drive off the bat of the first hitter he faced, Bob Borkowski. The portsider landed on the disabled list until July 5 with a broken left wrist. Chambers was never the same after the injury. Stanky demoted him to swingman and by season’s end, Chambers had made as many relief appearances as starts – 13.

 Chambers said, “[W]hen I went to spring training [in 1953] it was very obvious they weren’t going to use me.”  He registered his career-poorest outcomes in almost every pitching – and batting – category that season. “I put in the year and then I said, ‘Well, the hell with it. I’ll quit.’” 40

In December 1953, the Cardinals sent the unhappy Chambers and others plus $100,000 to the San Diego Padres of the PCL for pitcher Memo Luna.41 One month later, St. Louis traded four players to the Padres, plus they paid San Diego in excess of $100,000, for Tom Alston, the first African American to play for the Cardinals.42 Chambers’ new club had money to spend, and the West Coast native no longer sounded unhappy: “San Diego has made such a good offer that I’m going to give it a whirl,” Chambers said. “It’s a salary, high by Coast league standards, and with a bonus if I am sold back to the big leagues. It will be a pleasure to play under Lefty O’Doul, one of the finest managers in baseball.”43 O’Doul chimed in: “With the players [Padres owner Bill Starr] got and will get[,] I don’t see how we can miss being in the first division.”44

The Padres did finish 1954 in the first division – in fact, on top of the first division. The San Diego hitters put up the best team batting average in the league (.276), the pitchers the best winning percentage (.604), and the team captured the pennant when Bob Elliott – the same Bob Elliott who almost spoiled Chambers’ no-hitter in 1951 – drove in five runs to help the Padres defeat the Hollywood Stars in a tie-breaker game. (However, the Padres were eliminated by the Oakland Oaks in the first round of playoffs.)

Chambers did not finish the season; he retired in August.45 “I guess a lot of it was money,” he explained. “If you’re only gonna make 15-, 18-, 20,000 a year [playing ball], what the hell.”46 O’Doul offered to help Chambers get back to the big leagues, but Chambers declined. “I’ve had enough Eddie Stankys and I’ve had enough Branch Rickeys,” he said.47

Although Chambers felt that it was time to hang up his cleats, it was a decision that he later regretted: “All things considered, I maybe shouldn’t have thrown my career away when I did.”48

Chambers and his family settled in Boise, Idaho, his wife’s home town, where he swung among several different jobs, often in sales. He owned and operated a beer distributorship, served as recreation director at Mountain Home Air Force Base, set up outfits to sell 10-speed bicycles and chain saws,49 provided books and services to school and public libraries,50 worked in the insurance and financial planning industries,51 and other businesses. He even obtained a private pilot’s license.52 He retired in 1991.

His wife, June, taught fourth grade at Jackson Elementary School in Boise for 14 years before she was forced to retire for health reasons.53 Chambers and his wife spent their golden years at Bryant Ranch in Yellow Pine, June’s family homestead located in Idaho’s back country. “168 acres . . . No TV, no telephones,” Chambers said.”54

When their girls were young, the Chambers had horses for them to ride. When they returned to Idaho for good, the couple upgraded to Arabian horses and were regular back country riders, spending several months a year taking long trail rides almost every day over rugged terrain. “You’re looking over the toe of the boot 2,000 feet down,” Chambers regaled.55 Bryant Ranch became a treasured retreat for the couple, far removed from Chambers’ earlier life in professional baseball.

June Chambers died on December 8, 2010, in Boise at the age of 91.56 Cliff died a little more than a year later, on January 21, 2012, in Eagle, Idaho, at age 90.57 The couple are buried in Dry Creek Cemetery in Boise.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Cassidy Lent, manager of reference services at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, for supplying copies of news clippings from the Chambers file.

This biography was reviewed by Gregory H. Wolf and Bill Lamb and fact-checked by Dan Schoenholz.

Photo credit: Cliff Chambers, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted www.sabr.org, www.baseball-reference.com, www.retrosheet.org, www.fangraphs.com, www.baseballcube.com, www.newspapers.com, www.newspaperarchive.com, and www.ancestry.com.

Notes

1 See, e.g., “Lists: The 10 Most Imperfect No-Hitters in Baseball History,” This Great Game. https://thisgreatgame.com/baseball-lists. Accessed December 8, 2025. The blog explains: “Sabermetrically speaking, Chambers makes the list for producing a “Game Score” of 83, the lowest generated by any no-hit pitcher per the calculus established decades later by stat master Bill James.”

2 Surprisingly for the time period in which Chambers played, his date of birth was not changed by any of his franchises on his baseball-relevant records to make him seem younger. Doubly surprising, the only record found by this author where his birth date was changed was his military draft application. For whatever reason, that document reads January 22, 1923, signed by him in 1942 when he was affiliated with the Chicago Cubs. Too, on the “age” field appears a crossed-out “20” with an inserted “19.”

3 Day was born in Minnesota; findagrave.com/memorial/138952911/day_theodore-chambers. Clara was born in Iowa; findagrave.com/memorial/138952895/clara_hazel-chambers.

4 Clara Hazel Chambers obituary, Idaho Statesman, April 16, 1992: 5C; Harvey Frommer & Frederic J. Frommer, Growing Up Baseball: An Oral History (Dallas: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2001), 63; Clifford Day Chambers obituary, Idaho Statesman, January 24, 2012: L4. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/idahostatesman/name/clifford-chambers-obituary?id=13086364 (accessed March 29, 2026.

5 Frommer, Growing Up Baseball: 63; Clifford Day Chambers, Northern Pacific Railway personnel files. Accessed via Ancestry.com March 27, 2026.

6 Frommer, Growing Up Baseball, 62.

7 “Sports Rays,” Bellingham (Washington) Herald, April 9, 1939: 8.

8 “Dutch Ruether Pays Visit to City,” Bellingham Herald, April 14, 1938: 14.

9 Frommer, Growing Up Baseball, 62-63.

10 Milton Richman. “Here’s the Pitch on A.L. Hurlers – And Here’s What N.L. Aces Throw.” Baseball Digest vol. 10, No. 1 (January 1951), 16.

11 “Chambers Pitches No-Hit Game,” Bellingham Herald, June 24, 1939: 5. On June 14, 1938, Chambers hit a homer that helped his Legion mound mate, Jack “Pepper” Raymond – a slightly-built southpaw with a big curveball, who, too, made a name for himself in Bellingham junior Legion, city, and semipro ball in the 1930s and ‘40s – notch his no-hitter. “Local Boy Pitches No-Hit, No-Run Game Here.” Bellingham Herald, June 15, 1938: 7.

12 Bill Stevens, Sr. Assoc. AD/Strategic Communications, Washington State University Athletics, e-mail communications with author, November 30, 2025. See also, https://wsucougars.com/honors/hall-of-fame/cliff-chambers/48.

13 Brent Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence: Interviews with Baseball Players of the 1940s (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2001), 281.

14 Stevens, e-mail, November 30, 2025.

15 “Cougar Junior Gets $1500 Bonus, Sale Price Divvy,” Spokane (Washington) Chronicle, June 2, 1942: 11.

16 Frommer, Growing up Baseball, 63.

17 Frommer, Growing up Baseball, 62.

18 Clifford Day Chambers obituary, Idaho Statesman; Clifford Day Chambers, American Baseball Bureau Player Questionnaire (February 9, 1946).

19 United Press, “All Star Players for Seal Game Are Selected,” Sacramento Bee, August 12, 1946: 14; Associated Press, “Seals Shutout All-Stars, 3-0, Behind Lien,” Sacramento Union, August 20, 1946: 4.

20 Associated Press, “Cubs Purchase Cliff Chambers,” Pasadena (California) Star-News, July 7, 1946: 25.

21 United Press, “Angels Slated for Tough Go Monday Night,” Chico (California) Enterprise-Record, August 9, 1947: 6; Bob Panella, “Coast All-Stars Hand L.A. 12-2 Lacing at Wrigley,” Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, August 12, 1947: 6.

22 Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence, 283.

23 As Kelly told it to sports reporter George Beahon, Chambers loaded the bases in the ninth and escaped with a game-ending double play: “[A] nasty beautiful hop right into my shortstop’s glove. One foot either way it’s through there.” To set the record straight, however, based on other contemporaneous accounts, Chambers walked the leadoff man in the ninth inning, and the Angels turned a double play to get the first two outs, followed by a routine third out, without all the drama Kelly recalled. See George Beahon, “In This Corner …,” Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, May 10, 1951: 34, and excerpted in “Torture Chambers.” Baseball Digest, Vol. 12, No. 1 (January 1953), 16. But see, Al Parnis, “A Game I’ll Never Forget: Los Angeles Defeats San Francisco in 1947 Playoff Game,” The National Pastime: Endless Seasons: Baseball in Southern California, Jean Hastings Ardell and Andy McCue, eds. (Phoenix: SABR, 2011), 122; and, Ned Cronin, “Maddern’s 4-Run Homer in 8th Breaks Up Game,” Los Angeles Daily News, September 30, 1947: 32.

24 Associated Press, “Cubs Recall Cliff Chambers,” Los Angeles Daily News, September 30, 1947: 32.

25 Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence, 283. Musial batted .360 against Chambers – 18-for-50, plus five walks, with two doubles, two triples, and five home runs for an OPS of 1.198.

26 Les Biederman, “Wife ‘Prayed a Little’ on Chambers’ No-Hitter,” The Sporting News, May 16, 1951: 13-14.

27 Les Biederman, “Joining Bucs Fulfills Dream for Burly Cliff Chambers,” Pittsburgh Press, April 12, 1949: 29.

28 According to WAR calculations established retroactively by FanGraphs.com.

29 Chambers’ Player Questionnaire; Stevens’ e-mail communications with author; Clifford Day Chambers obituary, Idaho Statesman.

30 Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence, 285.

31 Chester L. Smith, “Hamey Persuades Chambers to Sign,” Pittsburgh Press, February 21, 1950: 27; see also Cliff Chambers’ Salaries at Baseball-reference. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/chambcl01.shtml.

32 Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence, 281. He hit his third home run on May 28, 1951, off 21-year-old Cardinal rookie Tom Poholsky, who pitched 10 innings in a game won by St. Louis, 6-5.

33 Bill Pillar, “From Pillar to Post: Idle Chatter,” Canonsburg (Pennsylvania) Daily Notes, February 6, 1951: 6.

34 Harry Keck, “Sports: Cliff Chambers, a Fighter After Rickey’s Own Heart, Could Be Pirates’ Key Man,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, February 24, 1951: 11.

35 Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence, 280.

36 Biederman, “Wife ‘Prayed a Little,’” 13.

37 Nick Maddox spun the first one on September 20, 1907, when he was a rookie. It was his third start.

38 As of this writing, after 1951 there were three games in which a pitcher walked eight hitters in a nine-inning no-hitter: Dock Ellis on June 12, 1970 (a game in which Ellis later claimed that he pitched while under the influence of LSD); Nolan Ryan on September 28, 1974; and Edwin Jackson on June 25, 2010. There are also two other occasions on which a pitcher walked more than eight batters while allowing no hits: A.J. Burnett walked nine in nine innings on May 12, 2001, and Jim Maloney walked 10 in 10 innings on August 19, 1965.

39 See Biederman, “Wife ‘Prayed a Little,’” 14; and, Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence, 286.

40 Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence, 278.

41 Wallie Lindsley, “Sports Rays: Cliff Listed as Unhappiest,” Bellingham Herald, January 7, 1954: 13; Harry Borba, “Lefty Hits New Rule,” San Francisco Examiner, January 11, 1954: 39.

42 Associated Press, “$100,000 Deal Sends Alston to Cardinals,” Sacramento Union, January 27, 1954: 7.

43 Wallie Lindsley, “Sports Rays: Padres Come Up with Good Offer,” Bellingham Herald, January 18, 1954: 8.

44 Bob Walton, “Anything Goes,” San Bernardino (California) Daily Sun, March 2, 1954: 20.

45 Bucky Walter, “Pitching Too Weak for Pennant, O’Doul Wails,” San Francisco News, August 17, 1954: 14.

46 Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence, 285.

47 Brent Kelley, “Cliff Chambers (1992),” SABR Oral History Collection. https://sabr.org/interview/cliff-chambers-1992. Accessed December 15, 2025 – hereafter “Chambers Oral History” — @29:38.

48 Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence, 286.

49 Clifford Day Chambers obituary, Idaho Statesman.

50 Bob DuVall, “Whatever Became of…?”, Baseball Digest, Vol. 32, No. 1 (January 1973), 79.

51 Cliff Chambers, Find a Grave®. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/83962476/cliff-chambers. Accessed December 15, 2025.

52 Clifford Day Chambers obituary, Idaho Statesman.

53 Emma Louise (June) Chambers obituary, Idaho Statesman, December 12, 2010: A14.

54 “Chambers Oral History” — @12:05, 12:46.

55 Kelley, The Pastime in Turbulence, 286.

56 Emma Louise (June) Chambers obituary, Idaho Statesman.

57 Sadly, their daughter, Lynne, had died of cancer in 1984 at age 39. Their other daughter, Jane Ann, died in 2020 at age 77.