June 22, 1947: Reds’ Ewell Blackwell falls two outs short of consecutive no-hitters

At the start of the 2026 season, Johnny Vander Meer remained the only major-league pitcher to throw back-to-back no-hitters. On June 11, 1938, the Cincinnati Reds’ left-handed fireballer no-hit the Boston Braves, and in his next start on June 15—the first night game at Ebbets Field—Vander Meer no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers.

From Vander Meer’s double no-hitters of 1938 through May 1947, eight pitchers in the American and National Leagues threw nine no-hitters (Bob Feller had two).1 While Feller’s 1940 Opening Day no-hitter rivals Vander Meer’s double no-hitters in fame, none of the no-hit-pitchers approached consecutive gems; only Cincinnati’s Clyde Shoun registered even two additional hitless innings.2

But in the first game of a June 22, 1947 doubleheader between the homestanding Reds and the visiting Dodgers, Ewell Blackwell, Cincinnati’s tall, slender, sidearm-throwing right-hander,3 made a run at Vander Meer.

Like so many others, Blackwell’s baseball career was interrupted by World War II. He pitched in two games for the Reds in 1942 at age 19—a total of three innings—before being sent to the International League’s Syracuse Chiefs. He won 15 games for Syracuse despite being nearly seven years younger than the average International Leaguer.4

But world events swept Blackwell away from baseball temporarily. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1942 and missed the 1943-45 seasons while serving his country.

After Blackwell’s Army discharge in March 1946, he returned to Cincinnati, soon becoming a fixture in the starting rotation. As a rookie for the sixth-place Reds, he appeared in the All-Star Game, tossed a league-leading five shutouts, and compiled a 2.45 ERA, fourth-best in the NL.5 But poor support (2 runs or fewer in 13 of his starts)6 resulted in a 9-13 mark.

In 1947 the 24-year-old Blackwell was the Reds’ top pitcher, and perhaps the league’s best pitcher.7 He won his first two starts, including Opening Day, then lost twice, dropping to 2-2. He then became unbeatable, piling up eight straight wins. When Blackwell no-hit the Braves on June 18 at Crosley Field, lowering his ERA to 2.28, he joined Warren Spahn as the first NL pitchers to reach 10 wins. In a burst of bravado after no-hitting Boston, Blackwell said, “I might do it again my next time out.”8

The Dodgers countered Blackwell’s hot hand with 30-year-old left-hander Joe Hatten. Like Blackwell, Hatten had missed the 1943-45 seasons because of military duty. He made his major-league debut on April 21, 1946, with a complete-game win over the arch-rival New York Giants.

Hatten went on to throw 222 innings in his rookie campaign, compiling a 14-11 record, and 2.84 ERA. He entered his start against the Reds with seven wins against four losses, on his way to a 17-8 season.   

One day earlier, in its first of three-games in Cincinnati, Brooklyn extended its winning streak to four, and drew within one game of first-place Boston. The NL was tightly bunched; the Chicago Cubs, Giants, and St. Louis Cardinals were also within 3½ games of first place. Despite Blackwell’s personal winning streak, the Reds were 27-31, six games out of first, in sixth place.

Cincinnati had been a thorn in the Dodgers’ side, winning five of their seven meetings. With Blackwell on the mound and 31,204 paying fans in the stands, the Reds were poised to add another win.9

Neither pitcher allowed a baserunner in the first inning. Blackwell recorded a strikeout, flyout, and groundout; Hatten got three groundball outs.

Blackwell walked clean-up hitter Carl Furillo to begin the second, but Furillo was erased on a 6-4-3 double play when Dixie Walker grounded to Reds’ all-star shortstop Eddie Miller. Second baseman Benny Zientara threw out rookie Spider Jorgensen for the third out.

In the bottom of the frame, Hatten walked Babe Young with one out. Two foul pop flies—one to Jorgensen at third, and another to Dodgers’ rookie first baseman Jackie Robinson—ended the inning.

Neither Blackwell nor Hatten allowed a baserunner in the third or fourth. Al Gionfriddo,   making just his third start of the season for Brooklyn and batting .214 with no extra-base hits, tried to bunt for a hit in the fourth, pushing the ball past Blackwell, but Zientara scooped it up and threw him out.  

In the fifth, with one out, Blackwell issued his second base-on-balls, this time to Walker, who was forced at second by Jorgenson’s grounder. Pee Wee Reese flied into the third out. The game was 4½ innings old, and neither team had a hit or run.

Hatten started the bottom of the fifth by getting Young on a groundout and striking out Augie Galan. But with two out, Miller—the 1947 NL doubles champion with 38—doubled to center for the game’s first hit. Hatten intentionally walked Ray Lamanno to pitch to Blackwell, and the strategy worked: Blackwell flied out.

In the sixth rookie catcher Gil Hodges looked at strike three; Hatten and Eddie Stanky grounded out. Hatten then returned to the mound for what proved to be his final inning.

Hatten walked rookie Frank Baumholtz, who was forced at second by Zientara’s unsuccessful bunt. Zientara was himself forced at second on Grady Hatton’s grounder. With two out and a runner at first, Hatten’s control failed him.10 Two walks loaded the bases; Hatten ran the count full on Galan, then walked him too, allowing Hatton to trot home with the game’s first run. Hank Behrman relieved Hatten, and struck out Miller.

No one reached base in the seventh for Brooklyn, and the eighth began with Walker’s second base-on-balls. After an out, pinch-hitter Arky Vaughn forced Walker, and 20-year-old Duke Snider, pinch-hitting for fellow rookie Hodges, struck out. Blackwell had tossed eight no-hit innings and was clinging to a 1-0 lead.

Miller gave Blackwell some cushion in the bottom of the eighth. After an out, Hatton and Bert Haas, who was hitting .335 at the time, singled. Young flied out, and Galan walked, to load the bases. Miller ripped his second double of the game, driving home all three Cincinnati baserunners; the Reds led, 4-0, entering the ninth.

Blackwell faced a third-straight left-handed pinch-hitter to begin the ninth. Gene Hermanski flied out, leaving Blackwell two batters from double no-hit fame. Vander Meer perched on the top dugout step, ready to be the first to congratulate his Cincinnati teammate.11

Stanky, who was 0-for-11 so far in 1947 against Blackwell, stepped to the plate. In the first and fourth innings, he had taken called third strikes. Stanky had put the ball in play in the sixth, grounding out, third to first.

Stanky watched Blackwell’s first pitch go wide, then drove the second pitch hard on the ground between Blackwell’s feet. Shortstop Miller raced toward second, flinging himself toward the ball in a futile attempt to field it; the ball was far beyond his reach and into center field for a single.12

Stanky had ended Blackwell’s streak of 19 consecutive hitless innings. Johnny Mize of the Giants had singled off Blackwell with one out in the eighth inning on June 14, the last hit before Stanky’s.

Stanky’s hit caused a hush to fall over the stadium, then the crowd began clapping for Blackwell.13 Stanky told reporters, “I knew Blackwell was going to give me his best pitch in this situation, and I hit it. It was a side-arm sinker.”14

With Stanky at first, Blackwell returned to work. Gionfriddo flied to center, bringing up Robinson, who had tallied a hit in each of his previous seven games.15 Appearing in his 57th game since breaking baseball’s color line on April 15, Robinson looped a fly near the right-field line that dropped fair, out of reach of right fielder Baumholtz, who had played the right-hand-hitting Robinson toward center field.16 Stanky reached third on Robinson’s single, but Furillo grounded to Young near first for an unassisted putout to end the game.

For Blackwell, it was a two-hit shutout, his 11th win, his ninth consecutive win, and his third win without a loss against the pennant-bound Dodgers. Nevertheless, it was what he did not accomplish—back-to-back no-hitters—that makes this story so compelling.

Blackwell ran his winning streak to 16, before losing to the Giants in 10 innings on July 30.  He ended 1947 at 22-8—the most wins of his injury-plagued career—and he logged an ERA of 2.47. Cincinnati (73-81) finished fifth, 21 games behind first-place Brooklyn. The Dodgers took a one-game lead on July 2 and pulled away to clinch the NL spot in the first televised World Series.17

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Carl Riechers and copy-edited by John Fredland.

Photo credit: Ewell Blackwell, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent statistical information. The author relied on game coverage in the Brooklyn Eagle, and Cincinnati Post, and reviewed SABR BioProject biographies for several players participating in the game, and Game Stories linked above.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN194706221.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1947/B06221CIN1947.htm

Notes

1 The other no-hitters during that span were Monte Pearson of the New York Yankees in 1938, Tex Carleton of the Dodgers in 1940, Lon Warneke of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1941, Jim Tobin of the Boston Braves in 1944, Clyde Shoun of the Cincinnati Reds in 1944, Dick Fowler of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1945, and Ed Head of the Dodgers in 1946.

2 The no-hit pitchers logged just a 2-5 record with three no-decisions in their next starts.

3 One writer described Blackwell as one who “pitches like a man falling out of a tree,” Harold C. Burr, “Dodgers Convinced Blackwell is Real McCoy as a Pitcher, Brooklyn Eagle, June 23, 1947: 11.

4 According to Baseball-Reference.com he was 6.9 years younger than the league average.

5 Harry Brecheen of the Cardinals also had five shutouts.

6 In those 13 starts, Blackwell went 3-10.

7 Red Smith, “Views of Sport,” The Sporting News, July 2, 1947: 5 (Originally appearing as “Sergeant Ewell Blackwell,” in the New York Herald Tribune.)

8 Tom Swope, “Blackwell Just Misses Double No-Hit Fame,” Cincinnati Post, June 23, 1947: 8.

9 Cincinnati beat Brooklyn just once more, on July 14. The Dodgers won the final 11 games between the teams, finishing with a 15-7 advantage.

10 Hatten had control problems throughout his career. He finished each of his seven seasons with more walks than strikeouts.

11 “Vandy Was Ready,” The Sporting News, July 2, 1947: 6.

12 Tom Swope, “Ewell’s Two-Blow Follow-up Better Pitched Than No-Hitter, The Sporting News, July 2, 1947: 5.

13 Les Biederman, “Stanky’s Blow Spoiling No-Hitter His First Off Blackie This Season,” The Sporting News, July 2, 1947: 6

14 Biederman.

15 Robinson’s hitting streak reached 21 games in the first game of a July 4 doubleheader. In the second game he failed to hit in four trips to the plate, ending the longest hitting streak of his career. During the streak Robinson hit .357.

16 Tom Swope, “Ewell’s Two-Blow Follow-Up Better Pitched Than No-Hitter,” The Sporting News, July 2, 1947: 5.

17 Brooklyn lost to the New York Yankees, four games to three.