September 20, 2000: Rockies’ Ben Petrick sets record by going hitless, driving in four runs

In many ways, it was a typical Coors Field contest. On September 20, 2000, the San Diego Padres jumped out to a 14-3 lead after 4½ innings in the Colorado Rockies’ hitter-friendly ballpark.1 In classic Coors Field fashion, the 11-run lead nearly disappeared, and the Padres were forced to use their closer in the bottom of the ninth to nail down a sloppy 15-11 victory.

But one aspect of the game was far from routine. The Rockies’ rookie catcher,2 Ben Petrick, did something that had not been done in the National or American League since at least 1901: He drove in four runs despite going hitless in the game.3 Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of his feat was that the 23-year-old Petrick drove in those runs while harboring a secret about a serious health issue looming over him − one that prematurely ended his baseball career in less than four years.

Petrick had been selected by the Rockies out of Glencoe High School in Hillsboro, Oregon, in the second round of the June 1995 amateur draft. (Future Hall of Famer Todd Helton was the Rockies’ first-round pick.) Petrick quickly established himself as one of baseball’s top prospects,4 and in 1999 and 2000 he was the starting catcher for the United States in the All-Star Futures Game.

Petrick made his major-league debut on September 1, 1999, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, lashing an RBI double in his first at-bat and reaching base in four of his five plate appearances. In 19 games with Colorado that season, Petrick batted .323 with 4 homers and 12 RBIs. His status as the Rockies’ catcher of the future seemed secure.

Petrick competed against other top prospects in the Arizona Fall League in 1999.5 But while typing an email that autumn, he noticed his left hand lagging behind his right. A short time later, he detected a slight tremor when he picked up a glass with his left hand.6 His symptoms worsened by the time spring training rolled around, and in May 2000, Petrick was diagnosed with Parkinsonism, a set of movements associated with Parkinson’s disease.7 He was told that if his symptoms got worse, then he likely had young-onset Parkinson’s.8

On the advice of a Rockies trainer, Petrick did not reveal the diagnosis to most people in the organization.9 He was prescribed medication to help manage his symptoms, but the drug’s side effects included exhaustion and nausea.10Petrick continued to hit well in Triple A, and in mid-July of 2000, he was called up to replace the injured Scott Servais.11

The Rockies and Padres were merely playing out the string as they prepared for their September 20 contest on a chilly Denver evening. Colorado had briefly led the NL West Division in early July before losing 21 of its next 26 games to fall out of the race. The Rockies (76-74) were on a four-game losing streak and in fourth place, 14 games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants. The Padres were last in the division, 17½ games out.

The Padres sent nine men to the plate in the top of the first against Rockies starter Brian Rose (7-7, 5.40 ERA).12 RBI singles by Ryan Klesko, John Mabry, and Mike Darr staked them to a 3-0 lead. San Diego added three more runs in the second on an RBI double by Dave Magadan and a two-run homer by Mabry.

Rookie right-hander Adam Eaton got the start for San Diego. Eaton came into the game with a 5-3 record and a 4.04 ERA, although he had been hammered in his three previous starts.

After retiring the first four batters he faced, Eaton issued back-to-back walks in the second. Left fielder Butch Huskey got the Rockies on the scoreboard with an RBI double,13 putting runners on second and third for Petrick with one out. Petrick grounded out to shortstop Desi Relaford, scoring the runner from third and giving him his first RBI of the game. San Diego led, 6-2, after two innings.

Giovanni Carrara, who had relieved Rose in the third, got torched for five runs in the fourth. A three-run homer by Magadan – his first since July 28, 1992 − and a two-run shot by catcher Ben Davis increased San Diego’s lead to 11-2.14

Colorado added a run in the bottom of the inning when Petrick hit a sacrifice fly to score Todd Hollandsworth.

The Padres increased their lead to 14-3 on a bases-loaded triple by Darr against reliever Pete Walker. Helton got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning with a sacrifice fly. It was Helton’s 129th RBI of the season, moving him to within seven RBIs of the league leader, Sammy Sosa.15

Huskey hit a solo homer in the sixth, which was Eaton’s final inning of work.16 Ruben Rivera responded with an RBI triple off Rockies reliever Mike Myers in the seventh, giving San Diego a 15-5 lead.

Will Cunnane pitched a scoreless seventh for San Diego. He was replaced in the eighth by Buddy Carlyle, who was making his first big-league appearance of the season and his first relief outing above Rookie ball. It did not go well −although with the temperature plummeting, hardly any of the 36,088 fans remained to witness it.17

Carlyle faced Petrick with Hollandsworth on third and one out. Petrick grounded out to second baseman Damian Jackson, allowing Hollandsworth to score. The third out proved elusive, as Carlyle surrendered a double to rookie Elvis Peña, an RBI single to another rookie, Juan Pierre, and a single to pinch-hitter Terry Shumpert.18 After Heathcliff Slocumb took over on the mound, Jeff Cirillo knocked in a pair of runs with a double, cutting the Padres’ lead to 15-9.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Rockies loaded the bases with nobody out on an error by Jackson and a pair of walks. For the fourth time in five plate appearances, Petrick batted with at least one runner in scoring position. He walked on four pitches, earning his fourth RBI of the game without the benefit of a hit.19

With the potential tying run moving into the on-deck circle, Padres manager Bruce Bochy lifted Slocumb in favor of Trevor Hoffman. The reliable stopper’s first pitch induced a 4-6-3 double-play off the bat of Peña, bringing home Colorado’s 11th run of the game. Hoffman retired Pierre on a fly out to pick up his 41st save of the season.

The 11 pitchers who appeared in the game combined to walk 18 batters, with 10 of those free passes eventually scoring. “Just a bad game,” muttered Rockies manager Buddy Bell. “Just a bad game.”20

The Rockies and Padres remained in fourth and fifth place, respectively, for the duration of the season. Petrick finished with a .322 batting average in 52 big-league games.

Petrick’s Parkinson’s symptoms continued to worsen and by 2001 he was even having trouble putting on his jersey.21His performance began to decline, although his 2001 season was not without its bright spots. On June 27 he slammed a three-run homer off Woody Williams of the Padres and equaled his career high of four RBIs. But by September 2001, he realized he was no longer the Rockies’ catcher of the future.22

When his batting average dipped to .163 in early May 2002, Petrick was demoted to Triple A to learn how to play the outfield.23 That month his neurologist changed his medication, which helped improve his performance and earn him another call-up by the Rockies.24 From July 7 until the end of the season, Petrick hit .250 with 5 home runs in 24 games as an outfielder and pinch-hitter.

After Petrick spent almost the entire first half of the 2003 season in Triple A, the Rockies traded him to the Detroit Tigers for pitcher Adam Bernero. Petrick continued to struggle and in March 2004 he was released by Detroit. In May he publicly disclosed his Parkinson’s diagnosis when he announced his retirement from baseball.25 “I felt it is time to step back and reorganize my life,” Petrick said.26

Petrick finished his major-league career with a .257 batting average, 27 homers, and 94 RBIs in just 669 at-bats. “Looking back, I am amazed at what he accomplished,” Helton said in 2012. “It’s hard enough performing at the highest level of this game, which he did. On top of that, he had to fight off a disease that robbed him of his physical ability. And on top of that, he had to play under the tremendous pressure of hiding the effects of that disease.”27

Petrick went on to coach baseball at Glencoe High School and from 2013 to 2019 he was a coach with the Hillsboro Hops of the Northwest League, helping players adjust to life in professional baseball.28 The Hops retired his number in 2022.29

Petrick became an advocate for Parkinson’s research and his 2011 book Forty Thousand to One revealed the details of his extraordinary journey.30 “I am really proud of the fact I was able to fight it, and not just quit as soon as I got diagnosed,” Petrick said in 2020. “We all will have things in our life that we don’t want to happen. It’s how you handle it that says a lot about you.”31

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Russ Walsh and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, Retrosheet.org, and The Baseball Cube.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/COL/COL200009200.shtml 

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2000/B09200COL2000.htm

Notes

1 Coors Field’s one-year park factor for runs was 159 in 2000. That is, teams scored 59 percent more runs in Coors Field compared with an average ballpark. To reduce offense, the Rockies began storing their baseballs in a humidor in 2002.

2 Petrick came into the 2000 season with only 62 career at-bats at the major-league level, so he was still considered a rookie.

3 As of December 2023, there were no other known cases of an NL or AL player going hitless in a game and driving in four or more runs. It is unclear if any NL players turned the trick prior to 1901.

4 Baseball America ranked Petrick in its top 100 prospects in four consecutive seasons (1997-2000). His highest ranking was 35th, prior to the 2000 season.

5 Petrick hit .280 with no homers and 12 RBIs in 22 games for the Grand Canyon Rafters.

6 Steve Wulf, “Strength from Weakness,” ESPN The Magazine, January 9, 2012, http://www.espn.com/espn/eticket/story?page=120106/BenPetrick, accessed December 15, 2023.

7 Ben Petrick and Scott Brown, Forty Thousand to One (n.p.: KMP Enterprises, 2011), 26.

8 Petrick and Brown, 27.

9 Anne M. Peterson (Associated Press), “Battling Parkinsons,” Los Angeles Times, July 21, 2013: C3.

10 Petrick and Brown, 27-28.

11 Petrick had also been called up when Servais went on the disabled list in April. Petrick appeared in five games with the Rockies between April 19 and 30 before being returned to Triple A on May 3. “Transactions,” Hartford Courant, April 20, 2000: C8; “Transactions,” Baltimore Sun, May 4, 2000: 2D; “Transactions,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 17, 2000: F6.

12 Rose had been 4-2 with a 4.65 ERA since coming to the Rockies in a trade with the Boston Red Sox in late July.

13 Huskey was playing because the Rockies outfield was depleted by injuries. Future Hall of Famer Larry Walker was out for the remainder of the season with an elbow injury. Jeffrey Hammonds had a shoulder injury; he ended up missing the rest of the season. Alan Cohen, “Larry Walker,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/larry-walker/, accessed December 16, 2023; Associated Press, “Rockies’ Astacio Will Miss Rest of Regular Season,” Grand Junction (Colorado) Daily Sentinel, September 26, 2000: 4B.

14 The home run was Magadan’s 41st in 4,027 career at-bats. His previous three-run homer came on July 28, 1992, when he was with the New York Mets – he hit it off Philadelphia rookie Mike Williams. Magadan was known as a contact hitter with a good batting eye. He finished his 16-year career with a .288 batting average and a .390 on-base percentage. He hit only 42 homers in 4,159 at-bats.

15 Helton went on a tear, knocking in 18 runs in the Rockies’ final 11 games to finish with a league-leading 147 RBIs and win the batting title with a .372 average. Sosa missed six games with a sore back from September 19 to 25 and ended up with 138 RBIs. Helton missed winning the Triple Crown by eight home runs – he hit 42 round-trippers to Sosa’s 50. Bill Jauss, “Cards Make Themselves at Home,” Chicago Tribune, September 24, 2000: 3-3.

16 Eaton departed after laboring through 115 pitches.

17 It was 50 degrees Fahrenheit when the game began, although it was much colder in the late innings. Thomas Harding, “Padres Hammer Rockies Pitchers,” Colorado Springs Gazette, September 21, 2000: 3-1.

18 Pierre’s single extended his hitting streak to 13 games. His streak was snapped at 15 games when he went 0-for-1 in the first game of a September 24 doubleheader against the Florida Marlins.

19 Petrick finished the game 0-for-3 with a walk, a sacrifice fly, and four RBIs.

20 Mike Klis, “Rockies Walk on Wild Side,” Denver Post, September 21, 2000: D9.

21 Petrick and Brown, 28.

22 Petrick and Brown, 29.

23 Petrick and Brown, 30.

24 Petrick and Brown, 30.

25 Wulf, “Strength from Weakness.”

26 Associated Press, “Catcher Retires with Parkinson’s,” the Record (Hackensack, New Jersey), May 22, 2004: S4.

27 Wulf, “Strength from Weakness.”

28 Peterson, “Battling Parkinsons”; “Hillsboro Hops to Honor Ben Petrick,” MiLB.com, March 28, 2022, https://www.milb.com/news/hillsboro-hops-to-honor-ben-petrick, accessed December 16, 2023.

29 “Hillsboro Hops to Honor Ben Petrick.”

30 “Ben Petrick – About,” https://web.archive.org/web/20130209032219/http://www.benpetrick.com/about/, accessed December 16, 2023.

31 Thomas Harding, “Petrick Opens Up about Living with Parkinson’s,” MLB.com, May 13, 2020, https://www.mlb.com/news/ben-petrick-parkinsons-disease, accessed December 16, 2023.