The Most Lopsided Shutouts
This article was written by Ron Liebman
This article was published in 1976 Baseball Research Journal
The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs played one of the most remarkable games of all time on September 16, 1975 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game wound up 22-0 Pittsburgh. By the time the game had reached 41/2 innings, the score was already 18-0. The 22-0 score marked the largest shutout score since 1900, eclipsing 2 games of 21-0 which occurred in the American League.
On September 15, 1901, Detroit, the home team, defeated Cleveland 21-0 in the second game of a doubleheader. The game was limited to 7½ innings since Cleveland had to catch a train. On August 13, 1939, Red Ruffing of the Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Athletics 21-0 at Philadelphia in the 2nd game of a doubleheader, with the game limited to 8 innings by the Sunday law. But both games were surpassed by Pittsburgh’s 22-0 shutout in 1975, with John Candelaria hurling 7 innings and Ken Brett pitching the last 2 innings. Of course, Brett was not credited with a save! In this game, Rennie Stennett of the Pirates became the second player in history (the other was Wilbert Robinson of the NL Baltimore Orioles in 1892) to get 7 hits in a 9-inning game. Stennett had 4 singles, 2 doubles, and a triple, twice having 2 hits in the same inning.
The National League since 1900 had four games of 19-0, with that score previously representing the modern NL mark. The last time this happened was on the night of June 28, 1969 when the Los Angeles Dodgers, behind Don Drysdale, defeated San Diego 19-0 at San Diego. This was the only complete game pitched by Drysdale in 1969 (his final season) and he scored only one additional win when a score arm caused him to end his 209-win career. The all-time record for the greatest shutout score in major league history is 28-0. Providence of the National League, with the great Hoss Radboum pitching, defeated Philadelphia 28-0 on August 21, 1883. There were 2 games in the pre-1900 National League with scores of 24-0 and another with a 20-0 score.
It is usually a once-in-a-lifetime treat for a pitcher to be given 15 or more runs by his team and to still concentrate enough to hurl a shutout game, but Red Ruffing of the New York Yankees won five games by shutout scores of at least 15-0, including the 21-0 game. The others were 18-0, 17-0, and 15-0 twice. Of course, when Ruffing pitched there were 9 good hitters in the lineup since the powerhouse Yankees were supplemented by Ruffing’s own powerful bat, which produced 36 homers and a greater output of RBI’s than any other modern pitcher.
Only 3 other modern pitchers had more than one game of 15-0 or better in his career. Morton Cooper of the St. Louis Cardinals, the only National League pitcher to do it, defeated Cincinnati 18-0 and defeated Pittsburgh 16-0, with both games being on the road and within 2 weeks of each other in June, 1944. Tom Brewer of the Boston Red Sox defeated Washington twice by scores of 16-0, on the road in 1956, and at home in a 1955 game where Norm Zauchin had 10 RBI’s for the Red Sox. Herb Score of Cleveland won a 19-0 game in Boston in 1955, and was a 1 5-0 winner at Washington the following season.
The biggest shutout by a no-hit pitcher in this century was posted by Frank Smith of the White Sox, who beat the Tigers in 1905 by 15-0. The great Jim Galvin of Buffalo won an 18-0 shutout at Detroit in 1884 which was also a no-hitter. Teddy Lyons of the White Sox won a 17-0 one-hitter at Washington in 1925, and Ken Holtzman of the Cubs won a 1 5-0 one-hitter on the road vs. the San Francisco Giants in 1970. Here is a list of the 79 games since 1 900 (40-NL, 39-AL) where a team won by a shutout score of 15-0 or greater, with the winning pitchers also listed.
American League Lopsided Shutouts
|
Aug. |
2 |
1901 |
16-0 |
Cy Young, Red Sox over Athletics |
|
Sept. |
15 |
1901+ |
21-0(7-1/2) |
Ed Siever, Tigers over Indians |
|
Sept. |
9 |
1905 |
15-0 |
Frank Smith, White Sox over Tigers |
|
July |
15 |
1907 |
15-0 |
Doc White (7), White Sox over Yanks |
|
|
|
|
|
Nick Altrock (2) |
|
April |
24 |
1909 |
17-0 |
Joe Lake, New York over Washington |
|
April |
15 |
1915 |
16-0 |
Red Faber, Chicago over St. Louis |
|
June |
9 |
1915 |
15-0 |
George Dauss (6), Detroit over Boston |
|
|
|
|
|
William Steen (3) |
|
July |
6 |
1920 |
17-0 |
Carl Mays, New York over Washington |
|
Sept. |
9 |
1922 |
16-0 |
Elam Van Gilder, St. Louis over Detroit |
|
Sept. |
19 |
1925+ |
17-0 |
Ted Lyons, Chicago over Washington |
|
July |
25 |
1928# |
16-0 |
Howard Ehmke, Phil. over Chicago |
|
June |
23 |
1930# |
15-0 |
Henry Johnson, New York over St. Louis |
|
Aug. |
14 |
1930 |
15-0 |
Wes Ferrell, Cleveland over Phil. |
|
Sept |
. 17 |
1931# |
17-0 |
Red Ruffing, New York over St. Louis |
|
Sept |
2 |
1932+ |
15-0 |
Lew Krausse, Phil. over Boston |
|
April |
25 |
1933 |
16-0 |
Russ Van Atta, New York over Washington |
|
April |
29 |
1935 |
18-0 |
Tommy Bridges, Detroit over St. Louis |
|
July |
10 |
1936 |
18-0 |
Red Ruffing, New York over Cleveland |
|
July |
5 |
1937# |
15-0 |
Red Ruffing, New York over Boston |
|
Aug. |
29 |
1937# |
16-0 |
George Caster, Phil. over Chicago |
|
Aug. |
13 |
1939+ |
21-0(8) |
Red Ruffing, New York over Philadelphia |
|
Aug. |
17 |
1942 |
5-0 |
Red Ruffing, New York over Philadelphia |
|
April |
30 |
1950# |
19-0 |
Joe Dobson, Boston over Philadelphia |
|
May |
4 |
1950 |
15-0 |
Bob Cain, Chicago over New York |
|
May |
24 |
1951 |
16-0 |
Bob Feller, Cleveland over Washington |
|
Aug. |
4 |
1953 |
15-0 |
Vic Raschi (6), New York over Detroit |
|
|
|
|
|
Art Schallock (3) |
|
July |
11 |
1954# |
18-0 |
Frank Sullivan, Boston over Phil. |
|
April |
17 |
1955 |
16-0 |
Steve Gromek, Detroit over Kansas City |
|
May |
18 |
1955 |
19-0 |
Herb Score, Cleveland over Boston |
|
May |
27 |
1955 |
16-0 |
Tom Brewer, Boston over Washington |
|
June |
2 |
1956 |
15-0 |
Herb Score, Cleveland over Washington |
|
Sept. |
3 |
1956+ |
16-0 |
Tom Brewer, Boston over Washington |
|
Aug. |
26 |
1957 |
16-0 |
Willard Nixon, Boston over Kansas City |
|
June |
22 |
1958 |
15-0 |
Don Larsen, New York over Detroit |
|
May |
23 |
1959 |
16-0 |
Bud Daley, Kansas City over Chicago |
|
April |
30 |
1960 |
16-0 |
Jim Coates, New York over Baltimore |
|
Aug. |
23 |
1963 |
17-0 |
Ken McBride, Los Angeles over Wash. |
|
Sept. |
24 |
1963 |
15-0 |
Ray Herbert, Chicago over Baltimore |
|
July |
27 |
1969 |
17-0 |
Jim Hardin, Baltimore over Chicago |
National League Lopsided Shutouts
|
July |
30 |
1903 |
15-0 |
Ed Poole, Cincinnati over Chicago |
|
April |
15 |
1905 |
15-0 |
Ch. Mathewson (6), New York over Boston |
|
|
|
|
|
George Wiltse (3) |
|
May |
19 |
1906 |
1 5-0 |
Chic Fraser, Cincinnati over Boston |
|
June |
7 |
1906 |
19-0 |
Jack Pfiester (7), Chicago over New York |
|
|
|
|
|
Ed Reulbach (2) |
|
July |
11 |
1910 |
18-0 |
Geo. McQuillan, Phil. over Pittsburgh |
|
April |
30 |
1918 |
15-0 |
Jesse Barnes (7), New York over Phil. |
|
|
|
|
|
Cecil Causey (2) |
|
May |
7 |
1918 |
16-0 |
Don Ragan, Boston over Brooklyn |
|
Aug. |
24 |
1924+ |
17-0 |
Eddie Dyer, St. Louis over Brooklyn |
|
June |
27 |
1926 |
16-0 |
Pete Donohue, Cincinnati over Pitt. |
|
July |
3 |
1928+ |
1 5-0 |
Alex Ferguson, Phil. over Boston |
|
May |
4 |
1929# |
16-0 |
Pat Malone, Chicago over Philadelphia |
|
Aug. |
30 |
1929 |
15-0 |
Heinie Meine, Pittsburgh over Chicago |
|
Aug. |
10 |
1930# |
18-0 |
Cl. Willoughby, Philadelphia over Cin. |
|
July |
4 |
1934+ |
15-0 |
Carl Hubbell, New York over Boston |
|
July |
14 |
1934# |
18-0 |
Roy Hansen, Philadelphia over Cm. |
|
Aug. |
18 |
1934 |
1 5-0 |
Bill Hallahan, St. Louis over Boston |
|
June |
12 |
1935# |
15-0 |
Larry French, Chicago over Phil. |
|
May |
22 |
1936 |
15-0 |
Bucky Walters, Phil. over New York |
|
May |
29 |
1936 |
15-0 |
Al Smith, New York over Boston |
|
June |
10 |
1944 |
18-0 |
Mort Cooper, St. Louis over Cin. |
|
June |
24 |
1944 |
16-0 |
Mort Cooper, St. Louis over Pitt. |
|
July |
25 |
1944 |
15-0 |
Max Butcher, Pittsburgh over N.Y. |
|
Sept. |
26 |
1944# |
15-0 |
Henry Wyse, Chicago over Phil. |
|
July |
3 |
1946 |
16-0 |
Ken Burkhart, St. Louis over Cm. |
|
July |
3 |
1949 |
16-0 |
Monte Kennedy, New York over Bkn. |
|
May |
7 |
1950 |
15-0 |
Howie Pollett, St. Louis over Boston |
|
July |
2 |
1950 |
16-0 |
Walt Dubiel, Chicago over Cincinnati |
|
May |
20 |
1951# |
17-0 |
Russ Meyer, Phil. over Pittsburgh |
|
Aug. |
16 |
1952 |
15-0(6) |
Billy Loes, Brooklyn over Phil. |
|
Sept. |
12 |
1952+ |
16-0 |
Ernie Johnson, Boston over Pitt. |
|
May |
13 |
1956# |
15-0 |
Warren Spahn, Milwaukee over Cin. |
|
Aug. |
3 |
1961 |
19-0 |
Harvey Haddix, Pittsburgh over StL. |
|
April |
23 |
1963 |
15-0 |
Ernie Broglio, St. Louis over Houston |
|
Sept. |
10 |
1963 |
16-0 |
Chris Short, Philadelphia over Houston |
|
Aug. |
8 |
1965 |
18-0 |
Jim Maloney, Cincinnati over Los Angeles |
|
May |
13 |
1969 |
19-0 |
Dick Selma, Chicago over San Diego |
|
June |
28 |
1969 |
19-0 |
Don Drysdale, Los Angeles over S.D. |
|
Aug. |
22 |
1970 |
15-0 |
Ken Holtzman, Chicago over S.F. |
|
June |
28 |
1974+ |
15-0 |
Dennis Blair, Montreal over Chicago |
|
Sept. |
16 |
1975 |
22-0 |
J. Candelaria (7), Pittsburgh over Chi. |
|
|
|
|
|
Ken Brett (2) |
#First game; +second game