This day in baseball: One-pitch victory

With just one pitch, Ken Ash of the Cincinnati Reds was credited with not only a full inning of work, but also with the 6-5 victory over the Cubs on July 27, 1930.  Entering the game in relief of Larry Benton, Ash managed to induce a triple play ball from the Cubs’ Charlie Grimm at Redland Field.  Ash was then pulled for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the inning, when Cincinnati took the lead for good.

ken ash
Ken Ash (baseball-reference.com)

Quote of the day

After I hit a home run I had a habit of running the bases with my head down.  I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases.

~ Mickey Mantle

 

Mantlemickey
baseball-reference.com

 

“Nolan Ryan,” by Gene Fehler

Hitting a Major League fastball is a difficult feat against any pitcher, but against Nolan Ryan, the task was even harder.  Gene Fehler captures the difficulty of doing so when he compares it to hitting a pea with a toothpick in this poem published in 1991.

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He threw a white pea
fast faster faster fastest
of them all,
Try hitting a pea
with a toothpick
and you’ll see what it’s like
to bat against the
fast faster faster fastest
of them all.