Just about everybody knows that Kerry Wood struck out 20 Houston Astros in his fifth major league start. But 39 years ago today Burt Hooton pitched a no-hitter for the Cubs in his fourth major league start. I have a clear recollection of this game not because I was there or even because I saw it on TV. I have a clear recollection of this game precisely because I did not see it.
The previous fall I went to Connecticut for law school. 1972 was the first time I had been away from Illinois for the start of baseball season. This was before the Internet or ESPN or any of those things, so I was wondering how you find out baseball scores. April 16 was a Sunday, so I decided to turn on the network news shows Sunday evening to see if they would give the scores. (The three networks used to have 30-minute news shows on Sunday evenings.)
Well, the network news shows did not carry baseball scores – except that day they told the story of a rookie pitcher for the Chicago Cubs who had thrown a no-hitter in just his fourth major league start.
Several years ago Burt Hooton came to the Cubs Convention. There was never a doubt that I was going to stand in that line for an autograph.
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