Strange But True...

Baseball Stories by Furman Bisher was a book I enjoyed throughout my childhood. There was even a second volume called More Strange But True Baseball Stories that we also had.

With all the news about the perfect game that wasn't a couple of days ago due to a blown call, I was reminded of one of the stories from the first Strange But True book. I remembered the name of the pitcher, Harvey Haddix, the team he played for, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and that he pitched a perfect game for more than 9 innings, but lost! To sate my memory, incredibly I knew just where to look in our house for this old book (it has a copyright of 1966). So filling in some of the details, the game took place on May 29, 1959 in Milwaukee against the Braves, a lineup that featured such greats as Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews. Haddix pitched a perfect 9 innings, but unfortunately had no run support; although the Pirates got runners on base, none of them scored. So the game went on until Haddix had gone 12 perfect innings: 36 up, 36 down. That's when things fell apart and the Braves started a rally in their half of the 13th inning sparked by a throwing error. A sacrifice, an intentional walk, and a deep drive later, the game was over. Baseball can be such a tough-luck game.