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80 years ago, the tandem of Bucky Walters and Clyde Shoun did something historic.
A one hitter and a no-hitter in back-to-back days.
It was May 14, 1944 and the Reds, who sat three games back of first place, welcomed the Boston Braves to Crosley Field for a four-game set. In the first game of a doubleheader, Bucky Walters took the mound in front of 10,523 fans. He retired the Braves on five pitches in the first inning and never looked back. In fact, he was hurling a perfect game until a broken bat single over third base by Connie Ryan with two outs in the 8th inning spoiled the historic feat. Walters was ahead in the count to every batter he faced, going the distance, allowing only the one hit in a crisp one hour and twenty-three minutes. The Reds won 4-0.
Bucky Walters (Photo by National Baseball Hall of Fame)
The following day, left-hander Clyde Shoun one-upped his teammate by throwing a no-hitter in front of 1,014 fans at the corner of Findlay and Western. The only batter to reach first base for the Braves was by way of a base on balls to pitcher Jim Tobin in the third inning. The Reds would win 1-0 on a fifth inning Chuck Aleno home run onto York St. over the left field fence. It was his only round tripper of the year.
One of the 1,014 fans in attendance was none other than Reds great Frank “Noodles” Hahn, who also pitched a no-hitter for the Reds in 1900.
(The Cincinnati Enquirer – 5/16/1944)
It was quite a year for Reds starting pitching. Five of the six starters won double digit games and all of those five were over .500.
Walters would go 23-8 in 1944, leading the league in wins and finishing fifth in MVP voting. Out of his 34 games pitched that season, 27 were complete games.
Shoun would win 13 games and joined the Navy in January of 1945.
