Don Nottebart Hurls First Colt No-Hitter
This story appeared in the Houston Chronicle on May 18, 1963. The headlines and story are reprinted as they ran then. Did Wife Break Jinx?
A huff and puff Man of great New England chest, Don Nottebart, blew down the Philadelphia Phils Friday night in the Houston’s first major league no-hitter.
He did it with his little slider, great slip pitch, heart and the help of a stout hearted team determine that he would have one of baseball’s great classic victories.
The score was Houston 4, Philadelphia 1.
The story is not that simple. It was the third no-hitter in the majors this year, one other in the National and American Leagues.
It was a sweet victory for Houston.
It was sweeter than that for Nottebart for owner R.E. (Bob) Smith awarded him $1,000 bonus for his great job.
“It is unbelievable,” stammered Nottebart after the game, “A great thrill, the greatest.”
His wife Jo Ann, of Lexington, Mass., was at the game. She seldom goes. Maybe she broke the Philadelphia jinx, if ever a jinx existed.
Funny thing, the great pitching job still would not have gotten Houston out of the National League cellar Friday night had not Joey Amalfitano hit a home run in San Francisco to beat the New York Mets.
Houston now is in ninth place in the National League.
Amalfitano was with Houston last year and did not hit too good.
But there is no way to say it except that Nottebart, an upcoming 27-year-old pitcher of the majors, had his night before 8,223 fans Friday night.
It was his greatest hour, or to be precise two hours and 12 minutes.
There was a feeling in the air that he was destined to pitching greatness when he went to the mound.
This gave him a 5-1 record this year.
Strangely, his battery mate, John Bateman, did not realize until he looked at the scoreboard in the ninth, what happened.
“I looked up there and shuddered,” said John, “a no-hitter in the major leagues and I’m catching.”
John is 20 and new in the majors.
Mauch Needled Him
Do not let anyone say that Nottebart or his teammates did not know that he had a no-hitter going. At the beginning of every inning Gene Mauch, Manager of the Phils, called to him in a raucous voice. “You’ll never make it.” Gene likes to win, too.
Thanks to McMahon
Don McMahon, a Brooklynite, also one of the Braves, strongly recommended Nottebart to Houston. McMahon made his name in Houston last year as a relief pitcher. He had a little arm trouble the spring. But he will be heard from here on out.
“He’s got great potential,” said McMahon, “a great arm.” He may beat me out of my job but he deserves it.” And Nottebart has. A 5-1 record at this time of season with a team that has one 300 hitter, Johnny Temple, is phenomenal. Houston was in last place, then.
His feat of Friday night showed one thing. You can take a bunch of .200 hitters and beat a bunch of .300 hitters, including the league-leading batsman, Wes Covington, hitting .360 before his last batting appearance, and beat them, if you have good pitching.
Nottebart saw to that.
Warwick Homers
The Colt .45s jumped off to a lead in the first inning. Carl Warwick, inserted at the line-up when Pete Runnels and Bob Aspromonte came up on bad hitting days, belted a clean homer into the right field seats in the first. He got four for four for the night, a homer, a triple and two singles.
That lead stood until the fifth when Don Demeter hit a grounder right through the legs of shortstop J.C. Hartman.
The ball went out to the outfield and both Al Spangler and left and Howie Goss in center must have been asleep or something. Neither played his position right and Demeter, being a good ballplayer and base runner, sped onto second.
Hartman Errs
Poor old Hartman got an error out of it and well he should.
Clay Dalrymple sacrificed Demeter to third, pitcher to first. Don Hoak, who wants to become a manager, hit a short fly to Goss just behind second base.
Hoss Goss has a good arm but he did not use it. His throw to Bateman at the plate was off, the ball hit behind the mound and bounce off home base, way off. Demeter scored easily.
That that play by Goss, who hit a three-run homer to cinch the game in the six, kept Nottebart from getting a shout out.
Bruce vs Green
There will be some practice Saturday before the 1:30 p.m. game which Bob Bruce (2-3) Will pitch against Dallas Green (1-0).
Jack Hamilton, the loser, has been living off the Colts with five wins off them last year and two this year.
It will be family day at the park Saturday. Bruce is especially interested. He is on tinterhooks, his wife is expecting their second child momentarily in Detroit.
Houston’s big inning game in the six. Temple slugged one to right. Al Spangler tried to sacrifice him to the second but forced him out, instead.
Warwick, a hitting demon Friday night, busted one to left for a single.
Pete Runnels, who played in his fifth no-hitter Friday night, two that the Boston Red Sox won, two that they lost, and Nottebart’s forced Warwick at second. Spangler went to third on the play.
Goss Belts One
Goss, a food fadist — honey, papaguya juice and all that jazz — belted one over the left-field wall into the bleacher seats for three runs. It gave him the team R.B.I. Leadership with 16 and a tie with Bateman for homerun leadership of the club, at four each.
Nothing much happened after that except that each time Nottebart walk to the mound he heard that cry from Mauch on the Philadelphia bench, a croak something like that of the Raven in Edgar Poe: “You’ll never make it.” Well he did.
Up Came Ninth
Up came the ninth and two of the three best hitters in the league.
John Callison was first. He was hitting .227 at the time but far more capable. The first two pitches were balls. Then a strike. The crowd hung on every pitch. Pow! Callison hit it high and far.
Dependable Goss gathered it in like a washerwoman gathering clothes off the line.
Tony Gonzalez, a mean man on the bases, and a mean .297 hitter, was next.
Gonzalez took one ball and one strike. Then he smote.
The ball sailed into the welcome hands of the left-fielder Spangler. The crowd was tense. The fielders were tense. Everybody was tense. There came that cry from the Phils’ bench.
“You’ll never make it.” Nottebart paid no heed.
Big Covington, just the National League’s leading batter, was up. His average .360 was on the board for all to see. He had not had a hit all night.
Nottebart, who once was Covington’s teammate at Milwaukee, remembered the advice Runnels gave him at the start of the game. That was do not give these fast ball hitters anything they can hit.
Was Deliberate
Nottebart was deliberate. He threw the slipper, taught him by Paul Richards, Colt general manager. It was a strike. He used it 20 or more times in the game. He had the Phils jumping back from strikes right over the plate.
Covington caught a slider on the inside and it went sailing to the left.
Spangler made it look easy and came racing in to congratulate Nottebart. Spangler, too, used to be on the Milwaukee Braves.
The whole team mobbed Nottebart.
The Phils slunk to their clubhouse.
Nottebart’s one-run no-hitter was the first of its kind since July 1, 1951, when Bob Feller beat Detroit, 2-1, in the first game of the doubleheader. It was a third such game since the 1920s in the ma
jor leagues.