THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
Billy Rohr misses a no-hitter in the 9th inning

April 14, 1967 ... Billy Rohr had never pitched in a big-league game before and there he was on the mound facing Whitey Ford, who is making his 12th appearance in a home opener the Yankees. And all the Red Sox rookie did, was just miss a no-hitter and a place in the Hall of Fame.

It was the last of the ninth-inning, with three balls and two strikes on Elston Howard and two outs. But in order to complete the no-hitter, Rohr had to face Tom Tresh and Joe Pepitone in the ninth inning, before facing Howard. Tom Tresh, on a three and two count, hit a line drive to left-center. Carl Yastrzemski broke with the crack of the bat and reached high with his gloved hand at the last moment made a spectacular dive and caught the ball as he tumbled to the ground. Then came Pepitone and on three pitches was disposed of on a short fly ball to Tony Conigliaro in right field.

As Rohr went over in his mind about the three previous times he had pitched to Elston Howard, he remembered he had never thrown him a curveball in getting into ground out, fly out and foul out. While he was thinking about it, out came Dick Williams from the dugout. He reminded his rookie that Howard was a dangerous batter on the first pitch. The first pitch was a fastball and Howard swung and missed. The next pitch was another fastball outside for a ball. The third pitch was a beautiful strike, a fastball under Howard's arm. Howard was then handcuffed for a called second strike. Then, the rookie lefty got a curveball up and high, and the former MVP in the American League, lined a single to right-field. The Red Sox went on and won the game by a score of 3 to 0, behind a masterful job by Rohr.

A Yankee Stadium, home opener crowd of 14,000 cheered the rookie from the seventh inning on. Rohr, a year ago in the minors, was deprived of a no-hitter by a Toledo hitter under the same circumstances, two out in the ninth and two strikes on the batter.

There were only three danger spots in the game for Rohr, as he moved along inning by inning. In the sixth inning, Horace Clarke lined a pitch at Carl Yastrzemski, who later was to made the sensational catch in the ninth-inning, and after Clarke had been disposed of, Bill Robinson hit a wicked drive back at Rohr that hit him on the shin.

There was a rush to the mound by trainer Buddy LeRoux and manager Dick Williams to see how badly the Rohr had been hurt. Once Williams saw that he was alright, he decided to leave him in the game. Rohr pitched excellent ball the rest of the way until the ninth, when he ran into Elston Howard. Howard's hit came on Rohr's 119th pitch of the game.

Whitey Ford was no slouch either. He had two strikes on Reggie Smith to start the game and then made a slider too good and Reggie sent a deep into the seats. Once he got past the first inning, Ford matched Rohr until Gibson singled over second base to start the eighth-inning. Rohr sacrificed him to second and after Smith grounded out, Joe Foy hit a three and two slider into the left-field seats.

Rohr struck out two hitters in the game and walked four. He had been having trouble in spring training games during the early innings, but in this one he got the first ten men out before he walked Robinson. Rohr did not pitch as though he was nervous at all. He pitched very quickly and gave only four walks, but had no time was he wild. The most dangerous thing he did, was to drive George Scott off first base on a wide throw on an easy play in the eighth inning.

Only a few pitchers have been in Rohr's position with two outs in the ninth-inning and losing a no-hitter. Phil Masi singled to center for the Boston Braves, with two out in the ninth, to spoil a perfect game for Whitt Wyatt of the Dodgers at Braves Field. Tommy Bridges lost a no-hitter to pinch-hitter Joe Harris of the Washington Senators also. But these pitchers were not throwing in their very first major-league game.

Russ Gibson, who was the catcher for Rohr, and also playing in his first big-league game. When the kid pitcher from the Toronto farm club got into the locker room, he tried to grinned but it looked as though it heard. He looked like he was heartbroken.