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Ernie's Shore throws a perfect game
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ON THIS DATE (July 23, 1917) ... Ernie Shore threw a perfect game in the curtain-raiser of the twin bill with Washington at Fenway Park, beating them, 4 to 0. But he did not get into the game until after Babe Ruth, who had walked Ray Morgan, the first batter, had been thrown out after punching Umpire Brick Owens. Babe with his temper beyond control pitched four balls to Morgan and accused Owens of missing two of them. “Get in there and pitch,” ordered Owens. “Open your eyes and keep them open,” chirped Babe. “Get in and pitch or I will run you out of there,” was the comeback of the arbiter. “You run me out and I will come in and bust you on the nose,” Ruth threatened. “Get out of here right now,” said Brick. Then in rushed Ruth and he punched Owens. Pinch Thomas tried to prevent him from reaching Owens, who had not removed his mask, but Babe started swinging both hands. The left missed the arbiter, but the right struck him behind the left ear. Manager Jack Barry and several policemen had to drag Babe off the field. With a brief warm-up Ernie Shore stepped in and just breezed along calmly and retired every batter he faced. He fanned only two and it did not seem as if he was working hard. Secoindbaseman Jack Barry closed the game with a great play on a swinging bunt. Ernie Shore took a place in the Hall of Fame as a no-hit, no-run, no-man-reached-first base pitcher. But whether it constituted a perfect game or simply a unique no-hitter would be debated for decades. Some record books listed it as a perfect game, others didn’t. The debate was finally settled in 1991 when an eight-man “committee of statistical accuracy” headed by Commissioner Fay Vincent dropped Shore’s game from the list of perfect games. It instead became a combined no-hitter with Ruth. The committee also removed the asterisk from Maris’ home run record (the main issue it was created to address). e Shore threw a perfect game in the curtain-raiser of the twin bill with Washington at Fenway Park, beating them, 4 to 0. But he did not get into the game until after Babe Ruth, who had walked Ray Morgan, the first batter, had been thrown out after punching Umpire Brick Owens. Babe with his temper beyond control pitched four balls to Morgan and accused Owens of missing two of them. “Get in there and pitch,” ordered Owens. “Open your eyes and keep them open,” chirped Babe. “Get in and pitch or I will run you out of there,” was the comeback of the arbiter. “You run me out and I will come in and bust you on the nose,” Ruth threatened. “Get out of here right now,” said Brick. Then in rushed Ruth and he punched Owens. Pinch Thomas tried to prevent him from reaching Owens, who had not removed his mask, but Babe started swinging both hands. The left missed the arbiter, but the right struck him behind the left ear. Manager Jack Barry and several policemen had to drag Babe off the field. With a brief warm-up Ernie Shore stepped in and just breezed along calmly and retired every batter he faced. He fanned only two and it did not seem as if he was working hard. Secoindbaseman Jack Barry closed the game with a great play on a swinging bunt. Ernie Shore took a place in the Hall of Fame as a no-hit, no-run, no-man-reached-first base pitcher. But whether it constituted a perfect game or simply a unique no-hitter would be debated for decades. Some record books listed it as a perfect game, others didn’t. The debate was finally settled in 1991 when an eight-man “committee of statistical accuracy” headed by Commissioner Fay Vincent dropped Shore’s game from the list of perfect games. It instead became a combined no-hitter with Ruth. The committee also removed the asterisk from Maris’ home run record (the main issue it was created to address). |
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