Sport: Like Falling Out of a Tree

He was a ringer for Ichabod Crane. From a slouchy, 6 ft. 5 in. frame, Ewell Blackwell’s arms dangled almost to his knees. When he wound up and pitched sidearm, he was so awkward that another player remarked: “He looks like he’s falling out of a tree.” Last week the awkward one, up to the majors for his second year (after three seasons in the Army), shuffled out to the mound in Cincinnati to face the league-leading Boston Braves in his first night game of the season.

By the sixth inning, 18,137 fans were getting as anxious as Boston’s batters, who had not yet made a hit. And California’s 24-year-old Blackwell himself realized he was working on a no-hitter.

Though he leads the National League in strikeouts, Righthander Blackwell did not really bear down on fanning an opponent until the last batter stepped up to face him. Blackwell steamed in a high fast ball, and Bama Rowell struck out.

It was big-league baseball’s first no-hit game in nearly 14 months, and for Cincinnati fans, a night to cheer; they have insisted all along that Blackwell was the best up & coming pitcher in the majors. This season, with a second-division team behind him, he has won 11, lost 2. Said he, jubilant, when teammates gathered around after the no-hitter: “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!”*

*Four days later, Blackwell had another no-hitter in his grasp. Then with one out in the ninth, Brooklyn’s pesky Eddie Stanky bounced a single through the pitcher’s box.