Jim "Hippo" Vaughn throws on the sidelines at Weeghman Park in 1917. SDN-061644A, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.
Let's set the BCB Wayback Machine even farther back than yesterday.
1917 wasn't a great year for the Cubs; in fact, it was their third straight losing season, after having been dominant in the National League with four pennants, two World Series titles and 12 winning years in a row from 1903-1914.
Think about that for a while. Our hope is that new management can lead the Cubs to something like that over the next 12 seasons.
Anyway, the somewhat surprising pennant of 1918 was still a year away, and Cubs fans were still getting used to new ownership under Lucky Charlie Weeghman and the ballpark he purchased from the defunct Federal League Chicago Whales and named it after himself. It was still a few years away from being dubbed "Cubs Park" after Weeghman was forced out and it wouldn't be called "Wrigley Field" until 1926. Nevertheless, in the photo above you can clearly see at least one building that still stands on Sheffield Avenue today, almost 95 years after this photo was taken.
And on May 2, 1917, something happened there that had never happened in baseball before -- and hasn't since.
There was a whole lot of nothing at Weeghman Park this afternoon between the Cubs and Reds.
And it was amazingly exciting for the approximately 3,000 fans who showed up on a sunny, but chilly afternoon.
For nine innings, neither the Reds' Fred Toney nor the Cubs' Hippo Vaughn gave up a single hit. It's the first time in the history of the big leagues that has happened. You'd have thought the Cubs would have had a great shot at winning, because the Reds were in the middle of a long run-scoring drought. Including the first nine innings of today's game, they hadn't scored in 34 innings.
Vaughn pitched his heart out. He walked only two batters over the first nine innings, and both were erased on double plays. Unfortunately, he was matched by Toney, who also walked just two Cubs. One Reds batter also reached on an error, but was caught stealing.
The game moved swiftly into the top of the 10th inning. Reds shortstop Larry Kopf led off with a single, the first hit of the game, to audible groans from the crowd. After Greasy Neale made the first out of the inning by flying out to Cy Williams, Hal Chase hit a sinking liner right at Williams. Cy got a late break on it and muffed it for an error. Now there were two runners on with one out, the possible lead run on third.
That brought Jim Thorpe to the plate; he chopped a ball high off the ground right in front of the plate. Vaughn snared it and tried to shovel it to catcher Art Wilson, but the ball hit off Wilson's shoulder and Kopf was safe, giving the Reds a 1-0 lead. The deflated Vaughn retired the side, but you could feel all the air sucked out of the ballpark.
Toney had struck out just one Cub before the bottom of the 10th, but he struck out two of the three he faced in that inning to complete his no-hitter, the first by a Reds pitcher in 17 years, since Noodles Hahn no-hit the Phillies on July 12, 1900. The last time the Cubs were no-hit was by the great Christy Mathewson of the Giants, 12 years ago, on June 13, 1905 at the old West Side Grounds. This one's the first thrown at Weeghman Park.
It probably won't be the last, as this ball yard doesn't seem very good for hitters.
1 recs | 31 comments
Are you sure about the wording of this?
“For nine innings, neither the Reds’ Fred Toney nor the Cubs’ Hippo Vaughn did not give up a single hit.”
I’m sorry, I don’t know how to do a block quote from my phone.
cub in louies nest - February 1, 2012 via mobile
Whoops.
You’re right. I edited part of that sentence and forgot to fix the other part. I’ll fix it. Thanks.
Al Yellon - February 1, 2012
I'm an engineer, so I don't know much about English haha
but by using both neither and not in the same sentence, isn’t that still a double negative?
NittanyLion89 - February 1, 2012
irregardless
patches23 - February 1, 2012
Also, the 2 on no outs thing after a lineout seems weird...
Doshi - February 1, 2012
Yeah.
I misread the article I found the info on (no bb-ref boxscore exists), fixed part of it, forgot the other part.
Al Yellon - February 1, 2012
Key aspects of this game foreshadowed the Jim Maloney – Larry Jackson Reds-Cubs matchup...
…of August 1965, also won by the Reds 1-0 in extra innings on a no-hitter by a Reds hurler. In the later game, Chico Cardenas took on Jim Thorpe’s role as spoiler with a home run off the left field foul pole. I believe these are the only two games in which the Cubs have been victimized by a no-hitter at the Friendly Confines – not bad for 96 years.
Al, if you have contacts at ‘GN, maybe you can see if a tape of that ’65 game exists. If you think of it, ask also about a possible recording of a Tenth Inning interview of Hippo Vaughn by Jack Brickhouse made in the very early ’60’s, done after the station had started taping most of its baseball programming. It was a great interview that focused on the double-no-hit game, and I think Jack might have arranged to have it archived, much as he did his well-known Tenth Inning interview with Branch Rickey.
I’d ask about it myself, but I did that years ago and got a form letter in return from (IIRC) Bob Vorwald indicating the station has no baseball archive. Of course, the many ’GN clips that have surfaced through the years tell a different story.
ernaga - February 1, 2012
I know that audio of that Brickhouse interview exists somewhere.
Not sure about video. Vorwald is correct — WGN doesn’t have anything.
But there were some people taping things in those days. I’ll bet it exists somewhere.
You’re right, BTW — the Toney and Maloney no-hitters are the only ones by visitors at Wrigley. Both by Reds pitchers, coincidentally. The Maloney no-hitter is the last extra-inning CG no-hitter by anyone. And he walked TEN Cubs and the Cubs could not score.
Al Yellon - February 1, 2012
187 pitches for Maloney
Maloney threw 187 pitches to get his extra inning no-hitter. At least the last half inning exists from WGN. It’s on a “Great Moments in Chicago Sports”dubbed VHS tape that I bought on eBay a while back.
FrostyMalt - February 1, 2012
Would love to see that.
Any chance you could digitize it?
Al Yellon - February 2, 2012
Feels like
When things go wrong, they really go wrong. Would’ve had the game if. OT for fielding errors.
I find it interesting that many people seem to think of Wrigley as a hitters park. I don’t think it is necessarily proven to be true. The wind flips it quickly.
cub in louies nest - February 1, 2012 via mobile
I personally define Wrigley as neither a pitchers or hitters park
It’s a weather park.
unretrofied93 - February 1, 2012
Greasy, Noodles, Cy and Hippo.
You just can’t make these names up. What a baseball history, these names help tell a great story.
Al, you’re depressing me with all the losing games and 100 loss seasons with the weather outside very May-like. Throw in some great games from great Cub seasons. I love these old recaps BTW.
mrcubsfan - February 1, 2012 via mobile
Love these old names
They had character. ESPN has ruined nicknames.
cub in louies nest - February 1, 2012
Beat me to it.
If I was a rapper, in my entourage I would have to have a Hippo, Greasy, and Noodles.
“Noodles, go bring the car around. Take Greasy with ya”
“Hippo, put that sandwich away!”
Tat14 - February 1, 2012
Greasy Hippo Noodles
Would make an excellant username.
cub in louies nest - February 1, 2012 via mobile
As it happens, Ken Levine, one of the Mariners broadcasters,
posted a bunch of these old nicknames on his blog just today. There are some greats.
patches23 - February 1, 2012
When you are writing these ye olde recaps,
you should write in the style they did then, it would make it just hilarious also. food for though.
NittanyLion89 - February 1, 2012
I've thought about doing that.
Al Yellon - February 2, 2012
Hope they don't trip over their gloves....
…why they drop them on the field at the end of an inning is a mystery to me. Don’t they know they could trip on them and tear their ACL?
San Diego Smooth Jazz Man - February 1, 2012
ACL? What's that?
We talk about broken knees and broken arms now. Baseball will never disintegrate into talking about ligaments and muscles. What? Will we eventually talk about ‘torn rotator cuffs’ and ‘strained obliques’? I don’t think so.
timh815 - February 1, 2012
I'm not sold on this new park the Cubs are in.
West Side Grounds was the bomb.
timh815 - February 1, 2012
So Al, which one are you? Peabody or Sherman?
Zeke - February 1, 2012
I thought
he’s the fan in the middle of all that machinery.
ddoubleheader - February 1, 2012
"Hello out there, Peabody here."
patches23 - February 1, 2012
That 1917 scoreboard appears to be in play...
…a little like the monuments at old Yankee Stadium, or the batting cage in center at Forbes Field. A lesser man than Cubs 1917 centerfielder Les Mann might have had trouble playing the caroms off those two-by-fours at the base.
ernaga - February 2, 2012
Also of note in the photo
… the wall you see in right field, in front of the buildings on Sheffield, remained as the outer wall of the bleachers until they were renovated in 2005.
Al Yellon - February 2, 2012
Anyone watching the Cubs on Channel 9 in the '50's or early '60's knew that baseball legend...
…Charlie Dressen, the Popeye Zimmer of his time, was the Decatur Staleys’ original quarterback. You could count on Jack Brickhouse to mention it often.
But what I did not realize until today when I looked-up the 1917 Cubs was that Bears’ occasional Head Coach Paddy Driscoll was a utility infielder on that 1917 squad. So both Halas and Driscoll played in MLB. Halas used to say that his biggest thrill in sports was hitting a foul ball “home run” off the great Walter Johnson.
It’s worth noting that Driscoll had three big league hits, Halas only two.
ernaga - February 2, 2012
Wait a sec... 34 no hit innings?
So the Reds had a string of 34 no hit innings – does this mean they were coming off of two consecutive no hit games? Thats gotta be a major league record, no? Has anyone else ever been no hit back to back?
Champ Summers - February 2, 2012
Not no-hit innings.
Scoreless innings. Read it again.
Al Yellon - February 2, 2012
In 1917,
1 penny = 18 cents today. What’s more, gold coins were very common back then, as the US was still on the gold standard.
Vermont Cubs Fan - February 3, 2012
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