Today in sports history: Jack Morris no-hits Chicago

No hitters are like steak tartare: They’re extremely rare. Only 302 have been thrown in Major League Baseball history, and some seasons pass without a single no-no occurring.

Despite their exceptional scarcity, two no-hitters were once thrown on the exact same date, five years apart. Let’s go back in time and revisit these classic performances from April 7, 1979 and April 7, 1984.

1979: Ken Forsch no-hits the Atlanta Braves

We won’t blame you if you’ve never heard of Ken Forsch before. The Sacramento native was a classic grinder who finished his 16-year Major League career with a ho-hum 114-113 record. He never placed in the top 10 in Cy Young voting, and never came close to winning a World Series. In fact, he wasn’t even a full-time starter from 1974-78 after unceremoniously losing his spot in Houston’s rotation.

However, when the wind was blowing just right, Forsch was capable of greatness. That was evident on April 7, 1979 when he recorded the first – and only – no hitter of his career. Facing Larry McWilliams and the upstart Atlanta Braves, Forsch retired 20 consecutive batters in a thoroughly dominant 6-0 win. The only blips in his otherwise perfect outing were a second-inning walk to left-fielder Jeff Burroughs and an eighth-inning walk to center fielder Barry Bonnell.

Forsh wasn’t known as a workhorse, and the 32-year-old vet needed to dig deep into his bag of tricks as the game wore on. "It wasn't a performance of strength toward the end," Astros catcher Alan Ashby later admitted. "He did it with knowledge of the game. He used all his pitches. He got a couple of outs in the ninth on curveballs. He really pitched a smart game."

Forsch’s no-hitter was just the sixth in franchise history, and it was the earliest no-hitter ever recorded until Hideo Nomo's no-no on April 6, 2001.

1984: Jack Morris no-hits the Chicago White Sox

When most fans think of no-hitters they think of locked-in pitchers throwing smoke past overmatched batters. But that couldn’t have been further from the reality Jack Morris experienced on April 7, 1984 when the imposing Hall of Famer threw the only no-no of his distinguished career.

Morris’ no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox was a down-and-dirty 120-pitch affair that nearly came off the rails in the fourth inning when he walked the first three batters he faced. Fortunately luck - and good defense - was on Morris’ side, as he induced a timely double play and struck out White Sox left fielder Ron Kittle to escape the inning unscathed.

Morris later benefitted from a pair of dazzling defensive plays from Dave Bergman, who replaced Barbaro Garbey at first base in the bottom of the seventh inning, and got a big assist from catcher Lance Parrish, who valiantly blocked several errant forkballs. By the time the dust had settled, Morris had given up six walks and struck out eight in one of sloppiest no-hitters in recent memory.

Home plate umpire Durwood Merrill summed up Morris’s imperfect masterpiece best when he noted, "It wasn’t a Picasso, but it might have been a Rockwell."

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