In 1971, Rick Wise threw a no-hitter. During that game he himself hit not one, but *two* home runs. (Even better than the Orioles' Dave McNally hitting a grand slam in his first at-bat in the World Series...)
And, wasn't it in 1972 where Steve Carlton won 27 games for a *team* that only won 54 games all year? To my mind that is right up there with Ron Guidry's 25-3 season for the Yankees in, what was it, 1978?
Carlton’s ‘72 was one for the ages.
Another amazing ‘72 performance was Gaylord Perry’s for the Indians (he’d been traded there from the Giants in the off-season).
He got a decision or a save in every game he appeared in — 40 starts for 24-16, and one relief appearance for a save.
Rick Wise’s no-hitter plus two home runs, amazing!
Beats Tony Cloninger hitting two grand slams in a game for the Braves in 1966.
Steve Carlton trained in kung fu. Kinda rare at that time.
In his 1971 no-hitter, Rick Wise only struck out 3 batters (one of the lowest totals ever in a 9-inning no-hitter), which is not the sign of a dominating pitching performance. But he only walked one, and he faced just one batter over the minimum—Pete Rose was the only Red to bat four times, and made the final out.
And the most impressive part of his pitching performance was that the opposing (defending NL champion) Reds had a lineup in which all nine players were past or future All-Stars, and the nine combined to be a part of 61 All-Star games. Moreover, the Reds starting lineup amassed around 18,800 career hits (Pete Rose got over 4,200, Tony Pérez over 2,700, Dave Concepción over 2,300, Johnny Bench, Lee May and Hal McRae over 2,000, George Foster over 1,900, Tommy Helms over 1,600 and pitcher Ross Grimsley 45), which may be a record for a team that was no-hit.
And Wise’s hitting performance was pretty special as well. Wise’s two homers drove in three of his team’s four runs. And he hit the two homers off two future All-Star pitchers, Grimsley and reliever Clay Carroll (the latter whom was named an All-Star for that season).
That was a good game for Rick Wise.
Here’s the boxscore for the game: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197106230.shtml?mobile=false