Of all the professional baseball games ever played, only once has there been there nine innings of pure magic. And it wasn’t Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.
This game was not pitched by anyone famous, which makes it even more of a marvelous mystery. The whodunit happened 50 years ago, the night a 19-year-old right-hander named Ron Necciai struck out 27 batters.
That’s right: 27 outs, 27 strikeouts. In football it would be like scoring a touchdown on every snap. In golf it would be like making 18 holes-in-one. In basketball it would be like taking all your team’s shots from 3-point range and never missing.
This was the night the baseball gods perched themselves on Rocket Ron’s right shoulder.
“When that game was over,” Necciai said about the most unique of no-hitters, “my catcher Harry Dunlop came over and said, ‘Do you know you just struck out 27 batters?’ Being somewhat of a smart guy, I said, ‘So what?’
“They’ve been playing this game for 100 years, I figured it had been done before. But it never was and it’s never been done since. I’ve been told that of all the records in baseball, it’s the one they think will never be matched.”
That 1952 season was Dunlop’s first of what was to be 50 years in professional baseball as a player, coach and manager.
“I caught three no-hitters in my first 14 days,” Dunlop said from his home in Elk Grove, Calif. “I thought this game was going to be easy. It went downhill from there.”
Two of those no-hitters were pitched by Bill Bell, who was killed in a car accident. The other belonged to Necciai (pronounced NET-shy).
The magical night occurred on May 13, 1952 in the Class D Appalachian League at Shaw Stadium in Bristol, Va. The 6-5 Necciai was pitching for the Bristol Twins (aptly named because half the town is in Tennessee the other half is in Virginia). He faced 31 batters in a 7-0 victory over the Welch (W. Va.) Miners. Four batters reached base against the Pirate farmhand – a walk, an error, a hit batsman and a wild pitch after a strikeout – and there was a second-inning groundout.
Necciai’s fastball, which was in the high 90s that night, according to Dunlop, and hard-breaking overhand curve were untouchable – sometimes even by Dunlop. In what should have been the final out of the game and 26th strikeout, the batter swung and missed at a breaking ball that caromed off the plate and then bounced over Dunlop’s head, allowing the runner to reach first base and giving Necciai a shot at strikeout No. 27. Dunlop and Necciai insist the pitch could not be blocked, although Dunlop did have the good sense to let a foul pop drop right before the previous strikeout.
“I was hell on a catcher,” Necciai said.
“He sure was,” agreed Dunlop.
Necciai wasn’t done. In his next start he struck out 24, including a record five in one inning. Pirates GM Branch Rickey said of Necciai: “There have been only two young pitchers I was certain were destined for greatness. One of those boys was Dizzy Dean. The other is Ron Necciai.”
Destined for greatness and achieving greatness are two different stories. Later in that ’52 season, Necciai was called up to the pitiful Pirates and was so wild he wound up with a 1-6 record and 7.08 ERA over 12 games. He struck out 31 batters in 522/3 innings, but walked 32.
He was drafted into the Army before the next season, but was plagued by ulcers and received a medical discharge after a few months. In spring training, Necciai rushed to catch up to the other pitchers and tore his rotator cuff. He never made it back to the big leagues and in a few years was out of baseball.
Rocket Ron has no regrets, though. He went home to Monongahela, Pa., raised a family, two boys and a girl, and made a living as a distributor for hunting and fishing gear. He and his wife Martha divide their time between their Pennsylvania home and one in Florida.
Every once in a while Ron shows up at a baseball event. Tomorrow, Necciai, 70, will appear in Williamsport, Pa., for a golf outing to help raise money for Little League. He never takes money for his autograph and asks only that those who seek his signature send a little cash to the Boys & Girls Club in Bristol.
“I’ve had a great life,” said Necciai, who also is lucky enough to have shot three holes-in-one.
As for the game ball on that 27K Night, the one that was signed by all his teammates, Necciai didn’t keep it. He gave it to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
“That way everybody can see a piece of history,” Necciai said. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
