Vander Meer, Author Of Double No-Hitter, Dies At 82 Cincinnati Pitcher Made History In 1938 With Back-To-Back Gems

Johnny Vander Meer, the Cincinnati Reds’ pitcher who threw the only back-to-back no-hitters in major league baseball history during an otherwise average career, died Monday at age 82.

He died at his home of an abdominal aneurysm , said his lawyer, Bob Carlton.

Vander Meer wrote his name into baseball lore during a five-day span in which he earned his nickname, “Double No-Hit.”

The left-hander tossed his first no-hitter on June 11, 1938, beating the Boston Braves 3-0. Four days later in Brooklyn, he no-hit the Dodgers 6-0.

“John just came along and did something so brilliant nobody will ever forget it,” said Birdie Tebbetts, who played with Detroit in the 1930s and ‘40s. “I would have done anything to catch those games. On any given day, there was no better pitcher. If you put his stuff together at anytime, he was the best.”

Reds managing partner John Allen called his death “a loss for the organization.”

“(John’s) double no-hitter for the Reds always has been, and always will be, one of the greatest individual achievements in baseball history,” Allen said.

The June 15 game was destined to be a footnote in any event, since it was the first night game ever played at Ebbets Field. Vander Meer made it a historic occasion.

“I was quick that night,” he said later.

Vander Meer vividly recalled the details of the ninth inning.

“I got the first man out (Buddy Hassett). Then I walked the bases full.”

Cincinnati manager Bill McKechnie and catcher Ernie Lombardi gathered at the mound along with the infielders.

“Take your time, Johnny. Quit pitching so fast and pitch the way you know how to pitch,” McKechnie told Vander Meer.

The next batter hit the ball to Lew Riggs at third base and he went to the plate. Lombardi grabbed the throw for the second out.

“It was fast thinking by Riggs,” Vander Meer said, “going for the sure thing rather than the long double play because the hitter was Ernie Koy, and you remember how he could run.”

The next batter was Leo Durocher.

“I got two strikes and a ball. I had him struck out on the next pitch, but (plate umpire) Bill Stewart called it a ball. The next pitch he popped up to short center and Harry Craft caught it.”

With that out, Vander Meer set a record that is unlikely to be matched.

“The first guy out to the mound was Stewart,” Vander Meer said. “He told me, ‘If you didn’t get that, I blew it for you.”’

Vander Meer claimed an official scoring decision deprived him of a third no-hitter sometime later in Philadelphia. Hits and errors were not immediately announced in those days and it was while he accepted congratulations for an apparent third no-hitter that he learned a bobbled ball in the fifth inning had been ruled a hit.

The twin no-hitters made Vander Meer an instant star, but his lifetime statistics were only ordinary. He pitched for Cincinnati from 1937-49, with two years out for military service during World War II. He was with the Chicago Cubs in 1950 and Cleveland in 1951 before drifting to the minor leagues.

His career record was 119-121 with an earned run average of 3.44.

In 1938, the year of the double no-hitters, he was 15-10 with a 3.12 ERA. His best record came in 1942. He was 18-12 with a 2.43 ERA.

On July 15, 1952, 14 years after his record performance, he hurled a no-hitter as Tulsa beat Beaumont in a Texas League game.

Vander Meer managed in the Cincinnati organization before leaving baseball in 1963.