Have you heard of Harvey Haddix?

My friend from graduate school, Tom Knappenberger, wrote a piece about a little-known but heroic baseball feat. He sent it to some of his friends, and I asked him if I could post it here.

Read about a bit of baseball lore:

“May 26, 1959 in Milwaukee on the mound
Harvey Haddix of the Pirates was
Mowing ‘em down
27 up, 27 gone
Nine innings in the book and not a man had gotten on.”

Thanks to “The Baseball Project,” a 13-song CD valentine to our national pastime, another generation has come to know Harvey Haddix , an under-appreciated Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher. Even non-fans can feel his pain. The man pitched 12 innings – a game and a third of perfect baseball – but with no runs from his team, lost in the unlucky 13th.

To connoisseurs of the game, the 33-year-old’s one-hit game is considered one of the best pitching performances ever. He retired 36 men in a row. The Sporting News has ranked it as one of the 50 greatest moments in baseball history.

Not bad for a guy you never heard of.