HIGHLIGHT

Peter Carry

September 30, 1968

Because the Giants were facing St. Louis' Bob Gibson, who has been so stingy about allowing runs this season (1.16 ERA with 12 shutouts) that he is almost sure to set a record for earned run average, San Francisco Pitching Coach Larry Jansen told his starter, Gaylord Perry, "You'll have to pitch a shutout to beat him." The 6'4" righthander topped even that tough order, no-hitting the league champions and coming within two walks of a perfect game. Although Perry may have received some help from the champagne hangovers the Cards were suffering after their two-day pennant-clinching celebration, it was really his sharp slider (as dry, many hitters claim, as a magnum of bubbly) that was giving the world champions their glassy stares. Perry controlled his big pitch—be it slider or spitter—perfectly, putting the batters on the defensive by starting off 23 of the 29 who faced him with strikes. The North Carolinian did his celebrating with a bowl of ice cream, but almost before the treat could go soft the Cards' Ray Washburn was reviving St. Louis' festive mood. A sore-armed former fastballer who has cured his aches to the point where he can usually make as many as 95 pitches in a game before losing his stuff, Washburn threw 134 the next day in Candlestick Park to give baseball its first back-to-back no-hitters. The 30-year-old righty, showing nothing but his curve, allowed just two balls to be hit to the outfield. This left Cards' rookie Joe Hague, who had joined the team the day of Perry's no-hitter, a bit dizzy even though he had missed the pennant party. "Don't worry, Joe," yelled a teammate during the locker room huzzahs for Washburn, "it's not usually this tough up here."