In baseball, a hit is when a batter makes contact with the ball and reaches first base. A no-hitter is a game in which the pitcher allows none; there have been 294 in major league baseball. Ken Johnson of the Houston Colts, a mild-mannered giant who never quite became as a star, pitched one – and lost the game, the only pitcher in major league history to do so.
On 23 April 1964, at a humid, mosquito-infested Colt Stadium, the team's temporary home before they changed their name to the Astros and moved to the Astrodome across the street, Johnson ploughed through a high-powered Cincinnati Reds line-up and held the Reds hitless into the ninth inning.
With one man out, Johnson pitched to Pete Rose, who laid a bunt – when the hitter holds his bat horizontally and taps the ball into play. Rushing to throw out Rose at first base, Johnson misfired, sending Rose to second base on an error. Rose advanced to third and then scored on an error by second baseman Nellie Fox, a future Hall of Famer.
The Reds pitcher Joe Nuxhall was throwing a gem of his own, and the Reds hung on to win, 1-0. Johnson's teammates were devastated. He was unperturbed. “Look,” he told reporters, “I just pitched the best game of baseball I ever pitched in my whole life - how could I possibly be unhappy?” But in 2004 he admitted that he regretted being the answer to a piece of baseball trivia. “Instead of the notoriety,” he said, “I'd rather have won the game.”
Kenneth Travis Johnson, baseball player: born West Palm Beach, Florida 16 June 1933; married 1955 Joanna Ergle (one daughter, two sons); died Pinesville, Louisiana 30 November 2015.
© The Washington Post
