As Grant Brisbee pointed out in his column on the game, Rich Hill giving up a walk-off homer to lose a no-hitter in the 10th inning is far more fascinating and memorable than another no-hitter, even if it would have been Hill’s first despite a couple of close other close calls.
Hank Aaron is why Rich Hill gave up the 1st walk-off homer to lose a no-hitter
The ending to Hill’s attempted no-hitter was even more improbable than anyone thought.
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images
As Brisbee wrote, you have to think about what it took for Hill to even get to the point where he could lose a no-hitter in the 10th-inning on a walk-off. The Dodgers were shut out, despite being the 2017 Dodgers. Hill was magnificent, but so were his opponents’ pitchers despite a season of, well, not. And then, you have Hank Aaron’s decision to not keep running the bases in 1959.
No, seriously. Hank Aaron is part of the reason that the homer Hill gave up in the 10th inning was the first of its kind in MLB history. Contained within MLB’s recap of the game is this wonderful paragraph on the how and why of that:
In 1959, the Pirates’ Harvey Haddix carried a perfect game into the 13th inning against the Braves in Milwaukee. After Felix Mantilla reached on an error to end the perfecto in the bottom of the 13th, Hank Aaron was walked intentionally. Joe Adcock slugged what should have been a walk-off homer, but Aaron, after touching second and seeing that Mantilla had crossed the plate, left the basepaths. Adcock passed Aaron and was called out. National League president Warren Giles ruled that Mantilla’s run counted, Adcock was awarded a double, and the game was over, a 1-0 Braves victory.
First off, 1959 was wild, as there was a no-hitter still going in the 13th inning by the pitcher who started the game. We don’t have a pitch count for Haddix, because it was 1959 and no one cared about that sort of thing. What we do know is that Aaron was on base, saw the walk-off run had scored, and decided he didn’t need to keep rounding the bases since, technically, the game was already over.
Imagine how mad Hank Aaron would have been if his career had gone a little differently, and someone had cost him a homer in the box score by leaving the bases, and he finished one dinger shy of passing or tying Babe Ruth for his career? Luckily you don’t have to imagine that because Aaron was awesome enough to avoid technicalities tripping him up and if he didn’t want to keep running the bases, he didn’t have to because he’s Hank Aaron.
