(Updated May 26, 2020)
An official scorer’s ruling created a controversy when Bob Forsch pitched his first big-league no-hitter for the Cardinals.
Forsch’s gem in the Cardinals’ 5-0 victory over the Phillies on April 16, 1978, at St. Louis stirred an array of emotions. Boxscore
Garry Maddox opened the eighth against Forsch with a grounder to the left of third baseman Ken Reitz, who was playing in front of the bag. “I thought he might bunt,” Reitz told the Philadelphia Inquirer. The ball bounced into the outfield after Reitz appeared to tip it with his glove. Video at 8:36 mark
Official scorer Neal Russo, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, ruled it an error. The next batter, Bob Boone, grounded into a double play and Forsch retired the final four batters without incident for the first of his two big-league no-hitters. Video
It was the first Cardinals no-hitter in St. Louis since Jesse Haines achieved the feat against the Braves, also by a 5-0 score, on July 17, 1924. Boxscore
Varying opinions
The Phillies were unsparing in their criticism of Russo’s call.
“Base hit all the way,” Phillies manager Danny Ozark told Russo. “Reitz didn’t even touch the ball.”
Said Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt: “Forsch pitched a dazzling one-hitter.”
Bake McBride, the Phillies’ right fielder and a former Cardinal, said, “We almost all fell off the bench when the call was made.”
Russo, who had 15 years of experience scoring National League games, never wavered. “I thought Reitz should have had it,” Russo told the Associated Press. “I called it immediately. It was an ordinary play, maybe a step to Reitz’s left. The ball wasn’t hit that hard. There was no doubt in my mind.”
Responding to the criticism, Russo said, “Of course, the Phillies, to a man, argued. That’s human nature.”
The Cardinals were just as adamant in their support of the call. Broadcaster Mike Shannon, the former Cardinals third baseman, told Russo, “It was an error, but it’s going to be controversial. Reitz had a chance to make the play and he didn’t.”
Catcher Ted Simmons told the Post-Dispatch, “It hit off his glove. If it wasn’t an error, I’d say so.”
Explained Reitz: “I thought the ball was hit a lot harder than it was. When I went for the ball, I double-pumped and when I came up with the glove the second time, the ball hit the webbing and went by me. I make that play 99 out of 100 times. This was the 100th time. It was an error all the way.”
Good luck
Somewhat lost amid the hubbub was the pitching of Forsch, who used mostly fastballs, curves and changeups to stop the Phillies. “He had full command of everything he threw,” Simmons said.
In a 2020 interview with Stan McNeal of Cardinals Gameday Magazine, Simmons recalled, “Forsch threw a profound power sinker,” and he used it to try to get the Phillies to hit grounders.
Said Forsch: “When I was warming up, I didn’t think I had real good stuff. So I just tried to keep the ball down in the first three innings and mixed up my pitches.”
Forsch’s biggest threat to the no-hitter was Schmidt, who hit three drives to the warning track. All were caught by center fielder Tony Scott. “1,200 feet of outs,” the Philadelphia Inquirer declared.
On a day when the temperature was 41 degrees, the wind was blowing in “and the ball carried like a shotput through the heavy river air,” wrote Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News.
“The ball Schmidt hit in the first inning I thought was going to hit the Stadium Club,” Forsch said candidly to the Philadelphia Daily News. “I think that’s a home run easy on a normal day here.”
Forsch concluded, “You’ve got to be lucky to pitch a no-hitter, and I was lucky, but I made some good pitches and any time I got into trouble I got right out of it.”
It was the first Cardinals no-hitter since Bob Gibson’s masterpiece against the Pirates in an 11-0 victory at Pittsburgh on Aug. 14, 1971. Simmons also was the catcher in that game. Boxscore
An appreciative Cardinals manager Vern Rapp said of Forsch, “He’s a complete pitcher now. He was a master out there this time. An artist.”
It would be the last win of Rapp’s tenure as St. Louis manager. After the Cardinals lost their next five in a row, Rapp was fired.
Previously: The story of how Bob Forsch converted to pitching
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