@ChuckieHussy

Nine Innings, No Hits, No-No? Nope.

Dodger Stadium, July 26, 1991. Mark Gardner has faced 28 Dodgers through nine innings and given up nothing. No hits. No runs. One walk to Kal Daniels in the eighth. 99 pitches. He's the first pitcher ever to hold Los Angeles hitless through nine at Dodger Stadium. There's one problem: his Montreal Expos teammates haven't scored either. Orel Hershiser gave them six innings of nothing, the Dodgers bullpen finished the job, and the game goes to the 10th knotted 0-0. So Gardner walks back out for the 10th. Lenny Harris leads off and chops one over the mound. Spike Owen can't come up with it. Infield single, no-hitter gone in an instant. Eddie Murray singles behind him. Jeff Fassero comes on, Darryl Strawberry lines one into the outfield, and the Dodgers win 1-0. Gardner afterward: "The no-hitter was really of no consequence. It didn't matter to me. I wanted to win the game." Then baseball twisted the knife. That September, MLB's Committee for Statistical Accuracy redefined a no-hitter as a completed game of nine or more innings without a hit. Fifty performances got wiped off the official list. Gardner's was one of them. Nine innings. Zero hits. On the books, it never happened. *Disclaimer: the Nats inherited this one since the Expos aren't on here.

Nationals

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Vladdys Strugles

What if I told you last year that Vladimir “vladdy daddy” Guerrero jr would only hit 6 home runs into the beginning of August? You’d probably laugh in my face and I’d understand. Last season he hit 23 homers and helped lead his team to game 7 of the World Series. Here are his 2026 stats Homers 6 Batting average .265 Slugging .357 OPS .702 Another wild fact he has not homered at his home stadium of Rogers center yet. I never thought I’d be making this especially after last season. This is more than a slump, these are the worst numbers of his career. I can only hope for Toronto sake he can turn it around.

@ChuckieHussy

Lefty Grove Wins 300, Then Walks Away

By July 25, 1941, Lefty Grove was 41 years old and running on fumes. The fireballer who'd once been the most dominant pitcher on Earth was now grinding through every start, stuck on 299 career wins and desperate to get one more. At Fenway Park against Cleveland, he got it, but he had to sweat. Grove labored through a 10-6 complete game, helped along by a fifth inning home run from a 22-year-old teammate you may have heard of: Ted Williams, in the middle of his .406 season. Win number 300. The 12th pitcher in history to reach it. And then? That was it. Grove never won another game. He tried a few more times, couldn't get there, and hung up his spikes. His 300th was also his last, a career that ended on the roundest possible number. Nine pitchers have reached 300 wins since. In an era of pitch counts and bullpen games, it's a club that may never add another member. Grove got in the front door like Grandpa Simpson and closed it behind him.

@ChuckieHussy

"One's a Born Liar, the Other's Convicted"

July 23, 1978. Chicago's O'Hare Airport. The Yankees are waiting on a flight to Kansas City and Billy Martin decides he's done biting his tongue. Context: Reggie Jackson had just been suspended five games for bunting when Martin ordered him to swing away, an act of open insubordination in the middle of a pennant race, in a clubhouse that had been at war with itself for two straight seasons. So a reporter asks about Reggie and George Steinbrenner. Martin says the two of them deserve each other. Then he adds the line that outlived everybody involved: "One's a born liar; the other's convicted." The "convicted" was not a figure of speech. Steinbrenner had a real conviction on his record for illegal campaign contributions. Martin resigned under pressure the next day, sobbing through the statement. Dick Howser managed one game. Bob Lemon took over and steered the Yankees to a title. And then the true Bronx Zoo punchline: five days after that, at Old Timers' Day, the Yankees announced Martin would be back as manager in 1980. The crowd lost its mind. He'd be hired and fired by Steinbrenner five separate times. This was only round one.