Blue Ridge Country: Ron Necciai -- Baseball in the Blue Ridge

The day Ron Necciai struck out 27 in a no-hitter

Many people fail to realize that the number of strike-outs in a nine inning game is theoretically unlimited because a batter may reach first base on a strike out if the catcher drops the third strike. That happened once in this game. Necciai did record 27 Ks, but one batter managed to ground out. Necciai struck out four in the ninth to pick up the slack! To make it extra dramatic, the strike the catcher dropped was the very last one of the game, or at least it should have been. Did he do it on purpose to give Necciai a chance at 27? He's not talkin'.

Necciai had many other spectacular games that year. In a relief appearance he faced 11 guys and struck them all out. The start after the 27K game, he fanned 24, including five in one inning. (His curve broke so sharply that catchers in D ball had a hard time handling it.)

Later that year, Necciai got a major league tryout with the 1952 Pirates. What did they have to lose? They were one of the worst teams in baseball history (42-112). Necciai went 1-6 with an ERA over 7.00, which was bad even by Pirates standards, but he obviously had potential - which never got a chance to develop. He was drafted by the Army after the 1952 season, and then tore his rotator cuff when he threw too much to get back into shape. That was it. He tried to pitch a few games on and off in the minors, but basically the rotator cuff injury ended his career. He pitched his first and last major league games just after his 20th birthday.