The no-hitters

I started the solitaire Strat-O-Matic hobby in 2010, which is not to say that I've been playing it continuously for more than a decade. There was a hiatus between the Presidential League, which I almost abandoned in mid-season, and the 40-Years Tourney, aka Tournament One.

But once I started the 40-Years Tourney, the Strat projects have been pretty much a daily part of my life. There are few days in which I don't do something to advance my current project.

So I've played a few hundred -- a few thousand? -- games over the years. And there have now been six no-hitters in those games. I decided to catalog them here for easy reference:

1) Walter Johnson, Presidential League. In a bit of serendipity, this happened to be the very first game I played in the very first solitaire project. Johnson was assigned to the Obamas, a squad of mixed eras; he no-hit the Crawfords, a team assembled from the Negro League set. I've said before that the setup of the Presidential League was flawed; the NeL teams were simply not competitive against the HoF teams. This would be one extreme data point.

2) Paul Edmondson, Losers League. Spot starter for the 1969 Chicago White Sox, no-hit the 1969 San Diego Padres in their game of May 31. The real life Edmondson was a rookie who went 1-6 in 14 starts in 1969 and then died in a traffic accident shortly before spring training the next year. In this league -- eight teams that lost 90 or more games in 1969 playing the 1924 AL schedule -- he was a factor in the White Sox winning the pennant.

3) Tommy John, Tournament Three. His gem came for the 1973 Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Four of their series against the 2019 San Diego Padres.  The real life John never threw a no-hitter in his distinguished career.

4) Tom Bradley, Tournament Three. Pitching for the 1973 San Francisco Giants against the 2019 Los Angeles Angels in Game Seven of their series. The real life Bradley had a short career as a workhorse starter; to the extent that he's remembered today it is as part of the three-man rotation for the 1972 White Sox with Wilbur Wood and Stan Bahnsen. Those three combined for 130 starts in the strike-shortened season. Bradley made seven starts on two days rest that year, then was traded to the Giants for Ken Henderson and Steve Stone. He blew out his arm in 1974 and eventually became a college coach.

5) Roric Harrison, 73 Least League. Pitching for the 1973 Atlanta Braves against the 1973 Houston Astros in their game of May 15. 1973 was the best season of Harrison's brief career, most of which was spent with the Braves. Came up with the Orioles in 1972, was traded to the Braves with Dave Johnson in the following offseason, finished his career with the Twins in 1978. I have no memory of him with the Twins. According to Wikipedia, he was the last pitcher to homer in an American League game before the introduction of the designated hitter.

6) Nelson Briles, 73 Least League. Pitching for the 1973 Pittsburgh Pirates against the 1973 Houston Astros in their game of June 21. "Nellie" pitched for three pennant winners and two World Series champs in a 14-year career. One of those champs was the 1971 Pirates; he threw a two-hit shutout in his only start in that World Series.

My intent with this post is to update and repost the above details with each no-hitter going forward.