A Fascinating History of Extra Inning No-Hitters the Pittsburgh Pirates Were Part of

August 1st, 1906

For the first one we will go in the way back machine. All the way back to 114 years ago to be exact. Back to the Teddy Roosevelt Era, to a time when the forward pass was being legalized in football and the Pure Food and Drug Act was being passed into law.

Sadly, there isn’t much to talk about here. There just wasn’t really a way to track baseball in the early 1900’s, and some games, and even player information were just lost to time. However, what we do know is that both Pittsburgh’s pitcher, Lefty Leifield, and Brooklyn’s pitcher, Harry McIntire, pitched all 13 innings of the game. Both also put up zeros through 12 innings.

Somehow, McIntire threw a no-hitter through 12 of these innings through a line-up that included inaugural Hall of Fame class member Honus Wagner. But in the 11th inning, the Pirates finally broke up the no-no bid when Claude Ritchey singled. The team then rallied for three hits in the 13th inning. These three hits would go on to produce a run. This run would prove to be enough to win the game for the Bucs. Had the Pirates lost, and the no-no stayed in tact, this would have been the 55th no-hitter in MLB history.