Juan Marichal Debuts With a Complete Game 1-Hitter on July 19, 1960

On This Day in History July 19, 1960: 21-year old rookie Juan Marichal of the Dominican Republic makes his major league debut for the San Francisco Giants and does so in an impressive fashion. Facing the Philadelphia Phillies at home at Candlestick Park, Marichal was throwing a no-hitter until the Phillies sent up pinch hitter Clay Dalrymple with two outs in the eighth inning.

Dalrymple ruined the young pitcher's bid for a no-no in his debut with a solid single to center field on the first pitch Marichal delivered to the plate. Had Marichal been able to no-hit the Phillies, he would have been the second pitcher to throw a no-hitter in his debut after Charles Leander "Bumpus" Jones (January 1, 1870 – June 25, 1938) did so for the Cincinnati Reds on October 15, 1892 ***Bobo Holloman and Ted Breitenstein of the St. Louis Browns also threw no-hitters in their first major league starts but each had appeared in relief before making their first start.

Marichal would complete his game with a 1-hit, 12-strikeout, and 1-walk gem as the Giants beat the Phillies 2-0. Here is the boxscore of that game from the July 20, 1960 edition of the New York Times:

Marichal would become the first Dominican enshrined in Cooperstown in 1983. Marichal did it with style, flair and a bulldog determination. Pitchers today can take notes on how Marichal was able to succeed in an era where he was often overshadowed by such names as Koufax, Gibson, Drysdale and Ford. Luckily for us, we have similar pitchers in today's game in the form of Scherzer, Kershaw, Hernandez and Grienke.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,

Baseball Sisco

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For Further Reading:

- Click here for Juan Marichal's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com

- Click here for Juan Marichal's Hall of Fame page from the National Baseball Hall of Fame website