Former Major League Baseball pitcher Harvey Haddix was born on this day in 1925. Haddix was a pretty good pitcher, his best year was 1953 when he won 20 games for the Cardinals. In his career which lasted from 1952 until 1965 he won 136 and lost 113.
He was the winning pitcher in relief in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, the Bill Mazeroski game winning walk off home run game.
Harvey Haddix though will always be remembered and remembered for one thing. On May 26th, 1959 as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates he pitched 12 innings of perfect ball against the Milwaukee Braves in Milwaukee. 36 batters up- 36 batters down. The problem that night was the Pirates couldn’t score off of Braves pitcher Lew Burdette.
In the bottom of the 13th inning Pirate third baseman Don Hoak committed an error ending the perfect game. After that base runner Felix Mantilla advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, Haddix intentionally walked Henry Aaron. Then Joe Adcock hit a game winning 3 run home run or so it seemed. In the confusion Henry Aaron had walked off the field and would be the second out of the inning. Adcock was credited with a 2 run homer. In one pitch Haddix lost the no-hitter and the game. The ruling was eventually changed and Adcock was credited with a double and the final was 1-0. A bizarre ending to a bizarre game. Harvey Haddix pitched possibly the greatest game in MLB history-and lost!
Haddix would go on to be a pitching coach for a number of teams including the Pirates. He would die at the age of 68 in 1994.
slicethelife 
this is one of my favorite things about baseball, just sometimes, for one day or one night a journeyman, has things go the right way and decides to flirt with immortality. sometimes she flirts back, sometimes she is a cruel mistress. mostly however all of the times are unforgettable..
The all-time example of this has to be Don Larson.. Aslong as their is baseball he will be remembered for his perfect game in the World Series….otherwise he would be totally forgotten..