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This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.

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It's not often when baseball fans can point to a pitcher and say he hurled two no-hitters in a week.

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It's especially rare when a fan can say that it almost happened to the same team the second time.

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I remember in 1938 when Cincinnati's great left-hander Johnny Van Dammeer pitched a no-hitter against the Boston Braves.

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And I also remember Johnny coming right back and doing the same thing against the old Brooklyn Dodgers.

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Well, nine years later, Cincinnati had a big fellow by the name of Yule Blackwell.

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He could really fire that ball.

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Matters compare Blackie to a man falling out of a tree when he came in with his sidearm pitch.

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In June 1947, just nine years after Van Dammeer's double no-hit feat, Blackwell found himself in the same spot.

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He had just no-hit Boston, and Cincinnati's next rival would be the Dodgers.

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Blackwell didn't disappoint the loyal Reds fans this day.

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Ending after ending, he mowed down the Dodgers.

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The first inning, the second, the third, the fourth.

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Blackie was pitching another no-hitter, but his opponent on the mound, Joe Hatton, was tough too.

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In fact, Blackie and Joe were hooked up in not only a scoreless game, but neither had a lot of hit.

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Hatton was wired in the fifth inning, and the Reds took advantage of it and scored a run, but they still failed to get a hit.

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In the sixth inning, the Reds finally broke the hitless spell.

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Eddie Miller lined one of Hatton's pitches into left field corner for a double.

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This took some of the tension off Hatton, but it still remained as Blackwell set the Dodgers down one, two, three, and the sixth.

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Blackwell walked the first Dodger in the eighth, but he was quickly erased on a fast double play.

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But Blackwell was not in trouble yet.

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Duke Snyder was the next batter.

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Blackie received more support from the fans as he reared back to pitch to Snyder.

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Strike one, then strike two.

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The park erupted with a roar as Snyder went down swinging.

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Eddie Miller drove in three more Cincinnati runs in the ninth, so Blackwell had a comfortable lead as he went into the ninth inning.

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Only three outs to go, and Blackie would join another Cincinnati hurr as the only pitcher ever to hurl back-to-back no-hitters.

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We'll find out what happened in the ninth inning at Crowsley Field in 60 seconds.

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Gene Hermansky was the first batter to face Blackwell in the ninth, and he lifted an easy fly to the outfield.

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Only two more outs to go.

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The next batter was Eddie Stanky, always dangerous to plate.

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He slammed the first pitch back to the mound through Blackwell's legs over second base, and into center field, the first Brooklyn hit.

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Before the inning was over, Jackie Robinson had also signaled, but the damage had already been done.

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Blackie retired to side, and Cincinnati won the ballgame.

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But for a couple of pitches, Blackwell would have had a second straight no-hitter.