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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.
It's especially rare when a fan can say that it almost happened to the same team the second time.
I remember in 1938 when Cincinnati's great left-hander Johnny Van Dammeer pitched a no-hitter against the Boston Braves.
And I also remember Johnny coming right back and doing the same thing against the old Brooklyn Dodgers.
Well, nine years later, Cincinnati had a big fellow by the name of Yule Blackwell.
He could really fire that ball.
Matters compare Blackie to a man falling out of a tree when he came in with his sidearm pitch.
In June 1947, just nine years after Van Dammeer's double no-hit feat, Blackwell found himself in the same spot.
He had just no-hit Boston, and Cincinnati's next rival would be the Dodgers.
Blackwell didn't disappoint the loyal Reds fans this day.
Ending after ending, he mowed down the Dodgers.
The first inning, the second, the third, the fourth.
Blackie was pitching another no-hitter, but his opponent on the mound, Joe Hatton, was tough too.
In fact, Blackie and Joe were hooked up in not only a scoreless game, but neither had a lot of hit.
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.
In the sixth inning, the Reds finally broke the hitless spell.
Eddie Miller lined one of Hatton's pitches into left field corner for a double.
This took some of the tension off Hatton, but it still remained as Blackwell set the Dodgers down one, two, three, and the sixth.
Blackwell walked the first Dodger in the eighth, but he was quickly erased on a fast double play.
But Blackwell was not in trouble yet.
Duke Snyder was the next batter.
Blackie received more support from the fans as he reared back to pitch to Snyder.
Strike one, then strike two.
The park erupted with a roar as Snyder went down swinging.
Eddie Miller drove in three more Cincinnati runs in the ninth, so Blackwell had a comfortable lead as he went into the ninth inning.
Only three outs to go, and Blackie would join another Cincinnati hurr as the only pitcher ever to hurl back-to-back no-hitters.
We'll find out what happened in the ninth inning at Crowsley Field in 60 seconds.
Gene Hermansky was the first batter to face Blackwell in the ninth, and he lifted an easy fly to the outfield.
Only two more outs to go.
The next batter was Eddie Stanky, always dangerous to plate.
He slammed the first pitch back to the mound through Blackwell's legs over second base, and into center field, the first Brooklyn hit.
Before the inning was over, Jackie Robinson had also signaled, but the damage had already been done.
Blackie retired to side, and Cincinnati won the ballgame.
But for a couple of pitches, Blackwell would have had a second straight no-hitter.