Although largely forgotten today, Worcester pitcher John Lee Richmond enjoyed a career replete with numerous noteworthy "firsts."
He was the first left-handed pitcher to lead his team in victories, winning 32 games for Worcester in his rookie season of 1880. In 1879, while still a student at Brown University, Richmond threw a no-hitter for Worcester in an exhibition against the Chicago White Stockings, his first professional appearance. Later in his career, he gave up the first recorded grand slam home run. A licensed physician, he was the first medical doctor to play in the major leagues and one of the first collegians.
But it was on June 12, 1880, that Richmond recorded the "first" for which he is best known today. Facing Cleveland in Worcester, Richmond pitched baseball's first perfect game, retiring all 27 batters in a 1-0 victory.
Remarkably, Richmond was not even in Worcester the morning of a game: He took a final examination that day at Brown, then rushed by train from Providence, arriving just in time.
News accounts suggest it did not occur to anyone that what Richmond had done was noteworthy. The story relates that "the most wonderful game on record, and one of the shortest, was played this afternoon...The Worcesters played without an error and, for nine straight innings, retired their opponents in one, two, three order, not a man getting a base hit or reaching first base." Richmond is never identified as the pitcher.
Within a week of the perfect game, two other events of notetook place. Just five days later, on June 17, John Ward pitched a second perfect game, defeating Buffalo 5-0 in Providence. And on June 13, the day after his feat, John Richmond received his college diploma.
The first night game, featuring teams representing rival department stores, is played in Hull, Mass., Sept. 2.
The pitcher's box is relocated from 45 to 50 feet from home plate; the number of balls constituting a walk is reduced to 7.
IN THE WORLD
The New York Daily Graphic becomes the first newspaper to feature photographs.