Bob Feller Throws the Only Opening Day No-Hitter

On April 16, 1940, Bob Feller no-hit the Chicago White Sox 1-0 on Opening Day at Comiskey Park. In all of major league history, no other pitcher has thrown a no-hitter on Opening Day, before or since.

Feller was twenty-one years old. The temperature hovered around forty degrees, and only 14,000 fans sat through the cold. Feller walked five batters and struck out eight, relying on a fastball that arrived faster than anything else in the American League.

The Indians' lone run came in the fourth inning, when Jeff Heath singled and catcher Rollie Hemsley drove him home with a triple. That narrow margin held for five more innings while Feller kept working through the White Sox lineup without allowing a hit.

The ninth inning tested him. With two outs, future Hall of Famer Luke Appling stepped in. Appling, a career .310 hitter famous for fouling off pitch after pitch, battled through a ten-pitch at-bat before drawing a walk. He stood on first as the tying run. Taffy Wright followed and hit a sharp grounder to the right side. Second baseman Ray Mack dove to his left, snagged the ball, and threw to first for the final out.

The no-hitter was the first of three Feller would throw in his career, along with twelve one-hitters. He lost nearly four full seasons to military service in World War II, enlisting the day after Pearl Harbor. The pitching records he might have set during those years remain one of baseball's great hypotheticals.