Necciai feat still far-reaching

It's not unusual for people in the mid-Monongahela Valley to talk about Ron Necciai's unparalleled baseball efforts of May 13, 1952.

He is, after all, a native son who wrote a unique chapter in the history of professional baseball when he struck out 27 batters in pitching a no-hitter that night for the Bristol Twins of the Appalachian League.

He is the only pitcher to accomplish that feat in a nine-inning game on any level of professional baseball. That standard came in a 7-0 no-hitter while pitching for the Bristol Twins against the Welch (West Virginia) Miners at Shah Stadium in Bristol.

Four Welch batters did reach base, one each on a walk, an error, a hit batsman and a passed ball that got by Bristol catcher Harry Dunlop on a swinging third strike. This resulted in a four-strikeout ninth inning. Only two Welch batters actually put the ball in play, one on a ground out to first base and the other getting on base on an error.

Necciai, a native of Gallatin now living in Rostraver Township, will recount that unsurpassed professional baseball performance when he appears at a 1:30 p.m. program presented by the Donora Historical Society on June 7 at the Donora Smog Museum at Sixth Street and McKean Avenue. Ken Barbao of Donora, who also pitched in the Pirates' farm system for several years, also will participate in the program.

The buzz about Necciai among baseball fans continues to have far-reaching implications.

“Ron Necciai really has been one of my heroes and inspirations since ‘The Game' on May 13, 1952,” said Bill McCurdy of Houston, Texas, who has written about Necciai on his Internet column, The Pecan Park Eagle. “I never did much in baseball beyond the amateur/kid ball level, but the game has been in my blood since sandlot days.”

McCurdy, a semi-retired mental health and family counseling professional, emphasized his admiration of Necciai in a recent post on his website and in a personal message to Necciai.

“… You went out there and did something that no one else had ever done before or since: You struck out 27 batters in one nine-inning game that also just happened to end up as a no-hitter,” McCurdy wrote. “That was no small thing – not to the millions of us slightly younger guys across America who were out there busting our butts to also find a place in baseball.”

McCurdy, who has authored three books about baseball, recalled that he was a 14-year-old player at the time of Necciai's game in Bristol.

“Your example taught me to believe in the possible – in great and good outcome terms,” he said in his message to Necciai. ”In spite of that one first time that I was pulled into a game and struck out the side on nine pitches, I never developed into a great pitcher – not even a good one. But I will never forget how that one inning felt, and I also know that the same attitude has followed me into everything I've tried to do since that time. And you must accept part of the credit for anything worthwhile I've ever done. Your example taught me to believe in myself – and all the great and good things that baseball and life both have to offer.”

McCurdy, who holds a doctorate from the University of Texas, worked in his chosen profession of counseling for over 40 years. He served as a member of the Selection Committee of the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame for several years and was, from 2004 to 2008, its Board president.

McCurdy also referenced another local angle to Necciai's link to baseball history that day in May.

It was on that same day that Larry Miggins, an outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals (1948-1952) hit his first Major League home run in 14-8 loss to the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. One of Miggins's teammates, Stan Musial, a future Hall of Famer from Donora, belted two home runs in that slugfest.

“The big thing for me about this parlay was that all three men, Stan Musial, Larry Miggins, and Ron Necciai, were all heroes to me as a kid,” McCurdy said. “And what was really big about Miggins's accomplishment was not just the fact that he had hit his first home run on Ron's big game day, but the fact that Larry's high school teammate, Vin Scully, was up in the Dodger broadcast booth to call the shot – just as he had expressed his hope it would happen – back when the two were still in high school. ‘You are going to hit your first big league homer someday – and I want to be there as a broadcaster to call the shot,' Scully had told Miggins.

“It's a small world, that's for sure,” McCurdy said. “And those things happening on the same day simply amplify the possibility that God was working overtime on May 13, 1952.”

Ron Paglia is a freelance writer for Trib Total Media.