July 9, 1969: Tom Terrific Comes Oh So Close

     On July 9, 1969, New York Mets hurler Tom Seaver retired 25 straight men, before his bid at perfection was broke up by a out single off the bat of Chicago Cubs rookie Jim Qualls. "Tom Terrific" would have to settle for a one-hitter as he led the way in a 4-0 win. The hit would solidify a place in the history books for Qualls who had a very short career in the big leagues. Seaver threw five one-hitters in his storied career, and with this game included two no-hitters were broken up in the ninth inning. His fortune changed in 1978 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds when he no-hit the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the lone no-hitter of his Hall of Fame career.

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196907090.shtml

This is a great piece by Keith Sutton about near no-hitters: http://research.sabr.org/journals/with-two-out-in-the-ninth-the-almost-no-hitters