{"id":34737,"date":"2026-02-22T14:06:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T19:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/?p=34737"},"modified":"2026-03-26T16:08:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T21:08:54","slug":"ducks-on-the-pond-goose-eggs-on-the-scoreboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/22\/ducks-on-the-pond-goose-eggs-on-the-scoreboard\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks On the Pond; Goose Eggs On the Scoreboard"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Larry

Cubs hurler Larry Cheney tossed a 14-hit shutout against the Giants in 1913.<\/p><\/div>\n

Theoretically, a pitcher could give up three hits every inning and maintain a shutout.\u00a0 A 27-hit shutout is conceivable but virtually impossible.\u00a0 Of course, in an era when a complete game is a rarity, musing about complete game shutouts is an exercise in nostalgia.<\/p>\n

If the complete game shutout were a species, it would be on the endangered list.\u00a0 In 2025 all it took for a pitcher to make the leaderboard was one shutout (five in the NL, 8 in the AL).\u00a0 Same for 2024, 5 in the NL but 11 in the AL.\u00a0 In 2023, however, Gerrit Cole<\/a> led MLB with two \u2013 count \u2018em, two! \u2013 shutouts.\u00a0 You have to go back to 2017 to find a pitcher with three (Corey Kluber), and a half-century to find a pitcher (Jim Palmer<\/a>) who reached double-digits (10) in complete game shutouts.\u00a0 Today\u2019s \u201caces\u201d are to pitching what shrinkflation is to economics.<\/p>\n

Once upon a time you could scan the sports section of your daily newspaper from April through September and discover that such-and-such pitcher had thrown a \u201cone-hit shutout,\u201d a \u201ctwo-hit shutout,\u201d a \u201cthree-hit shutout,\u201d etc.\u00a0 Complete game shutouts didn\u2019t happen every day (with the possible exception of the 1968 season) but they weren\u2019t rare.<\/p>\n

Not all shutouts are created equal, however.\u00a0 The fewer hits yielded, the more prestigious the achievement.\u00a0 After all, the one-hitter is no-hitter adjacent, so that is noteworthy.\u00a0 Of course, it stands to reason that the fewer the hits the fewer the baserunners and the greater the likelihood of a shutout.\u00a0 And that leads us to two of the most unlikely shutouts of all time.<\/p>\n

The very idea of a 14-hit shutout is preposterous.\u00a0 After all, when Christy Mathewson pitched three shutouts in the 1905 World Series, he yielded 14 hits TOTAL.\u00a0 Nevertheless, yielding 14 hits in one complete game shutout has happened \u2013 twice in fact.\u00a0 And it was done by guys you\u2019ve probably never heard of.<\/p>\n

The name Larry Cheney doesn\u2019t resonate in baseball circles today but it probably did, at least in Chicago households, when he won 67 games in his first three seasons with the Cubs.\u00a0 As a 26-year old rookie in 1912, he matched his age in victories, tying Rube Marquard for the league lead in that category while leading the league in complete games with 28.\u00a0 He added 21 wins (and 7 saves) in 1913.\u00a0 On September 14th<\/sup> of that year he faced the Giants at the West Side Grounds in Chicago.\u00a0 On that day he emerged victorious, the Cubs winning 7-0, despite the fact that the Giants outhit the Cubs 14-11.\u00a0 A transcription of John McGraw\u2019s post-game commentary about the game would surely be entertaining.<\/p>\n

The first Giant batter, Fred Snodgrass singled, so as broadcaster Curt Gowdy was wont to say, \u201cThere goes your no-hitter.\u201d\u00a0 Immediately afterwards, Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers was ejected for \u201cdiscoloring the baseball.\u201d\u00a0 To add drama to his exit, he hurled the ball out of the ballpark.\u00a0 So the fans (a Sunday afternoon crowd estimated at 24,000) might have surmised that they were in for an unusual afternoon.<\/p>\n

Two hours later Cheney had yielded 14 hits, including three doubles, but no runs.\u00a0 He helped his cause by not giving up any walks.\u00a0 His achievement was a long way from a no-hitter, but pitching a 14-hit shutout (that\u2019s 1.6 runners per inning) is a rarer achievement than a no-hitter.\u00a0 All those ducks on the pond and not one waddles across home plate?\u00a0 What are the odds, Vegas?\u00a0 Pretty slim, I\u2019ll wager.<\/p>\n

It is ironic that Cheney walked no batters because his Achilles heel was control.\u00a0 Though he led the league in wild pitches during his 1912-1914 glory days, his victory total overshadowed that flaw.\u00a0 It was difficult to overlook his league-leading total of 140 bases on balls in 1914, however, even though he won 20 games.\u00a0 Cheney\u2019s lack of control irritated Cubs manager Roger Bresnahan, who sent him packing to the Brooklyn Robins late in the 1915 season.\u00a0 There he got his second wind, winning 18 games with a 1.92 ERA for the pennant-winning Robins in 1916.\u00a0 Nevertheless, that season he embarked on another three-year streak of leading the league in wild pitches.<\/p>\n

In 1917 the Robins slipped to 7th<\/sup> place.\u00a0 Cheney\u2019s decline was less dramatic (8-12) but he still showed flashes of brilliance.\u00a0 On August 22nd<\/sup>, he participated in a 22-inning game (the longest in major league history at the time) against the Pirates at Ebbets Field.\u00a0 When Cheney came into the game in the top of the 8th<\/sup> inning, he didn\u2019t know he would be out there for 13 innings.\u00a0 Though he pitched scoreless ball (giving up 9 hits), he got neither a victory nor a save, as the game remained a 5-5 deadlock when he left after the 20th<\/sup> inning (the Robins won 6-5 in the bottom of the 22nd<\/sup> inning).\u00a0 He didn\u2019t get the victory (Rube Marquard did) but it wouldn\u2019t have happened without him.\u00a0 He threw the equivalent <\/em>of a 13-inning shutout.<\/p>\n

Cheney\u2019s last season (1919), split between the Robins, the Braves, and the Phillies, was forgettable with a composite record of 3-10 and 4.18 in 129.1 innings.\u00a0 After nine years in the National League he had fashioned a record of 116-100 to go with a 2.70 ERA.\u00a0 Not a bad deadball era career.<\/p>\n

Cheney\u2019s 14-hit shutout was unique at the time.\u00a0 But it remained so for only 15 years.\u00a0 His feat was duplicated by Milt Gaston in 1928.\u00a0 Like Cheney, Gaston enjoyed a long career (11 years, 1924-1934).\u00a0 He toiled for the Yankees, Browns, Senators, Red Sox, and White Sox.\u00a0 His record (97-164), however, is less than impressive, as is his career ERA (4.55).\u00a0 Perhaps his greatest achievement was living to be 100, quite a distinction given the life expectancy for men born in 1896.\u00a0 If you were born that year and lived long enough to read about Ted Williams\u2019 .406 season and Joe DiMaggio\u2019s 56-game streak in 1941, you were living on borrowed time after that.<\/p>\n

Gaston led the American League in losses in 1926 with 18 and in 1930 with 20.\u00a0 In 1927 he led the league in earned runs yielded.\u00a0 Yet during his career he somehow managed to pitch 128 complete games and 10 of them were shutouts.\u00a0 Given his career record, it is surprising he never spent a day in the minor leagues.\u00a0 At the age of 28 he debuted with the 1924 Yankees after excelling in semi-pro ball.\u00a0 Pitching mostly out of the bullpen, he fashioned a 5-3 record.<\/p>\n

Pitching for the Browns the following season, he was 15-14.\u00a0 It was his highest victory total \u2013 and it was the last season he had a winning record.\u00a0 From 1926 through 1934 he was underwater.\u00a0 In fairness, during that span he never played for a winning team.\u00a0 In fact, many years his teams didn\u2019t even rise to mediocrity.\u00a0 He spent three seasons with 7th<\/sup> place teams (1926 and 1927 Browns, 1932 White Sox) and two with last-place teams (1930 Red Sox and 1934 White Sox).<\/p>\n

In Gaston\u2019s final season (1934) with the White Sox he somehow was allowed to pitch 194 innings despite a 5.85 ERA.\u00a0 Actually, that mark wasn\u2019t particularly egregious since the staff ERA was 5.40, which helps to explain the Chisox’s 53-99 record.\u00a0 After the season, Gaston, age 38, was released and that was the end of his career.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Senators pitcher Milt Gaston threw a 14-hit shutout against the Indians on 1928.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1928 Gaston was experiencing a particularly unimpressive season (6-12, 5.51 ERA).\u00a0 It was his only season with the Washington Senators, who weren\u2019t that bad (4th<\/sup> place, 75-79).\u00a0 On July 10th<\/sup> of that year in the second game of a Tuesday afternoon double-header, Gaston outdid himself.\u00a0 He whitewashed the Indians while yielding 14 hits, including two doubles and a triple.<\/p>\n

For good measure, he threw in a couple of walks.\u00a0 So that\u2019s 16 base runners in 9 innings or 1.8 per inning.\u00a0 As was the case with Cheney\u2019s shutout, the first batter had singled, so once again, there goes your no-hitter.\u00a0 Though the Indians were outscored 9-0 they outhit the Senators 14-13.\u00a0 Like John McGraw, Indians manager Roger Peckinpaugh was probably beside himself.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, there was a third 14-hit shutout \u2013 but with an asterisk.\u00a0 On July 14, 1916 the Red Sox failed to score against the Browns\u2019 Ernie Koob \u2013 who was on the mound for 17 innings!\u00a0 He yielded 14 hits plus 3 walks = 17 base runners, or an average of one per inning.\u00a0 So while Koob\u2019s feat is certainly impressive he wasn\u2019t in as much danger of yielding a run as Cheney and Gaston.\u00a0 And let\u2019s not forget Koob\u2019s opposite number, Carl Mays, who matched him for 15 innings, yielding 9 hits and walking 8, before yielding to Dutch Leonard.\u00a0 In one of the greatest anticlimaxes in baseball history, the game ended in a scoreless tie when it was called on account of darkness.<\/p>\n

14 hits, however, is not the upper limit in extra-inning games.\u00a0 On July 10, 1901 the Pirates\u2019 Jack Chesbro yielded 15 hits on his way to a 1-0 victory over the Boston Beaneater at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh.\u00a0 Chesbro hurled 12 innings that day.\u00a0 That\u2019s works out to 1.25 runners per inning.\u00a0 Pity Boston starter Bill Dinneen who went the distance and took the loss on an unearned run in the 12th<\/sup> inning.\u00a0 Chesbro went on to the Hall of Fame, Dinneen did not.\u00a0 He had four 20+ win seasons but his overall record was 170-177.\u00a0 Notably, he won three games for the Red Sox in the first World Series in 1903.\u00a0 As soon as he retired as a player (after the 1909 season) he returned to the playing field as an umpire, working eight World Series and the first All-Star game in 1933.\u00a0 A real baseball lifer!\u00a0 Nice work if you can get it.\u00a0 As Robert Mitchum once said of movie acting, \u201cIt sure beats working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another 15-hit 1-0 victory was authored by the Senators\u2019 Walter Johnson on July 3, 1913.\u00a0 It took him 15 innings to defeat the Red Sox at Fenway, so he yielded an average of one hit per inning.\u00a0 The hard-luck loser was Ray Collins who pitched 14 shutout innings, faltered in the 15th<\/sup>, and finally coughed up a run.\u00a0 Johnson\u2019s HOF credentials do not need to be listed for this readership.\u00a0 It is interesting to note, however, that Johnson\u2019s 15-inning effort had no effect on his subsequent performances.\u00a0 He logged 346 innings and 36 victories in 1913.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s recap: 14 hits is the record for a 9-inning shutout, 15 hits for 10-17 innings.\u00a0 Is it possible that one day a 16-hit shutout will go into the books?\u00a0 Probably not in my lifetime (full disclosure: the author is a boomer).\u00a0 But probably not in yours either, whether Generation X, Y, Z, XX, XY, LGBTQ or whatever.\u00a0 If it does happen, it will surely be by committee, not achieved by one man.\u00a0 Once we had mighty men of old, giants in the earth.\u00a0 Today we have pitch counts and Tommy John surgery.\u00a0 Of course, we may not have major league baseball at all in 2027, but that is another story entirely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theoretically, a pitcher could give up three hits every inning and maintain a shutout.\u00a0 A 27-hit shutout is conceivable but virtually impossible.\u00a0 Of course, in an era when a complete game is a rarity, musing about complete game shutouts is an exercise in nostalgia. If the complete game shutout were a species, it would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1893,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-top-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1893"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34737"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34744,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34737\/revisions\/34744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}