Baseball

Eckersley’s most dominant years were still down the road in Oakland, but to the hitters who faced him in late May 1977, Eck was stifling enough as it was.

Cleveland’s third-year righty channeled Young and the pitchers of yesteryear in a 12-inning complete-game win over the Mariners on May 25, holding Seattle hitless for the last seven frames of the ballgame. Eckersley returned to the Cleveland Stadium mound on May 30 and spun a no-hitter against the Angels, allowing only two baserunners via a walk and a dropped third strike. In his follow-up four days later at the Kingdome, Eckersley was channeling Vander Meer and on pace for back-to-back no-nos until Seattle’s Ruppert Jones finally homered with two outs in the sixth inning. Eck’s stretch got the nation’s attention, and helped earn him his first All-Star Game invitation.