On May 25, 1959, the Pirates announced that 15,000 tickets for the All-Star Game at Forbes Field would be available by mail order starting June 15. Reserved seats cost $6.60, and bleachers $2.20. (Box seats, which cost $8.80, were all spoken for by season ticketholders and VIPs.) The game was scheduled for 1:00 on July 7, with alternate times of 8:00 that evening, then 10:30 a.m. or 1 p.m. the next day. Two days of rain would result in a cancellation.
The next night, the Bucs started a three-game series in Milwaukee. They had won their last five games, and were in third place, 3 1/2 games behind the Braves, who were about to start a 15-game homestand.
Pittsburgh had just put Roberto Clemente on the disabled list for 30 days with an injured right elbow, and Joe Christopher was called up from Columbus. Since baseball rules of the time limited the DL to two players, the Pirates waived Gene Baker, whose right knee wasn't fully recovered, for the purpose of releasing him. The club offered Baker a job in the organization, which he accepted. His knee came around enough for him to return to the roster in 1960, and Baker even pinch-hit three times in the World Series. When his playing career ended in 1961, he stayed with the organization as a coach, minor-league manager, and a long-time scout.
Manager Danny Murtaugh temporarily benched Dick Groat, who was slumping.
An ad for Amoco gasoline in the May 26 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette included this at the bottom: "See your Amoco dealer for 49-star American flag. Will be a collector's item!"
The game that night matched Lew Burdette (7-2) and Harvey Haddix (3-2). 19,194 were in the stands.
"We were going over the Braves' lineup Tuesday night," Haddix recalled on Wednesday, "and usually the starting pitcher tells how he intends to pitch to each batter. When I finished giving my rundown, Don Hoak smiled and said, 'If you do what you say you're going to do, you'll pitch a no-hitter.'"
After Burdette got the Pirates in order in the top of the first, Johnny O'Brien led off for the Braves. He grounded to shortstop Dick Schofield. The next batter was Eddie Mathews, who lined a 3-2 pitch to first baseman Rocky Nelson. That was Haddix' only three-ball count until the 13th. Henry Aaron flied out to center.
Nelson led off the second with a single, but Bob Skinner grounded into a double play. In the bottom of the inning, Joe Adcock struck out, Wes Covington grounded to second baseman Bill Mazeroski, and Del Crandall grounded to third baseman Hoak.
The Pirates put together their biggest threat in the third. Hoak beat out a bouncer past the mound. Roman Mejias hit a grounder to third baseman Mathews, who forced Hoak at second. Haddix singled off Burdette's leg. When the ball rolled a few feet toward second, Mejias tried to take an extra base, but shortstop Johnny Logan threw him out at third. Schofield singled to right, sending Haddix to third, but Bill Virdon flew out to left.
For the Braves, Andy Pafko flew out to Mejias in right. Logan hit a line drive that Schofield leapt to grab. Burdette was called out on strikes.
In the fourth, after Skinner's two-out single led to nothing for the Pirates, O'Brien took a third strike. Mathews and Aaron both flied to center fielder Virdon.
In the bottom of the fifth, Adcock grounded to Hoak. Covington and Crandall both hit fly balls to left fielder Skinner.
In the sixth, Pafko popped to Nelson. Logan grounded to Schofield, who was playing him deep in the hole. Burdette struck out.
Rain began to fall as the Pirates were retired in order in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the inning, O'Brien grounded to third, Mathews struck out, and Aaron grounded to third.
Adcock struck out to start the bottom of the eighth. Covington flied to Skinner, and Hoak threw out Crandall.
In the top of the ninth, Schofield grounded to second baseman O'Brien. Virdon singled to center. Smoky Burgess flied to center fielder Pafko. Nelson singled to right, sending Virdon to third. Skinner ended the threat by grounding to first baseman Adcock, who made the play unassisted.
In the bottom of the ninth, Pafko struck out. Logan flied to Skinner. Once again, Burdette struck out. After the inning, the crowd gave Haddix a standing ovation.
Mazeroski grounded to second to start the tenth. Hoak singled to left. Dick Stuart pinch-hit for Mejias and hit a fly ball that sent Pafko to the wall. Haddix grounded back to the mound.
In the bottom of the tenth, Christopher made his major-league debut when he took over for Mejias in right. Both pinch-hitter Del Rice and Mathews sent Virdon to the edge of the warning track to run down their fly balls. Schofield threw out Aaron. Haddix got another ovation.
Schofield led off the 11th inning with a single off Burdette's bare hand. Virdon failed to get a bunt down, then forced Schofield by grounding to new second baseman Felix Mantilla. Burgess grounded into a double play, Adcock unassisted to Logan.
In the bottom of the 11th, Schofield threw out Adcock. Covington flew to Virdon. Crandall hit what Jack Hernon of the Post-Gazette described as "probably the hardest ball of the game," but Virdon raced in to snare the line drive. Once again, the crowd came to its feet.
In the 12th, Pafko got ahead of Haddix, 2-0, before bouncing back to the mound. The Pittsburgh papers say that he was the only hitter Haddix fell behind, while the Milwaukee Journal claims there were four hitters who were ahead in the count. Virdon ran down Logan's fly in short left center. Hoak went to his left to snare Burdette's grounder. And Haddix got another ovation.
In the top of the 13th, Schofield's two-out single was the only damage the Pirates did.
In the bottom of the inning, the Pirates thought Mantilla should have been out on strikes. Catcher Burgess said, "We had him struck out." But home plate umpire Vinnie Smith didn't give him the call; that was about the only dispute they had. Mantilla then grounded to Hoak, whose throw bounced in front of Nelson and got by him for an error, giving the Braves their first runner. Hoak later told Haddix, "I've booted them before and I'll boot some again."
Mathews sacrificed, Haddix to Mazeroski, moving Mantilla to second. Aaron was intentionally walked.
With a 1-0 count, Adcock hit "a high slider" over the right center field fence into the bullpen. Mantilla scored. Aaron touched second, then ran across the mound back to the dugout. Eventually, he went out and retraced his steps, but Adcock was called out for passing Aaron on the basepaths. The umpires discussed the situation, and crew chief Frank Dascoli announced that Adcock was out for passing Aaron, and that the final score was therefore 2-0, which is what the next morning's papers had. But by the time the afternoon papers went to press, NL president Warren Giles had weighed in.
"While the hitter hit a fair ball over the field fence in flight, he did not touch all bases legally and cannot be credited with a home run. Since, in determining the final score the hitter cannot be treated as having hit a home run, but is recorded as having hit a two-base hit, it is not logical to treat the base runners as if the hitter had hit a home run. The score shall be determined by disregarding the 'home run' and recording it as it would be if the batter had hit a two-base hit, in which case only the run or runs score which are necessary to win the game.
"The official score of the Pittsburgh-Milwaukee game at Milwaukee on May 26 is to be recorded as Milwaukee 1, Pittsburgh 0."
In 12 2/3 innings, Haddix gave up one hit and one (intentional) walk, while he struck out eight. Burdette scattered 12 hits over his 13 innings, with no walks and two strikeouts. The game was over in 2:54.
On Adcock's game-winner, Haddix said, "Joe hit a high slider."
"I thought it was (a good pitch)," Adcock explained. "Anyway, he had struck me out twice before with that same pitch. But I guess he had more zip in the earlier innings. After 12 innings, you're bound to lose some of that zip."
"It was a damn shame," Murtaugh said.
Burdette said, "He deserved to win."
"I thought I had fine control all night," Haddix said. "I made a few bad pitches. The one to Adcock has to go down as a bad pitch.
"There were a few others. I don't remember when or what they were."
He knew what was going on, at least partially. "Sure, I knew I had the no-hitter. Now and then I would look at the scoreboard to what the count was on a hitter. I had to see that zero back of the Braves.
"I didn't know about the perfect game, though. I thought that maybe back there in the early innings I might have walked a man.
"How do I feel about it? It's just another loss and that's not good for myself or the club.
"I just wanted to keep them from scoring, that's all I was interested in. But we just didn't get that run I needed.
"I was pitching Adcock about the same way all night and that last time didn't get away with it. The slider was high and we lost."
Haddix admitted to tiring. "You could see it, couldn't you? They were getting the ball in the air a little more than I wanted them to."
"I came close once before to a no-hitter. That was with the Cardinals in 1954. I went into the ninth and had one out to go against the Phils when Richie Ashburn got a hit. And I think Gran Hamner got another, but I won that game."
Haddix didn't "feel too well warming up.
"I had a bit of a cold, and I just didn't feel right."
Haddix added, "The thing that surprises me about all this excitement is that no pitcher before in baseball ever went beyond nine innings in a perfect game."
The previous perfect game in the National League had been in 1880, when John Montgomery Ward of Providence shut down Buffalo. The AL had one as recently as 1922, and, of course, Don Larsen had his in the 1956 World Series.
The next day, Haddix said that when he woke up, he was "feeling both good and bad."
Even with the Pirate captain on the bench, Groat's Quotes still ran in The Press. According to the shortstop, "The Pirates on the bench observed strict baseball protocol during Harvey Haddix's perfect game last night. Nobody said a word to him between innings about his perfect game and no-hitter but after he walked to the mound each inning, we talked among ourselves."
"Haddix isn't too superstitious and didn't even take the same seat each time he came into the bench. But once I saw him start for the mound and then he came back.
"It seems when he left the dugout, he placed his right foot on the top step but he returned and started all over again, taking the first step with the left foot. It was the only superstitious sign he revealed."
There was only one comment from a Brave to the pitcher. "When I came to bat in the ninth," Haddix said, "Del Crandall said, 'Hey, you're pitching a pretty good game.'" He actually batted in the eighth; I think we can forgive Haddix the mistake under the circumstances.
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All quotes above are from the original newspaper coverage. Of course, the game would still be written about for years to come.
One note that wasn't in any of the original coverage was that Skinner hit a deep fly ball to right in the seventh that looked like it was headed out of the park, but a strong wind blew it back to Aaron.
In 1979, Haddix told Steve Hecht of the Post-Gazette that, "I sucked on throat lozenges the whole game. I was sick to my stomach."
Bill Modoono of The Pittsburgh Press wrote the anniversary story in 1989. Haddix told him, "The only time I really went for the no-hitter was the ninth. I was going for strikeouts then. I struck out two that inning. I was really going after it.
"After the ninth, it didn't matter. I didn't know anything about any records."
Haddix died of emphysema in 1994. One superstition that Groat didn't mention was that between innings that night, Haddix would come to the dugout and put a cigarette in his mouth. It was Groat's job to light it.
A 2009 Sports Illustrated story said:
In 1989, when a number of players from both teams were present at a banquet in Pittsburgh commemorating the game's 30th anniversary, former Milwaukee pitcher Bob Buhl pulled Haddix aside. "You know we were stealing signs during the game?" he asked. Buhl told him that pitchers in the Braves' bullpen peered through binoculars to pick up the signs Burgess flashed to Haddix. One reliever then signaled the batter: towel on the shoulder meant fastball, no towel meant breaking ball. All but one Milwaukee hitter, Aaron, took the signals. "There were rumors that they might be stealing signs that series," says [former Pirate pitcher Bob] Smith, "but none of us knew they were doing it that night."
And a 2009 Post-Gazette story by Bob Dvorchak quoted Burdette. "I have to be the greatest pitcher who ever pitched," the Milwaukee pitcher would say in later years, "because I beat the guy who pitched the greatest game ever pitched."
Dvorchak also noted that "according to the Western Union account, Mr. Haddix threw 115 pitches -- 82 of them for strikes. The most he threw in an inning was 14 in the 12th when he was tiring."
"It was one of the easiest games I ever played in," Mazeroski recalled. "Everything was pretty much routine. Everything was a two-hopper."
In 2010, Dvorchak went to Ohio to talk to Haddix' widow, Marcia. Some video can be found here.
In 1991, the Committee for Statistical Accuracy in Baseball officially defined a no-hitter as "a game in which a pitcher or pitchers complete a game of nine innings or more without allowing a hit." When Marcia took the call explaining that her husband no longer got official credit for pitching a perfect game, she was furious. Harvey's reaction was, "It's OK. I know what I did."