When One-Hit Wonders Strike Twice: The Historic Pitching Performances of Tom Seaver and Gary Gentry in 1970

On May 15, 1970 — At Connie Mack Stadium. in front of only 6,300 fans, pitching the day after the Mets have a day off, ace Tom Seaver matches Gary Gentry by allowing one hit in beating the Phillies and Woodie Fryman, 4 – 0.

Gentry tossed a one hitter vs the Chicago Cubs on May 13th, winning the contest 4-0. You can listen to that full radio broadcast here.

The two consecutive one-hitters tie a major league record.

With one out in the third, Seaver faced Mike Compton. The rookie catcher had been called up two weeks earlier when both Phillies catchers went down with injuries. With the count 2-and-2, Compton swung at Seaver’s fastball. He made contact and lined the ball to right field for a single.

Seaver was not pleased with his pitch, saying afterward, “I was trying to hit the corner. I got the pitch up a little and I thought it was down the middle. He might have been stepping away from it a little.” Compton said he thought the pitch was on the outside.

Seaver had fiften strikeouts and on the night and had 19 last month on April 19th vs the San Diego Padres (listen to the game here).

Seaver, who was drinking some tea after the game to fight a cold that had bothered him since his 19-strikeout performance on April 19, was asked if the extra day of rest helped. “It’s a mixture of the two, actually,” he said. “The way the schedule works out, sometimes if you run into an open date you wind up pitching on the sixth day instead of the fifth day, so you’re better off working on the fourth day. It’s okay if the weather is cool. It doesn’t drain you the way hot weather does. But as far as doing it all the time, you’ll wear yourself out. You get into the last month and you’re dead tired.”