As a Varsity High School pitcher in my senior year, I started a game at Conrad H.S. in Newport, DE, May of 1968. We were the visiting team. I had a no hitter in the bottom of the sixth inning with one out. Score tied 0 – 0. One of the Conrad hitters hit a line drive to right field. My right fielder tried to make a diving catch to save my no-hitter, a valiant effort. However, the ball went just under his glove and the hitter ended up on third base. Bye-bye no hitter. I was somewhat shaken up. On the next pitch the Conrad coach attempted a suicide squeeze play. I went into my stretch, stepped forward off the rubber and threw the ball to the catcher as hard as I could. Mistake! By stepping forward off the rubber I balked. Runner scored. I got the final two outs. We batted in the top of the seventh and could not score. Final 1-0. This is an example of an illegal pitch. Because of the balk the ball became dead and the runner was awarded one base. This was a difficult loss for me – to lose by one run and pitch a one-hitter. My fault. Our team had scattered hits but could not score in the game.
