Flashback Friday: McCauley no-hitter (1972)
No-no November continues this week on Flashback Friday. This week, we go back to June 15, 1972. R. Wayne McCauley drew the starting assignment for the Appleton Foxes in the first game of a doubleheader against the Quincy Cubs at Goodland Field. The right-hander did not start the game well, but - as Dan VanderPas reports in the June 16 edition of The Post-Crescent - everything worked out very well by the end of the seven inning game.
McCauley's
No-Hitter Helps Foxes Sweep Doubleheader
Lamar Johnson Homers
Righthander Wayne
McCauley, a native of Old Fort, North Carolina, thrilled 1,817 "Dairy Night"
fans by firing a no-hitter as the Foxes downed Quincy, 2-0, in the first game of
a doubleheader Thursday at Goodland Field.
Lamar Johnson blasted a 360-foot homer with one man aboard in the nightcap to
spark Appleton to a 7-3 triumph.
McCauley, who whiffed 10 Cubs during his 7-inning performance, got off to a
shaky start in the first inning as he walked [the first two batters before
picking] Julio Gonzalez off of first base, and with the help of the flawless
fielding of his teammates, he retired the rest of the Quincy batsmen in order.
First in Pro Ball
"After I walked the first two batters, I figured that I just didn't have it.
I was wild," the 22-year-old fastballer said.
"I used mostly fastballs, but I relied on some changeups early in the
game. This is the first time I ever
pitched a no-hitter in pro ball," McCauley went on, "I haven't had any
since high school.
McCauley (2-5) fanned 20 Waterloo batsmen during his last outing only to be on
the short end of a 2-1 extra-inning decision.
The Cubs hurler, lefthander Len York, also had a no-hitter going until Lamar
Johnson singled to deep short in the fourth inning.
Appleton broke the scoring drought in the fifth when Mike Reynolds lashed a
double to center after two men were out, and McCauley drove him across with
another double to center.
"I just hit a fast ball," the jubilant McCauley recalled after the game.
"It felt really good."
The Foxes added an insurance run in the sixth.
Mike Buskey led off with a bunt single along third and hotcornerman Jorge
Aranzamendi threw wildly to first to send him to second.
Buskey then swiped third before being plated by
Bobby Bridges' sacrifice fly to right.
The Foxes jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second inning of the nightcap.
Fred Norton started the rally by working losing pitcher John Anderson for
a walk. Bart Johnson followed with
his first of three safeties, a single to right that sent Norton to third.
Reynolds then slapped a double into the left field corner to drive Norton
home.
Rourke Doubles
After Appleton starter Woody Eppinette fanned, Dan Rourk socked a 3-bagger to
left to account for the other two markers.
Quincy sliced the margin to 3-2 in the fifth on singles by Aranzamendi and Max
Stewart...a fielding error and a walk.
After Boskey led off the fifth with a walk, Lamar put the Foxes on top
permanently with his towering shot over the left field wall.
The Cubs run in the sixth occurred when
Bob Watson reached second on an error and scored on Bob White's single through
short.
Bart Johnson greeted reliever Gary Junge with a long double to center to lead
off the sixth, and after Reynolds was issued free transportation, Bridges plated
a pair of runs with a 1-bagger to left.
Paul Sands, who worked two and one-third innings in relief was credited with the
win.
The Foxes will play Quincy in a single game tonight (7:30pm) at Goodland Field.
NOTES:
See
the boxscore of the game (as best as it could be reconstructed) at this Rattler
Radio post. There is also a link to the 1970's All-Decade post that
has a picture of McCauley (which has been cropped out of a larger team
photogrpah) at Rattler Radio. There should be a link to it right here, but
for some reason, the web editor will not recognize that link today.
McCauley
went 6-8 for the Foxes in 1972 and was promoted to Knoxville later in the
season. He came back to Appleton in
1973 and went 5-6 before being promoted to Knoxville again.
McCauley wrapped up his professional career with Knoxville in 1974 with
an 0-2 record.
The Bob
Watson of the Quincy Cubs referred to up in the article is not this Bob
Watson.
According to MWL Guide, Quincy
started as a Midwest League expansion team in 1960.
They were an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs from 1965-1973.
Then, the franchise moved to Dubuque.
The Dubuque Packers folded
in 1976 and was not replaced.
The only player in the Quincy lineup in this game to make it to the big leagues
was Julio
Gonzalez.
Three Foxes mentioned in the story above went on to the big leagues: Mike
Buskey, Bart
Johnson, and Lamar
Johnson.
The Appleton Foxes finished the 1972 season with a 76-51 record.
That was the best record in the Midwest League for the season.
Appleton got into the playoffs by winning the second half Northern
Division title with a record of 40-23. Appleton
beat Wisconsin Rapids in a one game divisional playoff to make it to the MWL
Championship Series.
However, the Foxes were swept in the best-of-three finals by Danville.
The 1972
Danville Warriors were the Midwest League affiliate of the Milwaukee
Brewers. Charlie Moore, Sixto
Lezcano, Eduardo Rodriguez, Bill Castro, and a few other names you may recognize
were on that team.
Dan VanderPas is now the Assistant Sports Editor at the Post-Crescent.
I wonder if one of the current writers could get hotcornerman by him
today.
There are a few problems with the layout of the original article and that makes
for some tough deciphering. I added the words in the brackets up in
paragraph three because that made the most sense. Also the ellipsis in the
second paragraph after Rourke doubles means that there were no
words there.
Final note: Yes. Pitchers still hit in the minors in 1972.
The records are not complete at baseball-reference, but McCauley hit .172
(5-for-29) with a homer at some point in the season to go along with the double
from the no-hitter. The stats do not
include his RBI for the year.
Past Flashbacks:
October
8: In fair territory (1994)
October
15: Fans flock to see Foxes (1987)
October
22: New Park (1995)
October
29: Logo Decision (1994)
November
5: Ed Sedar, Pitcher (1985)