Flashback Friday: Monroe no-hitter (1975)

No-no November continues with a look back at no-hitters tossed by the Appleton Foxes.  This week, it is another game one gem.  Larry Monroe was on the hill in game one of a doubleheader at Goodland Field on August 22, 1975.  The Foxes were facing the Cedar Rapids Giants

Below is the story - as written by Roger Pitt - as it appeared in the August 23, 1975 edition of The Post-Crescent.

Monroe fires 1-0 no-hitter as Foxes sweep pair from Giants

Larry Monroe fired a brilliant no-hitter Friday to give the Appleton Foxes a 1-0 victory in the opening game of a "Back-to-School Night" doubleheader with Cedar Rapids at Goodland Field.

In the second game, Roy Coulter picked up the victory as his triple and a single by Donn Seidholz accounted for a 4-3 win in 11 innings.

Monroe and fellow right-hander Chris Knapp have been flirting with a no-hit game for the past month going into the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings without yielding a hit.

Friday, Monroe had only two smashes which could have thwarted his pitching gem.  In one instance, shortstop Scott Richartz made a grab of a hard hit grounder to his right and on the second first baseman Johnny Narron snared a liner headed down the right field foul line.  Narron didn't even have to move to catch the ball as he was in perfect position.

"I did it for my mom and dad," Monroe said, while having ice applied to his elbow. "They've been up several times to see me pitch and I wanted it for them."

Monroe had hurled 5-1/3 innings of no-hit ball against Wausau in his last outing but twisted an ankle in absorbing a defeat.  His ankle was tightly wrapped for Friday's game.

He needed only 81 pitches in setting down the Giants and only three in the seventh as Cedar Rapids batters chased the first pitch.  Garrett Strong hit a fly ball to center which outfielder Tommy Toman hauled in with relative ease.  Toman admitted, later, that he didn't pick the ball up immediately because of the lights and got help from Richartz and Ed Olszta in locating it.

"There were two or three smashes which could have been hits," Monroe said.  "The defense was terrific, they saved the no-hitter."

Monroe said he used mostly a fastball mixed with a curve, slider, and change curve.  Monroe lost his perfect game bid in the fourth with a two-out walk to Garret Strong.  "I had a 2-2 count and thought I broke a pretty good curve in on him but the umpire didn't see it that way.  The next pitch was low," he said.

Harris Price was the hitting star of the opener with a two-out single to score Ted Schultz in the fourth.  Schultz opened the inning with a ground single to right, moved to second on an error and to third on a ground out.  Price lined his hit to center to score the run.

Price also delivered a key pinch hit in the night cap with two out in the seventh and the tying run at third.

Appleton took a 1-0 lead in the second on a triple by Ed Olszta and sacrifice fly by Bob Palmer.  Cedar Rapids tied the game off starter Bobby Combs with a single by Terry Lee and double by Strong and went ahead 3-1 in the sixth on a hit by Tom Schoenhaus, sacrifice, walks, and line single to center.

The Foxes got their first homer at Goodland Field since July 2 to open the seventh as Palmer lined a never-in-doubt shot about 370 feet to left.  A walk, sacrifice, and Price's single tied the game.

GAME ONE, AUGUST 22, 1975

GOODLAND FIELD

CEDAR RAPIDS - 0     AB   R    H    BI
Moore, CF            3    0    0    0
Bhagwat, RF          3    0    0    0
Strong, LF           2    0    0    0
Sasser, 1B           3    0    0    0
Cash, 2B             3    0    0    0
Lee, 3B              3    0    0    0
De Los Santos, SS    1    0    0    0
Benedetti, C         2    0    0    0
Cline, P             1    0    0    0
Woodbrey, ph         1    0    0    0
Thompson, p          0    0    0    0

APPLETON - 1         AB   R    H    BI
Toman, CF            3    0    0    0
Richartz, ss         3    0    0    0
Schultz, LF          3    1    1    0
Nerone, LF           0    0    0    0
Narron, 1B           3    0    1    0
Olszta, RF           3    0    0    0
Seidholz, 3B         2    0    0    0
Price, C             1    0    1    1
Thomas, 2B           2    0    0    0
Monroe, P            2    0    0    0

                                R    H    E
CEDAR RAPIDS    000 000 0 -     0    0    1
APPLETON        000 100 x -     1    3    0

E - Sasser LOB - App 4; CR 2

                    IP   H    R    ER   BB   K
Cline (L, 5-12)     5.0  3    1    0    1    4
Thompson           1.0  0    0    0    0    0  

Monroe (W, 5-11)    7.0  0    0    0    2    5

WP - Cline; Time - 1:13

NOTES:

Larry Monroe would finish the 1975 season with a 5-11 record.  Monroe was the eighth overall pick in the 1974 draft.  He had been selected as a high school senior out of Mt. Prospect, Illinois and went 2-1 in a brief stop with the Foxes in 1974.

Monroe made his major league debut with the Chicago White Sox on August 23, 1976.  That is one year and two days (including Leap Day for 1976) from the date of his no-hitter against the Giants.  In that game for the White Sox, Monroe came on in relief of Goose Gossage and pitched two scoreless innings.

He walked to batters in the first inning he pitched, but got Ron LeFlore to ground into a double play and struck out Ben Oglivie.  In the second inning of that major league debut, Monroe retired Rusty Staub and Jason Thompson before striking out Aurelio Rodriguez.

In Monroe's major league career, he made eight appearances (two starts) and was 0-1 with a 4.15ERA.

There is always talk about Goodland Field being a park for pitchers, but to go from July 2 to August 22 without hitting a home run should prove that as a fact.  If you look at the 1975 schedule on this post over at Rattler Radio, you will see that is about a 19 game stretch without a home run at home for the Foxes.

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)

November 12: Abarbanel no-hitter (1966)

November 19: McCauley no-hitter (1972)