Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 1, 1990 TAG: 9007010083
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Surprise, surprise.
Stewart, unbeaten (19-0) and at times virtually unhittable in the season's first month since 1986, pitched the first no-hitter of his career Friday night.
Valenzuela, whose career seemed to be over two years ago, joined Stewart in the record books a few hours later.
Together, they became the first pitchers in this century to throw complete-game no-hitters on the same night and the first to do it in different leagues.
Stewart, a 20-game winner the past three seasons for the Oakland Athletics, beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0. Valenzuela, never able to match the Cy Young Award performance of his rookie season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and struggling since a shoulder problem threatened his career in 1988, shut out the St. Louis Cardinals 6-0.
It was no surprise that the crowd of 38,583 at Dodger Stadium rooted for Valenzuela, but Stewart (10-6) had a little trouble believing the support he got from 49,817 at Toronto's SkyDome.
"They started joining me in the ninth after the first out," said Stewart, who started his career with the Dodgers. "It was hard not to notice. At first I thought they were rooting for their guy to get a hit. Then they started to come over to my side."
Stewart, 5-6 since going 5-0 in April, said the SkyDome "is a great place to play. The fans are intelligent and they treat you with respect."
Valenzuela got immediate respect in the major leagues when he shut out Houston as an emergency starter on Opening Day in 1981.
It started a phenomenon known as Fernandomania. Later, when he proved to be mortal on the mound and a shoulder injury kept him from pitching in the 1988 World Series upset of Oakland, Fernandomania waned.
Now, Valenzuela (6-6) seems to be regaining his old form.
"I've had good games in the last two years," the 29-year-old left-hander said. "Even in September '88 I came back and pitched. I feel good."
His no-hitter was the fourth during June, the most ever in one month in the major leagues, and the fifth this season.
Texas' Nolan Ryan, 43, became the oldest man to throw a no-hitter against Oakland on June 11. Nine days earlier, 6-foot-10 Randy Johnson of Seattle became the tallest pitcher to throw a no-hitter.
Valenzuela's no-hitter was the first in the National League since Cincinnati's Tom Browning pitched a perfect game against the Dodgers on Sept. 16, 1988.
Two NL no-hitters were thrown on Oct. 15, 1892, by Charles Jones of the Cincinnati Reds against Pittsburgh and John Stivetts of the Boston Braves in five innings against Washington.
On April 22, 1898, also in the NL, Ted Brietenstein of Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh 11-0 and Jim Hughes of Baltimore beat the Boston Braves 8-0.
On May 2, 1917, Hippo Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs and Fred Toney of the Reds pitched an unprecedented double no-hitter through nine innings. Vaughn gave up his first hit with one out in the 10th, eventually losing 1-0 after giving up two hits in the inning.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB