In honor of the recent debut of Stephen Strasburg and his 14 strikeouts, we present a gallery of strikeouts. We start on June 11, 1946 in the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League at Bartlesville, Oklahoma. At Municipal Stadium Jack Baumgardner of the Bartlesville Oilers struck out 19 batters in a game against the Carthage Cardinals in a three hit 5-0 victory. Baumgardner has a more famous brother, his youngest brother James made a name for himself in Holllywood. James and Jack both dropped the "Baum" part from their last name. James Gardner starred in Maverick and the Rockford Files and many other roles.
Jack could not even set the June 11, 1946 record for most strikeouts that day. That honor instead went to William Kennedy of the Rocky Mount Rocks of the Coastal Plain League. At Briles Field in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Kennedy struck out 25 batters in a game against the Goldsboro Goldbugs. Kennedy, like Baumgardner pitched a 3 hit shutout, but Kennedys gem was a 2-0 score.
Exactly 20 years to the day later, another pitcher struck out 19 hitters and matched Baumgardners' feat. This pitcher was pitching for the Greenville Mets of the Western Carolinas League. Nolan Ryan then of the Greenville Mets pitched an 8-0, four hitter against the Statesville Tigers at Meadowbrook Park in Greenville, South Carolina before 1103 fans. Unlike the other two Ryan did manage to start a Hall of Fame career striking out 5714 hitters in his 27 year career. Can Strasburg generate Nolan Ryan type numbers? It is possible but, not likely, get back to me in say 25 years. Good Luck Stephen!!!
Tomorrow we will look at the very first perfect game ever.
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