May 29, 1977 – Yankees 5, White Sox 2

NEW YORK – For a good portion of a warm Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, young White Sox left-hander Ken Kravec was doing a fine impersonation of Sandy Koufax. For 5.2 innings, the Yankees could not touch the guy, and they’d had only baserunner, Chris Chambliss, who walked in the second inning.

Kravec, fresh up from triple-A Iowa, was crafting quite a story in his first big-league start of 1977. He was looking to become the first visitor to pitch a no-hitter against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium since Detroit’s Virgil Trucks in 1952, and the first pitcher, period, to no-hit New York since Baltimore’s Hoyt Wilhelm in 1958.

All was well, and then just like that, in a blink, it wasn’t. In the span of five pitches, his no-hitter was gone, and so was his victory as New York closed out its lengthy homestand with a 6-6 record. Kravec gave up a single to Mickey Rivers who promptly stole second, an RBI single to Thurman Munson, and a two-run go-ahead homer by Chambliss.

The Yankees then tacked on two runs in the eighth to complete the victory for Ed Figueroa who was outstanding once again. After yielding two runs on three hits and a walk in the first inning, Figueroa gave up three hits and a walk over the final eight scoreless innings to earn his sixth win of the season.

As was usually the case in May of 1977, most of the post-game attention was focused on Reggie Jackson. He went 0-for-3, striking out all three at-bats, and was lifted in favor of Paul Blair for defensive purposes in the top of the seventh, something Billy Martin said might become a regular thing.

“He’s having a little trouble out there right now, and I’m going to be using Blair more out there,” Martin said. “I think it’s good for Reggie to get a breather and not play every inning. I don’t know how he feels about it. I’m doing what I think is best for the ballclub. But we need his bat, we need to get him going.”

Jackson responded this way. “I’m not doing anything to help the club so you might as well sit me down. The approach I take is they want to get someone in there to help the ballclub and I haven’t helped the ballclub. I don’t take it as a slight to me.”

But then, Reggie also said this. “Last year, I swung the bat worse, but I knew I would hit. This year I’m swinging the bat bad, and nobody thinks I’m going to hit. I’m trying to take it like a man. If it means sitting on the bench, I’ll sit on the bench and cheer. But it doesn’t do much good to play a few innings, strike out a couple times, and have someone pick me up.”

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