Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Damn Yankees
Page 198
and never will again. He played many important roles for those teams. In his first six years with the Yankees he averaged over 232 innings, 17.5 wins, and 14 complete games. As a swingman, he averaged 26 games started and 9 games finished per season.
In 1950, Reynolds won 16 games, even though he pitched with bone chips in his elbow for the entire season. His remarkable 1951 season began under very difficult conditions. Floating chips in his elbow prevented him from throwing a single pitch in spring training. He was resigned to having surgery which would have cost him at least half of the season. Dr. George Bennett of
Johns Hopkins University recommended against surgery. Reynolds appeared in his first game one week after the season started.
On July 12 and September 28, 1951, Reynolds threw no hitters. He
was the first American League pitcher to throw two no hitters in a season and only the second player to do so in baseball history, after Johnny Vander Meer. This is still the major league record for most no hitters in a single season.
His first no hitter, on July 12, 1951, was a 1–0 defeat of his former team, the Indians. Gene Woodling's solo home run was the only run scored during the game. Reynolds retired the last 17 Indians he faced. Only four Indians reached base. He walked three and Bobby Ávila reached on an error. It was his third