Pitcher Dave Morehead, who threw a no-hitter for the Boston Red Sox in 1965 and was a key member down the stretch during the team’s “Impossible Dream” run to the American League pennant two years later, died Nov. 23. He was 82.
The Red Sox confirmed the righthander’s death on Tuesday. He died in Santa Ana, California.
The San Diego native pitched eight seasons with the Red Sox from 1963 to 1968 and was taken in the MLB expansion draft by Kansas City. He pitched for the Royals for two seasons (1969-70).
Morehead had a career record of 40-64.
He signed with Boston out of Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego, a school also attended by Hall of Famer Ted Williams and Ray Boone, the grandfather of current New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
Morehead pitched a 3-0 shutout against the Washington Senators in his major league debut on April 13, 1963.
But he would be known for throwing a no-hitter at Fenway Park against Cleveland, a 2-0 complete game victory on Sept. 16, 1965.
Before a sparse crowd of 1,247 paid fans (and 1,123 who had free passes), Morehead outdueled future Red Sox pitching star Luis Tiant. He allowed just one runner, walking Rocky Colavito in the second inning. Morehead struck out eight in his final win of the season, earning him a $1,000 bonus from Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey.
Morehead joined a Red Sox no-hit group that included Hall of Famer Cy Young, Smoky Joe Wood, Dutch Leonard and Mel Parnell.
But he ended the season with a pair of defeats to finish 10-18 and led the majors in losses.
In 1967, Morehead won five games in August, starting twice and earning three wins in relief as the Red Sox made an improbable run to the pennant after finishing in ninth place the year before. He also stepped in to start for Jerry Stephenson against the New York Yankees and won the Sept. 9 game as the Red Sox battled Detroit, Minnesota and Chicago in a hotly contested race.
He would appear in two games during Boston’s loss in the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Morehead’s no-hitter was the last one thrown by a Red Sox pitcher until Hideo Nomo pitched a gem on April 4, 2001 – a span of 35 years, 6 months, 18 days.
“He was no longer the answer to a great trivia question,” his wife, Pat Morehead, said in a 2001 interview after Nomo’s no-hitter.
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