So, where else was Joe Morgan?

Posted on June 15th, 2009 – 2:55 PM
By Michael Rand

joemorgan.jpgDeadspin has an excellent post about Joe Morgan being caught in a tall tale recently. It involves a no-hitter, and there’s only one problem. Tommy Craggs, please explain:

Charming, right? And, alas, very likely an utter crock. This would’ve been June 18, 1967, Joe’s third full season in the bigs. That Braves team did indeed feature Hank Aaron, Felipe Alou and Rico Carty — though not Cepeda, who was in St. Louis that year. And Wilson did indeed throw a no-hitter, striking out Aaron to end the game. None of that’s the problem. The problem, as a tipster points out, is that Joe Morgan wasn’t playing that day. Look at the box score. The Astros’ second baseman was Julio Gotay. Morgan, who was probably hurt, hadn’t played since June 3. He would pinch-hit the next two games, then return to the lineup June 21.

So yeah, that would have made it hard for Joe to approach the mound on June 18, 1967, during Don Wilson’s no-hitter.

For some afternoon fun, and to restore some order to the comments section (per Brandon’s request), we offer these questions:

*Where else has Joe Morgan been?

*Is there a story from your sports lore that somehow gets better every time you tell it, to the point that it’s no longer mostly true?

Comments are closed.