Milt Pappas remembered for Frank Robinson trade and near perfect game

8:58 PM ET

Milt Pappas is remembered primarily for two things: He was traded for Frank Robinson; and he became the only pitcher to lose a perfect game by walking the 27th batter he faced. (Max Scherzer lost one last season by hitting the 27th batter.)

Both episodes obscure the legacy of a pitcher who had a tremendous career, winning 209 games, making two All-Star teams and starting the 1965 game and serving as a rotation anchor for 16 major league seasons. Pappas died Tuesday at age 76.

In September 1972, while pitching for the Chicago Cubs, Pappas retired the first 26 Padres he faced. He got ahead 1-2 on pinch-hitter Larry Stahl, who then worked it to a full count. The 3-2 pitch was a fastball on the outside corner. Or on the black. Or just outside. Stahl checked his swing. Umpire Bruce Froemming called it ball four and in the video you can see Pappas barking at Froemming, with some of the obscenities in Greek. Pappas completed the no-hitter but always maintained that Froemming blew the call. “I really don’t know what Bruce was thinking,” Pappas said in a 1989 interview. “I think he was very stupid in what he did. … All he had to do was raise his right hand and I’m sure nobody would have squawked.”

Pappas described the entire sequence to WGN.tv on the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field:

“I’m one pitch from the greatest thing a pitcher can do. Next pitch was a slider on the outside corner, ball two. Next pitch, another slider on the corner, ball three. All these pitches were right there and I’m saying ‘c’mon, Froemming, they’re all right there.’ Now comes the 3-2 pitch, again on the outside corner, ball four. I went crazy. I called Bruce Froemming every name you can think of. I knew he didn’t have the guts …

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