The Pecan Park Eagle

Maybe it was George Mullin’s way ahead of his time”gagnum style” delivery that helped him wrap up that July 4, 1912 no-hitter.

Thanks to Baseball Almanac this weekend for the great reminder that George Mullin of the Detroit Tigers. born July 4, 1880. is he only man of that special birth date to later pitch a no-hitter on the 4th of July, which, as things turn out, happened against the St. Louis Browns on July 4, 1912. Impressively, it was also the first no-hit win in Detroit Tiger history.

Mullin was only a 6 wins, 7 losses pitcher going into into that stellar performance game, but, as destiny sometimes prescribes, close calls and bad jams wee all going to go George’s way on that special date.

For his 14 year career (1902-13, Tigers), (1913, Senators), and (1914-15, Federal League) George Mullin finished with a record of 228 wins, 196 losses, and ERA of 2.82, with 1,482 strikeouts. He also won 20 or more games in five seasons with his 29-8, 2.22 ERA 1909 year standing as his highest win and lowest ERA year.

For a full description of the July 4th no-hitter by George Mullin, check out the account offered by Rich Westcott that also appears on Page 67 of the 2007 McFarland book “No Hitters” at the following link and scroll to the bottom of the career stats page:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=mullige01

At any rate, back on July 4, 1912, it was Happy 4th of July, Happy Birthday, America, and Happy Birthday George Mullin – all rolled into one big happy All American baseball moment.