Burt Hooton Marquee

b. February 7, 1950 · Chicago Cubs 1971–1975, Los Angeles Dodgers 1975–1984, Texas Rangers 1985

On April 16, 1972, in his fourth start, he no-hit Philadelphia at Wrigley Field in cold and wind, walking seven. He was twenty-two and had been in the major leagues for parts of two seasons. The pitch was a knuckle curve, gripped with the fingernails and thrown hard, which broke straight down and which almost nobody has thrown since.

Chicago traded him to Los Angeles in May 1975 and he went 18-7 the rest of that season. Fifteen seasons gave him 151 wins against 136, a 3.38 earned run average, 2,652 innings and 29 shutouts. He was 19-10 with a 2.71 in 1978 and finished second in the Cy Young voting.

He was the most valuable player of the 1981 Championship Series and pitched in four World Series for the Dodgers, winning the 1981 one. He has coached pitchers in the major and minor leagues since. The 1991 ballot gave him one vote of 443.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	1	1981
Pitcher of the Month	2	1975, 1983
NLCS MVP	1	1981
Player of the Week	1	1975

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1971	CHC	3	7	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	.000
1972	CHC	33	72	4	9	1	1	6	4	37	.125
1973	CHC	42	70	4	9	0	0	3	10	24	.129
1974	CHC	48	50	1	3	1	0	1	2	22	.060
1975	CHC/LAD	34	73	6	9	3	1	7	4	27	.123
1976	LAD	33	62	2	6	1	0	4	3	28	.097
1977	LAD	32	67	1	11	2	0	3	2	15	.164
1978	LAD	32	67	4	10	1	0	2	7	15	.149
1979	LAD	30	75	5	11	3	0	5	1	18	.147
1980	LAD	34	64	4	4	0	1	6	3	15	.063
1981	LAD	23	42	3	8	3	0	3	4	13	.190
1982	LAD	21	35	3	3	1	1	1	0	5	.086
1983	LAD	33	50	5	8	2	0	7	3	15	.160
1984	LAD	54	14	0	1	0	0	1	0	3	.071
1985	TEX	29	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
Career	—	481	748	42	92	18	4	49	44	243	.123

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1971	CHC	2	0	3	3	0	21.1	8	5	10	22	2.11
1972	CHC	11	14	33	31	0	218.1	201	68	81	132	2.80
1973	CHC	14	17	42	34	0	239.2	248	98	73	134	3.68
1974	CHC	7	11	48	21	1	176.1	214	94	51	94	4.80
1975	CHC/LAD	18	9	34	33	0	234.2	190	80	68	153	3.07
1976	LAD	11	15	33	33	0	226.2	203	82	60	116	3.26
1977	LAD	12	7	32	31	1	223.1	184	65	60	153	2.62
1978	LAD	19	10	32	32	0	236.0	196	71	61	104	2.71
1979	LAD	11	10	29	29	0	212.0	191	70	63	129	2.97
1980	LAD	14	8	34	33	1	206.2	194	84	64	118	3.66
1981	LAD	11	6	23	23	0	142.1	124	36	33	74	2.28
1982	LAD	4	7	21	21	0	120.2	130	54	33	51	4.03
1983	LAD	9	8	33	27	0	160.0	156	75	59	87	4.22
1984	LAD	3	6	54	6	4	110.0	109	42	43	62	3.44
1985	TEX	5	8	29	20	0	124.0	149	72	40	62	5.23
Career	—	151	136	480	377	7	2652.0	2497	996	799	1491	3.38

On this day & linked events

1950

Born February 7, 1950

Greenville, TX, USA

1971

Major-league debut: Burt Hooton

Burt Hooton made a major-league debut on June 17, 1971.

1972

Burt Hooton's No-Hitter

Burt Hooton threw a no-hitter for the Chicago Cubs against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 16, 1972, winning 4–0.

1985

Final major-league game: Burt Hooton

Burt Hooton played a final major-league game on September 6, 1985.

Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain