On this date in Cleveland Indian's History, May 30, 1977. Twenty-two year old Dennis Eckersley no hits the Angels in front of 13,400 at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. Eck struck out 12 batters and only allowed two to reach base, Tony Solaita on a walk in the first inning and Bobby Bonds on a third strike that was a wild pitch. He faced the minimum 27 batters in this game. The lone run scores in the first inning when Duane Kuiper, who had tripled after the ball skipped under the glove of Gil Flores in center field, is squeezed in by Jim Morris.
Eck played for the Indians, the Red Sox, the Cubs, The A's and the Cardinals. He is the first of two pitchers in to have both a 20-win season and a 50 save season in a career. He is the pitcher who gave up that big home run to Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Eck coined the term "Walk off" after that game. He was elected to the Baseball Hall Of Fame in 2004.