Allie Reynolds

Allie Reynolds is a native of Bethany, Oklahoma, and one of three sons born to David C. and Mary S. Reynolds. He is also one of baseball history's outstanding pitchers.

Reynolds began his professional baseball career with the Cleveland Baseball Club in 1939. After becoming the property of the Cleveland Baseball Club, Reynolds spent nearly four full seasons in minor leagues before getting his "major league trial" in September 1941.

Making good of the opportunity by not yeilding an earned run in five innings of relief pitching. Reynolds was retained by the Cleveland Indians and in the ensuing 1943 season led the American League in strike outs (151).

In his next season with Cleveland, Reynolds reached a new height of 247 innings pitched, and in his first season with New York (1947), Reynolds won 19 games against eight losses. The Yankees won the pennant that year, and in the subsequent World Series with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Reynolds defeated Vic Lombardi 10-1. Reynolds then won 16 games and lost seven in 1948 and racked up a 17-6 record in 1949.

In 1950 Reynolds won 16 games for the Yankees as against 12 losses and struck out 160 batters. He pitched three innings and yielded only one hit in the All-Star game of that year, and in the World Series with the Philadelphia National League team beat Robin Roberts by a 3-1 score.

Reynolds was just warming up to his famed 1951 season. It was mid July, 1951 that Reynolds realized the dream of every moundsman by pitching a no-run, no-hit game against his former team, the Cleveland Indians. Not only did he throw the no-hitter, Reynolds also defied the ultimate baseball superstitiion that it is fatal to mention the possibility of achieving the so-called "perfect game" until the final batter has been retired. It has been reported that Reynolds said after the game, "In the seventh inning I told Yogi Berra (the catcher) I didn't want to throw any fast balls, because I had a no-hitter going." So much for superstition.

Ten weeks later (September 28) Reynolds pitched his second no-hit, no-run game, this time against the Boston Red Sox in the first game of a double-header. His feat of pitching two "no-hitters" in the same season established an American League record.

The New York chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association named Reynolds as the "Player of the Year" in 1951, and the Sid Mercer Memorial Award was formally presented to Reynolds on February 3, 1952, a day after he received the Hickok Award as the outstanding "professional athlete of the year."

In 1993 Reynolds received the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, not just for his accomplishments in baseball, but also because of his uncountable contributions to his fellow man.