Horace Owen Eller (July 5, 1894 – July 18, 1961), better known as Hod Eller, was a
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
.
Eller started his minor league career in 1913. In 1915, he won 19 games for the
Moline Plowboys
The Moline Plowboys was a primary name of the minor league baseball teams based in Moline, Illinois, one of the Quad Cities. Moline teams played as members the 1892 Illinois-Iowa League, 1894 Western Association, the Mississippi Valley League ( ...
of the
Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League
The Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League was a Minor League Baseball organization that operated for the better part of 60 seasons, with teams based in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The league began pla ...
. His performance gained the attention of the
Cincinnati Reds, and he was drafted by the team after the 1916 season. He pitched five years for the Reds, going 60–40 with a 2.62
earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
(108
Adjusted ERA+
Adjusted ERA+, often simply abbreviated to ERA+ or ERA plus, is a pitching statistic in baseball. It adjusts a pitcher's earned run average (ERA) according to the pitcher's ballpark (in case the ballpark favors batters or pitchers) and the ERA of ...
).
Eller peaked in the Reds' pennant-winning 1919 season. He led the team in innings, and went 19–9 with a 2.39 ERA. On May 11 of that season, Eller
no-hit
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...
the
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
6–0 at
Redland Field
Crosley Field was a Major League Baseball park in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home field of the National League's Cincinnati Reds from 1912 through June 24, 1970, and the original Cincinnati Bengals football team, members of the second (1937) an ...
. He then pitched two complete game victories in the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
, but it was later revealed that members of the
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...
had intentionally thrown the series for money. In Game Five of that Series, Eller shut out the White Sox 5–0 with nine
strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...
s, including six consecutively—a record that would be tied by
Moe Drabowsky
Myron Walter Drabowsky (July 21, 1935 – June 10, 2006) was an American professional baseball pitcher, best-remembered for throwing scoreless innings of relief to win Game 1 of the 1966 World Series. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for ...
in the
1966 World Series opener.
After his major league career ended, Eller played in the minors for a few years, last playing for the
Indianapolis Indians
The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory Field, which open ...
in 1924.
The Baseball Record Book records that on August 21, 1917, Eller struck out three batters on nine pitches in the ninth inning of a 7–5 win over the
New York Giants; however, the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' from the day after the game noted that Eller allowed a single to start that inning, and so did not officially achieve an immaculate inning.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball no-hitters
References
External links
*
Obituaryat The Deadball Era
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eller, Hod
1894 births
1961 deaths
Major League Baseball pitchers
Cincinnati Reds players
Champaign Velvets players
Danville Speakers players
Moline Plowboys players
Mount Sterling Essex players
Oakland Oaks (baseball) players
Indianapolis Indians players
Baseball players from Indiana
Sportspeople from Muncie, Indiana