I remember Don Wilson being a really good pitcher when I was a kid. Let's see why I thought that.
He played nine seasons with the Astros from 1966 - 1974. In 1966 he played one game, so it was really eight years. He recorded 104 wins and 92 losses. During those years the Astros were 51 games less than .500.
He was an all-star once. Like many pitchers of his time, he finished what he started. He recorded 78 complete games in 245 starts.
I really like the how baseball-reference (http://www.baseball-reference.com/) compares players to others. It's nice to talk to different generations about players and see how this site compares them. Wilson is compared to Mario Soto, Tim Lincecum, Alex Fernandez and J.R. Richard.
He threw a no-hitter in the Astrodome in 1967 against the Braves. It was the first no-hitter indoors and the first one on Astroturf. He struck out Hank Aaron for the final out. The 15 strikeouts included Aaron three times, Rico Carty, Bob Uecker, losing pitcher Phil Niekro twice and hitting guru Charlie Lau. Wilson walked Denis Menke twice and Aaron once.
Jimmy Wynn and Eddie Mathews drove in the runs for Houston.
In 1969 Wilson no-hit the Reds moving the Astros W-L record up to 5-20. Ouch. Denis Menke, now an Astro, drove in two runs in the 4-0 win. Doug Rader added a homer and Wilson drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Pete Rose, Tony Perez and Johnny Bench were among Wilson's 13 strikeouts.
More on Don Wilson tomorrow.
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