Video of Jimmy Qualls Talking About Breaking up Tom Seaver's 1969 Perfecto

The Mets hold the dubious distinction of being the major league team that's gone longest without a no-hitter. The Mets have completed 45 seasons, and have yet to see those first two zeros, signifying no runs and no hits, on their scoreboard line.

But on July 9, 1969, Tom Seaver, pitching at Shea Stadium against Chicago, came very, very close. He was perfect through eight innings. In the top of the ninth, with a comfortable 4-0 lead, Seaver grabbed Cubs catcher Randy Hundley's bunt attempt and threw to first baseman Donn Clendenon for out number 25. Two more and the record 59,083 fans at Shea would get to see history.

Next up: Jimmy Qualls. A rookie outfielder, Qualls would have a short career, hitting only .223 with 0 homers and 10 RBI in 139 big league at bats. You would also call it an undistinguished career -- except for what he did when he followed Hundley to the plate as the second Cubs batter in the ninth.  Which was: he hit Seaver's the first pitch, an outside fastball, hard to left-center. It hit the turf long before the speedy Tommie Agee could reach it. Perfect game: over. No hitter: nope. The Mets went on to win, 4-0, and blew by the Cubs in September to win the NL East, but Qualls would be the equivalent of a curse word in New York that summer, and he got the hate mail to prove it, as you'll see in the video.

"It was a base hit," said Ron Swoboda, quoted in Peter Golenbock's oral history, Amazin'. "There was no way it wasn't. And it was a shame. You ask, How much worse is a one-hitter? It's the difference between being a virgin and not."

Seaver got the last two outs, an enormous ovation from the huge crowd, and an important victory. He'd needed only 99 pitches to get the one-hit win. But he was heartbroken. "Never in any aspect of my life, in baseball or outside, had I experienced such a disappointment," he said.

In the video below, Qualls talks about his career, and that game.

Comments

[Rich]

I was 12 when I watched that game on Channel 9 (WOR-TV NY)in July 1969, and I hated the fact that Qualls robbed Tom Seaver of not only a no hitter, but a perfect game. I also resented the fact that Jim Qualls robbed me of the opportunity of watching a perfect game (Along with millions of other fans). In retrospect, Qualls was merely doing his job, and I deplore the fact that he actually received hate mail. I do not condone that at all.

[Leonard Stegmann]

I was at that game, upper deck Shea. I still remember the roar of the nearly 60K fans and I will never, ever forget the name Jimmy Qualls. The crowd chanted for Seaver after the game but he didn't make an appearance. He was quoted in the paper as saying he din't hear the crowd. I was 16 so I still believed things I read in the paper in those days. Two months later I was again at Shea to watch th Mets clinch first place. They had never before finished higher than ninth. 1969 Mets--still my fondest sports memory by far.

[Larry Shackley]

I remember that great game, and as a Cub fan I cheered for Jimmy Q as he headed for first base. This video is great; I forgot about that home plate ruckus. I just wish it showed Jimmy's greatest catch; a bobbled fly ball that he juggled at least three times before getting control of it for the out. He seems like a nice guy and a good sport!

[Ang.]

Jim Qualls is my neighbor. I didn't know for years that he had played major league ball. He doesn't talk about it much. I just think of him as farmer and really can't imagine that he was a ball player!

[Sheryl]

I met Jimmy Qualls today. He was at the store where I work signing autographs for Cubs fans. He is so unbelievably nice. A real sweetheart of a guy. I teased him telling him I was going to sell his autographed pic on eBay for millions. He played right along.