Yankees History: Five memorable Fourth of July moments

Going to a major league baseball game can be akin to playing the lottery, “Because, you never know.”

And, when you walk through the turnstiles, it’s often only natural to be thinking that you could be a witness to something rare and extraordinary. The right fielder could hit four home runs, or maybe the shortstop hits for the cycle. Or maybe, just perhaps, a pitcher could toss a no-hitter.

For the 41,000 fans attending the game at Yankee Stadium on a sweltering 94 degree Fourth of July in 1983, that’s precisely what they got as Dave Righetti thrilled the crowd with a no-hitter against a fellow lefty, John Tudor, and the Boston Red Sox.

Later, Righetti would recall for Bill Nowlin, writing for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), that it was “just the way I want it” when Wade Boggs stepped in with two outs in the ninth as one of the toughest strikeouts in the game.

Stepping in to face Righetti, Boggs would later recall and tell Nowlin:

"“He had a fastball that was rising. And he was doing a good job of pitching in and away. He throws two kinds of sliders … one that breaks and one that doesn’t. On the second you see that dot, and hope it isn’t the one that breaks. I guessed wrong.”"

That he did and for a moment the Stadium was silent in awe of what they had just witnessed during a 132 pitch effort on a sweltering July afternoon in the Bronx. Righetti recounts for SABR the moments that followed when he saw his catcher Butch Wynegar holding the ball in his hand:

"“For one split second, I was blank,” confessed Righetti. “I didn’t know whether I should jump around or not. I just kind of looked at Butch and I saw him coming, and I said, ‘Oh, geez!’ I just leaned on him and held onto him. I didn’t want to fall on the ground.”"

For Righetti, the first Yankees no-hitter in 27 years (Don Larsen, 1956) was the culmination of a career with the Yankees that would see him make the conversion from a starter to a reliever, where he continued to excel, ending his 16-year career with 252 saves.

Today, Righetti is still wearing a major league uniform as the long-time pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants.