Andy Carter and Scott Bakkum may not have been household names, but that did not stop them from making history. On this day in 1992, the two minor league pitchers threw matching no hitters, as the Reading Phillies defeated the Winter Haven Red Sox 1-0.
There has been one matching no hitter in the Major Leagues, when Fred Toney and Hippo Vaughn matched zeros back in 1917. Three dueling no hitters have been pitched in the minors, with the most recent coming on this day in 1992, when Andy Carter of the Reading Phillies and Scott Bakkum of the Winter Haven Red Sox matched up in their Florida State League game.
Neither Carter nor Bakkum were top prospects, drafted in the 37th and 30th rounds, respectively. However, that draft stock did not matter, as the two players matched zeros each inning. The fact that the game was pitched in the shadow of Hurricane Andrew, which would make landfall within 24 hours, only added to the mystique of the contest.
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The game’s only run would occur in the bottom of the seventh. Bakkum walked the first two batters of the inning, moving up on a sacrifice fly by Gene Schaal. Ken Sirak then dropped down a suicide squeeze, plating the winning run as Bakkum would end up on the wrong side of this historical contest.
For the game, Bakkum struck out three while issuing three walks, with those final two being his undoing. Carter was even more effective, walking two with four strikeouts, as he avoided that rough inning. It would be one of the highlights of Carter’s career, who appeared 24 Major League games with the Phillies. Bakkum, ironically, would end his career in the Phillies system, traded there in 1996 before he tore an elbow ligament, ending his career the following season.
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History can occur at any given moment on the diamond, even when least expected. That was the case as two unheralded minor league pitchers faced off in the shadow of Hurricane Andrew, only to throw matching no hitters.