The tradition of avoiding pitchers during their throwing of
a no-hitter started in the 1890s when a pitcher named Rube Bellweather of the
Atlanta Confederates refused to shower while he was doing well. During a
lengthy streak of success, Bellweather’s odor began to wear on his team. No one
said anything, however, as he continued to pitch well and the team continued to
win.
During one game, the odoriferous Bellweather was
particularly effective, holding the opposing team without a hit through seven
innings. As it was a typical Atlanta day, with the temperature well over 90
degrees and a stifling humidity caressing the air, Bellweather’s body odor was
too much to bear for his teammates. When in the dugout they purposefully
avoided him, staying to one side or even leaping the barriers and sitting with
the fans to watch their teammates at bat.
Unfortunately for Bellweather’s teammates, they had trouble
of their own at the plate as the opposing pitcher also held them hitless
through eight innings. After a scoreless and hitless ninth, tenth, and then
eleventh innings, and a growing gross aroma permeating from Bellweather, his
team decided to take matters into their own hands. In the bottom of the twelfth
inning, Bellweather’s teammates pulled a defensive mutiny on the pitcher,
dropping fly balls, kicking ground balls, and throwing the ball all over the
field until three runs scored.
But the bottom of the twelfth brought positive tidings for
the hometown nine. After quickly getting two outs, the opposing hurler hit the
next two Atlanta hitters and issued a walk to load the bases. Bellweather
himself strode to the plate with an odor so raunchy neither the umpire nor the opposing
catcher could look in the direction of either the pitcher on the mound or the
pitcher at the plate. Fortunately, they needn’t hold their breath nor watch the
action for long. Bellweather swung at the first offering and hit the ball far
beyond the outfield field fence for a game winning grand slam. In honor of
Bellweather’s heroics and his teammates’ poor actions, the tradition of
avoiding a pitcher while he is throwing a no-hitter continued.
