Lyons Redeems Near Miss with No-Hitter at Fenway
Ted Lyons refused to let history elude him a second time.
In 1925, the Chicago White Sox pitcher was one out away from no-hitting the reigning World Series champion Washington Senators before Bobby Veach spoiled the outing with a single to right field. But Lyons would not be denied his triumph again. On Aug. 21, 1926, he completed the feat and held the Boston Red Sox hitless at Fenway Park.
After Jack Tobin, Boston’s leadoff batter, reached on a walk, Lyons didn’t allow another self-inflicted baserunner for the remainder of the game.
The Red Sox sent 12 different hitters to the plate in an effort to disrupt the White Sox twirler, but all failed. In the seventh inning, however, Baby Doll Jacobson grounded a ball to Bill Hunnefield at short, resulting in an error.
Lyons then retired the rest of the Boston batters to etch his name in the record books.
The future Hall of Famer leaned on his three-pitch mix – fastball, curveball and changeup – to induce soft contact and relied on his defense to handle the rest. The game lasted only 1 hour and 45 minutes as the White Sox cruised to a 6-0 win. Lyons was efficient, feeding off Boston’s offensive aggression, and collected just two strikeouts.
But Lyons’ path to the majors was unusual – and so was his success. The former Baylor University standout had intended to go to law school before choosing to join the White Sox organization.
Lyons once said, “I studied one term of law and then came to realize I had a little better fastball and curve than I did a vocabulary.”
After he made the decision, Lyons defied the norm. While most pitchers in the 1920s developed in the minor leagues, he jumped straight to the majors – bypassing the farm system entirely.
His ascent was so rapid, no one knew what to expect – not even White Sox manager Eddie Collins.
But Lyons adjusted seamlessly. The right-hander led the American League with 21 wins in just his third big league season and quickly earned admiration from his peers.
“He is the best young pitcher developed in the majors last season,” Collins told the Town Talk of Alexandria, La., in March 1926. “When two pitchers (Lyons and Ted Blankenship) regarded as uncertainties win 38 ball games for you, they have contributed more than their share of victories.”
Lyons, a 1955 Hall of Fame inductee, remains the only pitcher in Cooperstown with more career walks (1,121) than strikeouts (1,073). He spent his entire career with the White Sox, amassing 260 wins and a 3.67 ERA. The club never finished above third place during his tenure.
New York Yankees manager Joe McCarthy once said: “If he’d pitched for the Yankees, he would have won over 400 games.”
Noah Douglas was the 2025 communications intern in the Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Leadership Development
