Joe Horlen

Tobacco made Horlen sick. The cure was a wad of Kleenex; Horlen swirled the stuff around in his mouth the day he no-hit the Tigers, September 10, 1967. Four years earlier, against Washington on July 29, 1963, he had carried a no-hitter into the ninth. With one out, Chuck Hinton dribbled a single into center, and with two out, Don Lock drilled a hanging curve to the outer reaches of RFK Stadium.

The memory of that game seemed to cast a pall on “Hard Luck Horlen,” who posted a 1.88 ERA the next season, but had to settle for a 13-9 record. His glory year was 1967, but even a 19-7 record with the AL’s highest winning percentage (.731) and lowest ERA (2.06) did not translate into a Cy Young Award. The honor went to Jim Lonborg (22-9, 3.16) of the pennant-winning Red Sox.