Ron Necciai – Baseball’s Highest Flying Rocket

On this day (May 13) in 1952, the Appalachian League’s leading team – The Bristol Twins – was about to take the field against its closest pursuers, the second-place Welch Miners. The Miners’ hitters (and the approximately 1,200 fans gathered at Bristol, Virginia’s Shaw Stadium) were blithely unaware of what lay in store for them – and that they were about to “earn” a place in baseball history that will likely never be relinquished. 

Starting on the mound for Bristol was a stripling thin, 19-year-old right-hander (6’ 5”, 185-pounds) with a hard to spell and equally difficult to pronounce name – Ron Necciai (netch-eye). By the end of the night, the Miners would find Necciai’s fastball and curve equally difficult to make contact with (a record 27 strikeouts in a nine-inning game) and Necciai’s name would be hard to forget as well.

Necciai brought to the mound a blazing, moving fastball and devastating breaking ball – as well as a case of painful stomach ulcers that would force him to consume milk and cottage cheese between innings. He also carried with him a reputation as a major-league prospect who was finally finding his groove after two less than sterling minor league seasons (5-14, 6.24 ERA for three teams in the Pirates’ system).  Necciai had the proverbial “stuff,” he just hadn’t harnessed it yet. (In those first two seasons, he walked 137 batters in 142 innings.) But that seemed to be changing in 1952.   There were those, in fact, who said he would have gone north with the Pittsburgh Pirates that spring had his ulcer not flared up as the team broke Spring Training.

That day in Bristol, a nervous Necciai put it all together – and history was made.  The first inning proved to be an omen, as Necciai struck out all three Welch batters. By the time they got to the top of the ninth, Necciai had a 7-0 lead – and Welch had put only two balls in play – a ground out (shortstop to first) in the second and a second grounder to shortstop in the third that resulted in an error and a base runner. Only two other batters had reached base – via a walk and a hit-by-pitch.

So, Necciai strode to the mound for the ninth inning – fortified with milk, cottage cheese and a Banthine pill – on the verge of a no-hitter. Perhaps even more impressive was the fact that he had logged 23 strikeouts.  His stomach may have been the only thing in the ballpark that was hotter than his fastball. Necciai proceeded to fan the first two hitters in the ninth (bringing his total to 25). He then notched strikeout number 26 to apparently end the contest and preserve the no-hitter, but the ball got by the catcher (passed ball) and the flailing hitter reached first. So, Necciai stood at 26 whiffs, no-hits, one on and two out. Fittingly, Necciai ended the game by notching his fourth strikeout of the inning and his professional baseball record 27^th  for a nine-inning contest.

In his first start after the 27 strikeout effort, Necciai proved his May 13 performance was no fluke, fanning 24 batters in a two-hitter. That start earned him a promotion to the Class-B Burlington-Graham Pirates of the Carolina League.  In his six 1952 appearances at Bristol, Necciai had logged 43 innings, given up just 10 hits and two earned runs (0.42 ERA), walked 20, hit two batters and fanned 109 (nearly 22.8 per nine innings).

At Burlington-Graham, Necciai whiffed 14 in his first start and a league-leading 172 in 126 innings, compiling a 7-9 record with a 1.57 ERA. By early August, Necciai – now known as “Rocket Ron” and drawing comparison to the likes of a young Bob Feller – was up with the Pirates, making his MLB debut on August 10.

Perhaps due to his nervous nature, Necciai didn’t fare well with Pittsburgh, going 1-6, 7.08 in 12 games (nine starts), with 31 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings. (Ironically, in his only win – August 24 – Necciai struck out only one batter in eight innings of work, giving up three runs on seven hits in a 4-3 victory over the Boston Braves.) Still he showed flashes of his Rocket Ron reputation (in his final outing of the season – September 28 at Cincinnati – he gave up two runs on eight hits over seven innings, striking out eight), and the Pirates were hoping Necciai would get over his rookie season nerves and “right the ship” in 1953.  It was not to be.

Necciai was drafted into the Army in early 1953, where his stomach difficulties intensified. Given a medical discharge, he returned to the Pirates in April and – pushing himself to make up for lost time and a missed Spring Training – suffered an arm (likely rotator cuff) injury. This, of course, was pre-Tommy John surgery and Necciai never recovered. He never made it back to the big leagues and by 1955 was out of baseball.

However, for a brief period in 1952 – and one May 13 in particular – Rocket Ron Necciai was baseball’s highest flyer.

Primary Resources: MLB.com; Baseball-Reference.com

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