Clayton Laws Kirby, Jr. (June 25, 1948 – October 11, 1991) was an American
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
(MLB) pitcher for the
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
(1969–1973),
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...
(1974–75) and
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...
(1976).
Early life
Clayton Laws "Clay" Kirby, Jr, was born in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, and attended
Washington-Lee High School
Washington-Liberty High School, formerly known as Washington-Lee High School, is a public high school in the Arlington Public Schools district in Arlington, Virginia, covering grades 9–12. Its attendance area serves the central third of Ar ...
in
Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...
.
[Top 100: Clay Kirby, Washington-Lee Baseball, 1966 , The Connection Newspapers]
/ref> He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...
in the third round of the 1966 draft, however, in October 1968 he was chosen in the expansion draft
An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or sports franchising, franchises. This occurs mainly in Sports in North America, North American sports and closed leagues. O ...
by the Padres, who would begin play in 1969 along with the Expos.[Clay Kirby Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com]
/ref>
MLB career
He made his Major League debut at age 20 with the first-year Padres on April 11, 1969 as the Padres fell at home 8-0 to the San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
. The first major league hitter he ever faced was Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of ...
, who walked, as Kirby gave up three earned runs in four innings. Although he led the National League in losses that year with 20 (against seven wins), he had a 3.80 earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
in 35 starts with 215.1 innings pitched.
Near no-hitter
On July 21, 1970, Kirby had no-hit
In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine ...
the visiting New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...
through eight innings, but was trailing 1-0. In the first inning Kirby had walked Tommie Agee
Tommie Lee Agee (August 9, 1942 – January 22, 2001) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a center fielder from through , most notably as a member of the New York Mets team that became known as th ...
, who stole second base. With one out Kirby walked Ken Singleton
Kenneth Wayne Singleton (born June 10, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder and designated hitter from to , most prominently as a member ...
and the Mets pulled off a double steal, placing Agee on third. Agee subsequently scored on an Art Shamsky
Arthur Louis Shamsky (born October 14, 1941), nicknamed "Sham" and "Smasher", is an American former Major League Baseball player. He played right field, left field, and first base from 1965 to 1972 for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Chica ...
ground out to second baseman Ron Slocum. Now with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Padres Manager Preston Gómez
Preston Gómez (born Pedro Gómez Martínez; April 20, 1923 – January 13, 2009) was a Cuban-born infielder, manager, coach and front-office official in Major League Baseball (MLB), best known for managing three major league clubs: the San Dieg ...
had Cito Gaston
Clarence Edwin "Cito" Gaston (; born March 17, 1944) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder, coach and manager. His major league career as a player lasted from 1967 to 1978, most notably with the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Brave ...
pinch-hit for Kirby, denying him a chance to complete the no-hitter. The 10,373 fans in attendance booed long and loud. Padres reliever Jack Baldschun
Jack Edward Baldschun (October 16, 1936 – June 6, 2023) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He was a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) for all or part of nine seasons (1961–67; 1969–70), for the Philadelphia Phillie ...
then gave up two runs and three hits in the ninth. The Mets' Jim McAndrew
James Clement McAndrew (January 11, 1944 – March 14, 2024) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Major League Baseball for the New York Mets and San Diego Padres from 1968 to 1974. He was a member of the 1969 World Seri ...
had retired 15 batters in a row en route to what would be a three-hit, 3-0 victory for the Mets. According to Mets pitcher Tom Seaver
George Thomas Seaver (November 17, 1944 – August 31, 2020), nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets, Cin ...
. "The Mets bench just gasped in disbelief," Seaver told sportswriter
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...
Joe Durso. "I personally would have let him (Kirby) hit. If the pennant race were involved, no. But in this situation, yes." That season, Kirby posted a 10-16 record with a 4.53 ERA. The next two years Kirby had numbers of 15-13, 2.83 (with 13 complete games and 231 strikeouts) in 1971, and 12–14, 3.13 in 1972. In 1973 his record fell to 8-18 with a 4.79 ERA.
The Padres, who began play in 1969, were the last Major League Baseball team never to have thrown a no-hitter until Joe Musgrove
Joseph Anthony Musgrove (born December 4, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Musgrove was born i ...
threw the franchise's first on April 9, 2021 against the Texas Rangers. Fans and writers occasionally attribute this unlikely failure to the "Curse of Clay Kirby," in recognition of the controversial decision by Preston Gómez to remove Kirby from the game.
Big Red Machine
In November 1973 Kirby was traded to the Reds for outfielder Bobby Tolan
Robert Tolan (born November 19, 1945) is an American former professional baseball center fielder / right fielder, and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (–), Cincinnati Reds (–), San Diego Padres (� ...
and the move paid off as Kirby went 12–9 with an ERA of 3.28 as the Reds won 98 games. In 1975, Kirby was one of six starters to win 10 or more games for the Big Red Machine
The Big Red Machine is a nickname for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team that dominated the National League from 1970 to 1979 and is widely recognized as being among the best in baseball history.
The team won six National League West Division t ...
, who won the National League title as he went 10–6 with an ERA of 4.72 in 19 starts. The Reds later won the 1975 World Series
The 1975 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1975 season. The 72nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Boston Red Sox and the Nati ...
, but Kirby did not play in the series.
He was sent to the Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...
for Bob Bailey on December 12, 1975.Durso Joseph. "Mets Trade Staub to Tigers for Lolich," ''The New York Times'', Saturday, December 13, 1975.
Retrieved May 1, 2020 In January 1976 Kirby was stricken with a long bout of pneumonia before he joined the Expos in Florida for spring training. He was still weak and had a sore shoulder when the season opened. He got off to a miserable start and never recovered and in the 1976 season he fell to 1–8 with an ERA of 5.72, and it was his final major league season. Montreal released him on December 2, 1976. In January 1977 the Padres picked up their former pitcher to give him another chance. They invited him to their spring training
Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...
camp in Yuma, Arizona
Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 95,548 at the 2020 census, up from the 2010 census population of 93,064.
Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, Metropolitan ...
. A knee injury in the final week of spring training delayed his comeback try for almost two months. The Padres placed him in their Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...
farm club in Hawaii. He won his first game for the Islanders on June 18, but never won another. According to teammate John D'Acquisto in his book ''Fastball John'', "Game after game, I would see him step off the mound in despair, unable to do what he had done all through high school and through much of his time at the major league level: pitch competitive baseball." His record for the season was one win, seven losses, and an earned-run average of 7.95.
After San Diego gave up on Kirby, he tried out with the Minnesota Twins during spring training in 1978. He lasted only two weeks before he was released. Kirby was out of organized baseball before his 30th birthday.
In his eight seasons in the Major Leagues, Kirby played 261 games (239 started) and had a 75–104 record with a 3.84 ERA, 42 complete games, eight shutouts, 1,548 innings pitched and 1,061 strikeouts.
After baseball
Following his baseball career, Kirby was acting tournament chairman for the annual Major League Baseball Players Alumni (MLBPA) Washington Metropolitan Area Charity Golf Tournament. The event, which benefited the American Lung Association, was part of the "Swing With the Legends Golf Series." His family continued to live in San Diego County
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...
until 1983, when they returned to Virginia. Kirby became a self-employed financial securities broker.
Death
On July 19, 1991, Kirby underwent a coronary atherectomy
Atherectomy is a minimally invasive technique for removing atherosclerosis from blood vessels within the body. It is an alternative to angioplasty for the treatment of peripheral artery disease, but the studies that exist are not adequate to deter ...
to open a blockage in an artery just above his heart. After the procedure he was told he had suffered a silent heart attack. Kirby had been complaining about chest discomfort and numbness in his arm. He died of a heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
on October 11, 1991, at the age of 43. His wife found him about 11 o'clock in the morning in his chair. It appeared that he had fallen asleep while reading and suffered the fatal attack. He was survived by his wife, Susan, his mother, Gloria, his sister, Carolyn, his son, Clayton, his daughter, Theresa, and two grandchildren. He was buried in the National Memorial Park in Falls Church, Virginia.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Clay
1948 births
1991 deaths
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Arkansas Travelers players
Baseball players from Washington, D.C.
Cincinnati Reds players
Gulf Coast Cardinals players
Hawaii Islanders players
Major League Baseball pitchers
Modesto Reds players
Montreal Expos players
San Diego Padres players
St. Petersburg Cardinals players
Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players
Washington-Liberty High School alumni
20th-century American sportsmen