The date was May 13, 1952.

This was a glorious era of Major League Baseball. The Boys of Summer were ruling the National League from Brooklyn. On the other side of Gotham, the Giants were boasting about a second year phenom by the name of Willie Mays. Ralph Kiner was blasting home runs. Exactly six years later, Stan Musial would collect career hit #3000.

Baseball in the fifties was romantic. The game was fun and special. Each league had only eight teams. The game's unofficial balladeer Terry Cashman penned his "Talking Baseball-Mickey, Willie, and the Duke" piece on the sights and sounds of this era.

On that mid-May date in 1952, the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliate in Bristol, Virginia was playing. A young nineteen-year-old pitcher named "Rocket" Ron Necciai started for Bristol. Necciai was labeled "Rocket" well before Roger Clemens was born.

In that nine-inning game, Necciai was tremendous: throwing a no-hitter. Only three runners reached base: one on an error, a second on a walk, and a third on a hit batsman.

Yet, Ron Necciai's no-hitter was more memorable the other such gems.

On May 13, 1952, Necciai struck out twenty-seven batters in his nine-inning no-hitter.

A few days later, Necciai returned to the mound for his next start. No one reasonably expected him to match his May 13th performance. He didn't. In that start, the Rocket threw a two-hitter.

And he struck out (only) twenty-four batters in that game! (Including five in one inning)

During this stretch in the minors, Necciai struck out 109 batters in 43 innings at Bristol and 172 in 126 innings in the Carolina league. For those of you out in cyberspace that don't have a calculator, those totals come to 281 strikeouts in 169 innings (or 15 K's for every nine innings!).

This work caught the eye of Branch Rickey who said: "there have been only two young pitchers I was certain for greatnessone was Dizzy Dean and the other is Ron Necciai".

The Rocket was called up to the Pirates later in that 1952 season. He was relatively ineffective: posting a record of 1-6, ERA of 7.08 while striking out 31 in 54 innings.

After serving in the military, Necciai returned to the Pittsburgh organization. He missed all of spring training in 1953. To catch up, Necciai tried to get himself back into shape too quickly. It proved to be a bad move as the Rocket developed a sore arm. Unfortunately, he then made his second bad move: trying to pitch through his soreness.

Necciai tore his rotator cuff. It ended his career. The Baseball World asked "what if?"

I had the opportunity recently to chat with Ron Necciai on my WGNU radio talk show. He still lives in the Pittsburgh area. He is a retired Manufacturer's Representative for an outdoor sporting equipment company and is active with the Pirates alumni association.

The Rocket found it hard to fathom that his connection to baseball history occurred almost a half-century ago. He doesn't remember much about that night in May 1952. Necciai indicated that he simply went out to the mound and pitched. It was only after the game was over when his catcher (now Cincinnati Reds coach) Harry Dunlop informed Necciai of his lofty strikeout total.

I kidded Necciai about not having his "best stuff" in his next outing when he struck out "only" twenty-four batters. The modest Rocket laughed politely and said, "you do need to remember that the talent level in the Minors is not like that in the Majors. Once getting to the big leagues, the players are much better".

In part, this led to his lack of success with Pittsburgh. Necciai shared a story about a night in St. Louis when the Cardinals beat him at Sportsman's Park. After the game, he was consoled and counseled by another Pennsylvanian: Stan Musial. The Rocket refers to The Man as the greatest player to wear a Major League Baseball uniform.

Rocket Ron Necciai enjoyed his moment in baseball's light almost fifty years ago. After the leaving the game, Necciai remained associated with the sport. His affiliations with the Pirate alumni association will take him to Cooperstown this summer to enjoy the induction of another former Pirate, Bill Mazeroski, into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Yes, the game was fun then. But that was then-and this is now.

In today's "Sports Center is next", "hired gun/free agent" mentality of professional baseball, most players and many of those who cover the game do not have a proper grasp of its history and lore. Today's players should be schooled on baseball history. They need to know that players did not always earn an average of $2,000,000 per season.

Still, if the today's players don't know and recognize the efforts of Curt Flood or Marvin Miller, how will they ever know or recognize the Ron Necciais and such of the world?

Locally, it is the responsibility of the Cardinal organization to convey the legacy of the franchise to the current team: from Hornsby to Frisch to Musial to Schoendienst to Gibson to Brock to Ozzie to Mc Gwire. All franchises in all professional sports should also provide such history lessons to its next and future generations of millionaires. Unfortunately, too many folks on both sides of the bargaining table do not appreciate the history or lore of the game. Rather the game is viewed as a cash cow or programming hours for cable broadcasting. History is simply someone that appears on ESPN Classic.

Baseball lore is entrenched with stories such as Rocket Ron Necciai and those of his ilk. Those legends and players should be appreciated. Unfortunately, in the game today, appreciation has gone out with Sunday afternoon doubleheaders and the knot hole gang.

In today's era of cable television, all-sports radio, Internet, and 24 hour news channels, Necciai would be a media darling. If Rick Ankiel can receive wall to wall coverage, one can only imagine what the Rocket would receive.

It's really too bad.

Rocket Ron Necciai owns one of the greatest baseball moments that only a few know.