Homer Bailey Pitches Reds First No Hitter in 24 Years

David Dewitt Bailey signed with the Reds after they made the high school star from Lagrange, Texas the seventh player taken in the 2004 draft.  He was expected to become a valuable member of the Red's rotation one day, but no one had a clue that he would author a no-hitter as he did in the Reds' 1-0 win over Pittsburgh at PNC Park.

Bailey goes by the nickname, Homer, which was his grandfather's name.  He had the ABC's of personality disorders that come with many 19-years olds, even those with less talent.  He was arrogant, boastful and cocky in abundance.

After San Diego made shortstop Matt Bush the first pick in that draft, the next seven were pitchers.  Justin Verlander, Phillip Humber, Jeff Nieman, Mark Rogers, Jeremy Sowers, the only lefthander in the group (he was drafted by the Reds but not signed in 2001), then Homer Bailey, who along with Rogers was the only high schooler of the group.  Humber and Verlander have already authored no-hitters in the big leagues.

Bailey was drafted AHEAD of Los Angeles Angels ace, Jered Weaver, who also pitched an no-hitter earlier this season, and current 21-game winner Gio Gonzalez.

Who could blame the kid for having a big head?

In my first encounter with Bailey, who signed under the condition that he be invited to spring training in 2005,  I asked him a question for SportsTicker in a questionaire about players personnal preferences eg. what cd is playing in your car right now?  One question was, if you had a Hall of Fame vote, who would you choose?  Without hesitation he said, "Pete Rose".  My first impression was that he was an intelligent kid, to name the controversial hometown hero.  I was correct.  Bailey is indeed intelligent.

He was also immature.  He came off as very cocky.  He threw hard, around 97 miles an hour and no matter how many times he was told that he needed to work on other pitches, he kept throwing fastballs. 

Tim Naehring, the Reds' farm director once told Bailey that he wanted him to throw more change ups to perfect it.  "I don't care if you get hit with it.  I want you to use it."  Bailey wouldn't do it.

Bailey got a start against Cleveland one day in spring training.  The Indians hit three home runs.  In a post game meeting with then manager, Jerry Narron, he told reporters, "I'm dissappointed he didn't throw his change up."

He was stubborn.  He shook off his catchers, often.  He kept getting hit hard.  In high school he dominated kids his own age but Major League hitters don't care how hard a pitcher throws, they can hit the ball hard.  It is one of those tough life lessons that pitchers, who dominated batters in high school,  couldn't throw it by professional hitters consistently.

After a tough outing he was snippy with the writers including Hall of Fame writer, Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News.  He would get upset and pout when writers were less than flattering about his mound efforts to the point he wouldn't talk to writers for awhile.

He unerved his teammates by constantly wearing camouflage and carrying on his person a large hunting knife.  Veteran pitcher, Kent Mercker, said something to the youngster to dissuade him from carrying it around the clubhouse.  He would read hunting magazines in the clubhouse.  He was not a pleasant teammate at times.

New Reds' manager Dusty Baker, had seen this behavior before.  Baker admited to acting in a similar manner when he was a young player.  The Reds' fans and front office were impatient with Bailey.  He wasn't progressing quickly enough. 

"It ain't easy being green," said Baker paraphrasing a line from the Muppets Movie.  "People want him to be at high level right now.  It takes time," Baker said. "You can tell a kid a thousand times how to do something like use you slider more, or curveball.  Throw it in this situation and they just don't get it.  They have to get hit around before they listen or a light bulb goes off."  Such was the case with Bailey.

In the spring of 2008 whether by design or sublime coincidence, Bailey made three spring training starts against the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox and the Yankees again.  He was hit hard.
Baker was asked if he planned it for Bailey to face the three opponents.  Baker denied matching Bailey with the offensive powers with a purpose in mind, but he admitted it was good for Bailey to struggle some.  The Reds had Jim Maloney, who was the ace in the mid-sixties, counsel the kid.  Maloney, who threw a couple no-hitters himself, one in which he walked 10 batters,  was asked to shadow Bailey.

For the last three seasons Bailey has been a model citizen.  He has grown up through his experiences.  Riddled by injuries in three straight seasons, Bailey had ample time to learn new pitches.  He worked hard in the off season.  He put on 25 pounds this winter so that Bailey would be more durable, showing that he could now make corrections on his own.

Bailey set career highs for wins (13), innings pitched (204) and strikeouts (162) after he pitched a no-hit game to top off his best Major League season.  It was the 16th time in Reds' history and the first in 24 seasons, since Tom Browing tossed a perfect game in September 1988, that a Reds' pitcher finished a no-hitter.

And how are these quotes for showing the humbleness and appreciation for his teammates and opponents.  He didn't shake off catcher Ryan Hanigan one time.

“You really have to tip your hat to A.J. Burnett because we’ve gone back-and-forth four times this year, had some real battles together. He pitched one hell of a game.”
 
And he didn’t forget his teammates.
 
“And my hat is off to Ryan Hanigan behind the plate (catcher) because it was cold and I didn’t have my best stuff, but somehow we managed to go out there and make really good pitches.”
  
And the defense?

“Just like it has been all year, the defense covered my back, unbelievably good. They are really the best in the game, make a pitcher look really good,” he said.
 
“My adrenaline was pumping in the ninth because some of my pitches were running up out of the zone because I was trying to put a little extra on it,” he said. “I told myself to just back off and make the pitch, one pitch at a time, try to get a ground ball or a pop-up.”

The brash teenager has arrived as a player and a person.  The no-hitter is the finishing touch that illustrates his arrival.