Back-to-Back No-Hit Pitcher Vander Meer Dies

Johnny Vander Meer, the Cincinnati Reds’ pitcher who threw the only consecutive no-hitters in major league history, died Monday at 82 of an abdominal aneurysm.

The left-hander threw his first no-hitter on June 11, 1938, beating the Boston Braves 3-0. Four days later, he no-hit the Dodgers in Brooklyn, 6-0.

“His double no-hitter for the Reds always has been, and always will be, one of the greatest individual achievements in baseball history,” said John Allen, the Reds’ managing partner.

The twin no-hitters made Vander Meer an instant star, but his lifetime statistics were ordinary. He pitched for Cincinnati from 1937-49, with two years out for military service during World War II, then finished with the Chicago Cubs in 1950 and Cleveland Indians in 1951.

He had a 119-121 record with an earned-run average of 3.44.

In 1938, the year of the double no-hitters, he was 15-10 with a 3.12 ERA. His best season was 1942, when he was 18-12 with a 2.43 ERA.

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George Barclay, the first football player at North Carolina to be selected a first-team All-American, died Sunday night at his Asheville (N.C.) home at 87. The cause of death was not immediately known. . . . An autopsy on the body of professional wrestler Brian Pillman was inconclusive, and it could be days before further tests determine the cause of death. The 35-year-old former Cincinnati Bengal linebacker was found dead Sunday in a suburban Minneapolis motel.

Tennis

The United States and Sweden, opponents next month for the Davis Cup title, were selected as co-top seeds for the 1998 competition.

The draw for 1998 will be made Wednesday in London by the Davis Cup Committee of the International Tennis Federation.

Jennifer Capriati’s comeback took another setback, when she was beaten by unseeded Karina Habsudova of Slovakia, 6-2, 6-1, in a first-round match at the Filderstadt tournament in Germany. . . . Arnaud Clement, a 19-year-old Frenchman, upset second-seeded Sergi Bruguera of Spain, 6-2, 7-6, in the opening round of the CA Trophy tournament at Vienna, Austria.

Miscellany

Construction will begin in the spring on the Kansas City Kansas Superspeedway that will be able to accommodate both NASCAR and Indy car racing, according to officials of the three agencies involved. It will open in 2000 on a 1,000-acre site in Wyandotte County. . . . Andy Green pushed the Thrust SSC to 714.427 mph in one direction, then to 727.86 mph on the return trip as the land-speed competition continued but Green was unable to make the runs within the allotted one hour required for a record.

Boxer Tommy Morrison requested through his lawyer that he be allowed to contest drunken driving charges, stemming from an August traffic accident, before a jury on four misdemeanor counts. The trial is tentatively scheduled Dec. 29. . . . Former boxer Mitch Green bolted from the New York courtroom where his $25-million lawsuit is being heard regarding the beating Mike Tyson gave him in a 1988 Harlem street fight. He returned 30 minutes later. . . . Jose Badillo of Puerto Rico was picked as the new opponent for Naseem Hamed, who defends his World Boxing Organization featherweight title Saturday night. Colombia’s Victor Llerena agreed to step aside for an unspecified payoff.

Jim Colbert, the Senior PGA Tour’s player of the year the last two years, will play his first competitive round since he had prostate cancer surgery in June in the Gillette Tour Challenge today in Bermuda. . . . Ron Polk was appointed coach of the 1998 U.S. national baseball team, nearly five months after resigning after 22 seasons at Mississippi State’s coach. . . . World champion swimmer Samantha Riley clocked the third-fastest time for the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1 minute 07.66 seconds at the Australian national championships in Brisbane. Riley’s effort was the fastest time in the world this year.