Phillies Wise was 18 years of age when he debuted for the
Philadelphia Phillies in 1964, his second professional season. His first major league win was in the second game of a doubleheader on June 21, beating the New York Mets 8–2. The first game that day was
Jim Bunning's perfect game. Wise was the last player from the
1964 Philadelphia Phillies team to be active in the major leagues, pitching two innings of relief (7th and 8th) for the Padres against the
Los Angeles Dodgers on April 10, 1982. He spent all of 1965 and the early part of 1966 with the Phillies' top minor league affiliate (the
Arkansas Travelers in 1965 and the
San Diego Padres in 1966) before making the majors for good. He developed into a solid starter, winning 17 games with a 2.88
earned run average for a last-place Phillies team in 1971, as well as being named to his first
All-Star Game. The highlight of Wise's Philadelphia career took place that year on June 23 when he overcame the flu to
no-hit the
Cincinnati Reds in a 4–0 win at
Riverfront Stadium. Only a sixth-inning walk to
Dave Concepcion denied Wise what would have been the second
perfect game in Phillies history. He also contributed a pair of
homers, a one-out two-run home run off
Ross Grimsley in the fifth and a leadoff solo shot off
Clay Carroll in the eighth. Wise,
Wes Ferrell (1931),
Jim Tobin (1944), and
Earl Wilson (1962) are the only pitchers to throw a no-hitter and hit a home run in the same game. On August 28 against the San Francisco Giants, Wise also hit two home runs. On September 18 against the Chicago Cubs, he completed a string of retiring 32 batters in a row, four shy of
Harvey Haddix's Major League record, also driving in the winning run in the 12th inning.
1972–73: Cardinals and the Carlton trade The following season, Wise became an unwitting participant in one of the most one-sided trades in baseball history. The owner of the
St. Louis Cardinals,
Gussie Busch, ordered his team to trade its star left-handed pitcher,
Steve Carlton, after a contract squabble. Since all of baseball knew of the trade mandate, teams drove very hard bargains, and the Phillies' offer of Wise was the best St. Louis could do. Wise won a total of 32 games during his two seasons (1972–73) in St. Louis, but Carlton won 27 for the last-place
1972 Phillies alone and would go on to anchor their starting pitching staff for the next decade, ultimately winning 329 games and a place in the
Baseball Hall of Fame. At the time, however, the Carlton-Wise deal made some sense from the Cardinals' perspective. At the time, Wise had won 75 games, only two fewer than Carlton.
Tim McCarver, who had caught for Carlton in St. Louis and Wise in Philadelphia, said at the time that the trade was "a real good one for a real good one." According to McCarver, Wise had better command on the mound while Carlton had more raw ability. This viewpoint can be confirmed statistically; while Carlton had averaged more career strikeouts per 9 innings at the time, Wise allowed fewer walks and actually had the better career strikeout-to-walk ratio through 1971. On June 13, 1973, Wise, having already pitched one no-hitter against the Reds, nearly joined
Addie Joss as the only pitchers to no-hit the same team twice (the
Cleveland Naps pitcher's two no-hitters were against the
Chicago White Sox, in 1908 and 1910; the former was a
perfect game). This bid, however, was broken up in the ninth on a one-out single by
Joe Morgan—the only hit Wise would allow.
Red Sox Wise was traded along with
Bernie Carbo from the Cardinals to the Red Sox for
Reggie Smith and
Ken Tatum on October 26, 1973. In 1975, he won 19 for the Red Sox, winners of the
AL East. Wise had another no-hitter broken up against the
Milwaukee Brewers on July 2. In the first game of a
doubleheader, former Red Sox
George Scott homered off Wise with two out in the ninth to break up the no-hitter. Wise would have joined
Cy Young and
Jim Bunning as pitchers who had hurled no-hitters in both leagues (
Nolan Ryan,
Hideo Nomo and
Randy Johnson have done it since). Wise went on to win his only start in the
1975 ALCS against
Oakland, and was the
relief pitcher of record in Game 6 when
Carlton Fisk ended the 12-inning game with his oft-replayed
walk-off home run. On June 30, 1976, Wise was perfect against the Orioles until
Paul Blair singled against him to start the sixth. That was the only hit the Orioles would get off Wise as Boston won 2–0.
Remaining career In 1978 Wise was involved in a trade for a future Hall of Famer for the second time in his career. On March 30, during
spring training, he was traded by the Boston Red Sox with
Ted Cox,
Bo Díaz and
Mike Paxton to the Cleveland Indians for
Fred Kendall and future Hall of Fame starter and reliever
Dennis Eckersley. Wise led the AL in losses in 1978 with 19, but again came back to win 15 games for a poor team in 1979. He became a free agent after the season, signing with the
San Diego Padres. He played two full seasons with the Padres, and was released after appearing in just one game for them in 1982, ending his playing career.
Overview In an 18-year career, Wise posted a 188–181 record with 1,647
strikeouts and a 3.69 ERA in 3,127
innings pitched. He pitched a total of 30
shutouts. He was the first player to record a win over all 26 major league teams that existed before the 1993 expansion. A good-hitting pitcher, Wise hit 15 home runs in his career, with a season-high of six in 1971. He batted .195 (130-668) with 60
runs and 66
RBI. Defensively, in 723 total chances, he committed only 13 errors for a .982
fielding percentage. == Post-playing career ==