Morehead came from San Diego and signed with the Red Sox as a 17-year-old. Two years later he played in the major leagues, winning 10 games and pitching 174 2/3 innings in his age 19 season. The 6’1″ right-hander threw a complete-game shutout with 10 strikeouts to defeat the Washington Senators in his MLB debut. Morehead would record 136 punchouts with a 3.81 earned run average in what was arguably the best season of his career.
He would hold a rotation spot in Boston for the next two seasons. Morehead’s ERA peaked north of 4.00 in each of the next two years, although he started more than 30 games and struck out 130 in both seasons. The highlight of his career came at the end of the ’65 season. Morehead fired a no-hitter in a 2-0 win over Cleveland in September. He fanned eight and allowed only one baserunner (a walk in the second inning to Rocky Colavito) to surpass Luis Tiant. It was the 14th no-hitter in franchise history.
Morehead struggled with injuries and was limited to a total of 33 regular season appearances over the next three seasons. The Sox won 92 games to claim the AL pennant in 1967. Morehead played two games during the Fall Classic, working around four walks to throw 3 1/3 scoreless frames. Boston fell just short of a title, like Bob Gibson won three times and pushed the Cardinals to a seven-game Series victory.
After the ’68 season, Morehead went to Kansas City in the expansion draft. He pitched two seasons with the Royals to finish his career. Morehead pitched to a 4.15 ERA with 627 strikeouts over 819 1/3 innings in parts of eight campaigns. MLBTR extends our condolences to Morehead’s family, friends and loved ones.
#Dave #Morehead #passes