Dave Morehead, who pitched for the Boston Red Sox from 1963-68 and the Kansas City Royals from 1969-70, passed away on Nov. 23. He was 82.

Born in San Diego on Sept. 5, 1943, Morehead signed with the Red Sox after graduating from Herbert Hoover High School. The Red Sox had already struck gold at the school once before; Ted Williams had been the baseball team’s star hitter and pitcher in the mid-1930s. During Morehead’s senior year, Williams returned to Hoover to observe him on the Red Sox’s behalf.

Fellow Hoover alum Ray Boone, who became a scout after finishing his 13-year MLB career with the 1960 Red Sox – and whose grandson currently manages the New York Yankees – signed the newly-graduated Morehead as an amateur free agent in 1961. By 1962, Morehead was pitching for Boston’s Triple-A Seattle Rainiers and being managed by Red Sox legend Johnny Pesky. The following season, the Red Sox promoted Morehead and Pesky to the big leagues, the latter named manager.

Morehead made his major league debut at Fenway Park on April 13, 1963. That day, at 19 years old, he pitched a complete-game shutout of the visiting Washington Senators (now Minnesota Twins), propelling Boston to a 3-0 victory with five hits, four walks and 10 strikeouts. It was the first of six complete-game shutouts Morehead would throw over his eight-year career, and just the fourth such debut in MLB history by a pitcher younger than 20.

Morehead was the sixth pitcher in franchise history to pitch a complete-game shutout in his first career game. Four years and one day later, teammate Billy Rohr became the seventh – and to date – most recent Red Sox pitcher to achieve the feat.

Those nine shutout innings were the first of 664.2 regular-season frames Morehead threw in his six Red Sox seasons. Over 128 games (115 starts), he posted a 4.17 ERA and 1.435 WHIP. His 3.88 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) indicates he was hurt by his team’s defense.

Morehead’s most memorable performance, however, was on the afternoon of Sept. 16, 1965, when he threw the 14th no-hitter in Red Sox history. At Fenway’s lowest-attended game of the season, according to the Society for American Baseball Research, Morehead was one pitch removed from a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians, who had future Red Sox legend Luis Tiant on the mound; Rocky Colavito was the only visiting baserunner that day, drawing a leadoff walk on a 3-2 pitch in the top of the second.

The following day’s edition of the Boston Herald recorded Morehead’s explanation of the hectic final out thusly: “I went to catch it, and I was going to run over to first the way Mel Parnell did in his no-hitter, either step on the bag myself or hand it to the first baseman so I wouldn’t take the chance of throwing it away. In my haste, the ball hit the heel of my glove and I started to run without the ball. The ball lay on the mound. I went back to pick it up and threw it to first base real quick. The throw was low in the dirt, and Mad Dog Lee Thomas scooped it out. I had my no-no.”

That it came against Cleveland was particularly sweet for Morehead; on July 2, 1963, he had a no-hitter going against them until the eighth inning, when a ground ball took a peculiar hop into right field. That day, he had to settle for a complete-game two-hitter.

Morehead’s no-hitter was the last by a Red Sox pitcher until Hideo Nomo in 2001, and the last on the club’s home field until Derek Lowe’s in 2002. Morehead’s accomplishment was rewarded with a $1,000 bonus from team owner Tom Yawkey, but overshadowed by the firing of general manager ‘Pinky’ Higgins that same day.

Primarily as a starter, Morehead worked out of the Red Sox bullpen during the 1967 Impossible Dream postseason, making scoreless relief appearances totaling 3.1 innings between two of the team’s losses to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Arm issues limited Morehead to 33 games over his final three seasons in Boston. The Royals selected him in the Expansion Draft in October ‘68, and though he enjoyed a solid ‘70 season, posting a 3.62 ERA over 28 games, including 17 starts and one final complete-game shutout, Morehead retired from baseball after that season. His final big-league game, on Sept. 29, was 24 days after his 27th birthday.

Following his baseball career, Morehead returned home but remained a follower of the Red Sox. He earned a marketing degree at San Diego State University and became a business owner. He was a husband, father, and grandfather.