Fifty years ago today, a 22-year-old lefty with Puerto Rican roots walked out to the mound at Three Rivers Stadium and didn’t allow a single Los Angeles Dodger to reach base on a hit. John ‘Candy Man’ Candelaria threw the last traditional no-hitter in Pittsburgh Pirates history on August 9, 1976 — a 2-0 win on exactly 100 pitches, closing it with 19 consecutive outs. This Sunday, as the Pirates hosted the Mets at PNC Park to wrap up their series, a 72-year-old Candelaria walked back out to the mound for the ceremonial first pitch.
A City That Had Waited 69 Years
That August night wasn’t just Candelaria’s first no-hitter — it was the first thrown by a Pirate in Pittsburgh since Nick Maddox did it back in 1907. Nearly seven decades. That context alone tells you what the kid from Brooklyn pulled off in just his second big-league season.
Candelaria faced 30 batters total. The only three baserunners he allowed reached on a walk (Steve Yeager in the third) and two fielding errors — nothing he gave up himself. From that point on, he retired the final 19 batters in a row and struck out seven. The whole game took 1 hour and 45 minutes. Bill Robinson put the game away with a two-run double in the fifth to make it 2-0 for good.
The night had one extra layer: it was Clark Candy Night at the stadium, a promotion by the D.L. Clark Company that handed out candy bars to fans — a nod to the pitcher’s nickname. The coincidence made the whole evening feel like something more than baseball.
What Came Next Was Even Better
Candelaria finished the 1976 season 16-7 with a 3.15 ERA and 11 complete games. Then in 1977 he was flat-out dominant: 20-5, 2.34 ERA — leading the National League in ERA — and 7.4 WAR, the equivalent of a pitcher winning seven games by himself compared to a replacement-level arm. He made the All-Star Game and established himself as one of the best left-handers in the league.
The Candy Man and His Puerto Rican Roots
Candelaria was born in Brooklyn on November 6, 1953, to a Puerto Rican family. The connection to the island isn’t just on paper: before signing with Pittsburgh, he played basketball for the Piratas de Quebradillas in Puerto Rico — a detail that ties him genuinely to Boricua sports culture, not just by bloodline.
Over 19 big-league seasons, spending most of his career in Pittsburgh across eight franchises, Candelaria went 177-122 with a 3.33 career ERA. With the Pirates alone, he ranks:
- 4th in franchise strikeouts — 1,159
- 9th in wins — 124
- 6th in starts — 271
- 9th in innings pitched — 1,873.2
Those aren’t flash-in-the-pan numbers. That’s a career built in one city.
This year the Pirates made it official: Candelaria was inducted into the team’s 2026 Hall of Fame class, alongside Wilbur Cooper and Jack Wilson. The induction ceremony is scheduled for September 3 at PNC Park.
Today’s Game
The series finale between the New York Mets (50-66) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (57-60) is set for 1:35 PM ET at PNC Park. Sean Manaea (3-5, 4.33 ERA) takes the ball for New York; Jared Jones (2-3, 4.02 ERA) goes for Pittsburgh. The Pirates come in with momentum after a 9-0 blowout Saturday, in which Robert Stock allowed eight runs in just three innings of work.
The anniversary gives today’s game a weight that goes beyond the standings. Candelaria has already thrown his ceremonial first pitch. Now, 50 years after that candy-bar-and-hitless-baseball night at Three Rivers, the Pirates are hoping the rest of the afternoon goes just as well.
