About Johnny Vander Meer
John Samuel Vander Meer (November 2, 1914 – October 6, 1997) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, where he became the only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to throw two consecutive no-hitters, an accomplishment which has long been considered to be impossible to replicate. He was a member of the Reds’ 1940 World Series winning team. After the impressive start to his major league career, he experienced problems controlling the accuracy of his pitching, and his later career was marked by inconsistent performances. During his career he was nicknamed "The Dutch Master" and "Double No-Hit". == Baseball career == Born in Prospect Park, New Jersey, he moved with his family to Midland Park, New Jersey in 1918. He had an inauspicious start to his professional baseball career. He was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1933 and assigned to the Dayton Ducks. Dayton then sold his contract to a Boston Bees minor league affiliate, the Scranton Miners of the New York–Pennsylvania League. The Miners found his playing ability to be lacking and sent him to the Cincinnati Reds affiliate, the Nashville Volunteers, in a trade for Tiny Chaplin.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.