2.83 (with 13 complete games) in 1971 and 12-14, 3.13 in 1972. In 1973 his record fell to 8-18 with a 4.79 ERA. The Padres, who began play in 1969, were the last Major League Baseball team never to have thrown a no-hitter until Joe Musgrove threw the franchise's first on April 9, 2021 against the Texas Rangers. Fans and writers occasionally attribute this unlikely failure to the "Curse of Clay Kirby," in recognition of the controversial decision by Preston Gomez to remove Kirby from the game. Big Red Machine In November 1973 Kirby was traded to the Reds for outfielder Bobby Tolan and the move paid off as Kirby went 12-9 with an ERA of 3.28 as the Reds won 98 games. In 1975, Kirby was one of six starters to win 10 or more games for the Big Red Machine, who won the National League title as he went 10-6 with an ERA of 4.72 in 19 starts. The Reds later won the 1975 World Series, but Kirby did not play in the series. He was sent to the Montreal Expos for Bob Bailey on December 12, 1975. In January 1976 Kirby was stricken with a long bout of pneumonia before he joined the Expos in Florida for spring training. He was still weak and had a sore shoulder when the season opened. He got off to a miserable start and never recovered and in the 1976 season he fell to 1-8 with an ERA of 5.72, and it was his final major league season. Montreal released him on December 2, 1976. In January 1977 the Padres picked up their former pitcher to give him another chance. They invited him to their spring-training camp in Yuma, Arizona. A knee injury in the final week of spring training delayed his comeback try for almost two months. The Padres placed him in their Pacific Coast League farm club in Hawaii. He won his first game for the Islanders on June 18, but never won another. According to teammate John D'Acquisto in his book Fastball John, "Game after game, I would see him step off the mound in despair, unable to do what he had done all through high school and through much of his time at the major league level: pitch competitive baseball." His record for the season was one win, seven losses, and an earned-run average of 7.95. After