When the NA folded after the 1875 season , Borden signed a three-year contract with the Boston Red Caps . On April 22 , 1876 , Borden and the Red Caps were victorious in the first National League ( NL ) game ever played . Later that season , on May 23 , he pitched a shutout , which some historians claim was the first no-hitter in Major League Baseball . Known for having an eccentric personality , he played under different surnames , such as Josephs and Nedrob , so as to disguise his involvement in baseball ; his prominent family would have disapproved had they known . After he was released from the Red Caps as a player during the first season of his contract , he worked for a short period of time as their groundskeeper until he and the owner agreed to a buyout of the remainder of his contract . It was mistakenly claimed that he died in 1889 , in the Johnstown Flood . His official death date is recognized as occurring in 1929 when he was 75 years of age
Johnstown Flood
Johnstown Flood
Joe Borden