Matt Breen: Shohei Ohtani's performance was epic. But let's not forget what Rick Wise did.

PHILADELPHIA — The decision was looming in June 2021 for the National League to adopt the designated hitter when Rick Wise thought that meant his night — pairing a no-hitter in 1971 with the Phillies with two homers — would never be matched.

“If they do the DH, no one is ever going to break the record,” Wise said. “Maybe it might work out with Ohtani.”

And maybe Wise is right. But Shohei Ohtani didn’t break it yet. Ohtani hit three homers on Friday night and struck out 10 as the Dodgers swept the Brewers with a 5-1 win in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series to reach the World Series.

Ohtani may be the greatest player ever, and his latest epic feat already is being called the “greatest game in baseball history.” Perhaps it is.

But let’s not forget what Wise did in June of 1971 at Riverfront Stadium against a lineup of Hall of Famers days after having the flu.

“I didn’t really know if I could pitch that day, but it was my turn to take the ball, so I knew I was going to pitch,” Wise recalled four years ago. “It was just a matter of how long I was going to last.

“I felt very, very weak. It was in Cincinnati, and those cookie-cutter stadiums with AstroTurf, man, I’m telling you it was 130 degrees there, even though it was a night game. Warming up, it seemed like the ball was stopping halfway to the plate. I didn’t have any pop.”

Wise reached the majors as an 18-year-old “bonus baby” in 1964, pitching in 25 games for those star-crossed Phillies. He pitched in a rotation with Jim Bunning and Chris Short and took batting practice every afternoon when the team was home.

“We only got 20 minutes when the team was home,” Wise said. “On the road, the starting pitcher hit with the lineup. That was the extent of it.”

Maybe that’s all Wise needed. He hit 11 homers from 1968 to 1971 with an OPS that was near league average. Wise was Ohtani-like every fifth day.

“I was a good hitter when I was 8 or 9 years old starting in Little League,” said the 80-year-old Wise, who lives in Washington. “That’s what we did. We played sports. We weren’t in front of a TV. We were outside playing whatever that season was. Baseball, football, basketball. That’s what we were doing as kids growing up. In Little League, Babe Ruth, Legion ball, and high school, I always hit third, fourth or fifth. Pick a number.”

The Phillies pitchers played a game every afternoon — “50 cents a man,” Wise said — where each hit had to clear the infield dirt. The batting practice pitcher would be the umpire and decided if the ball was a hit or out. The money was pooled together every day.

“At the end of the year, the pitchers went out for a party,” Wise said.

And that’s how he prepared for his memorable night. Wise — who later was the winning pitcher when Carlton Fisk waved his home run fair at Fenway Park in 1975 — homered off Reds left-hander Ross Grimsley in the fifth and worked a 2-0 count in the eighth against Clay Carroll.

“I stepped out of the box and looked down at George Myatt and he turned his back on me,” Wise said of the team’s third base coach. “So that meant the green light was on for me. I got a cripple fastball. I mean it was right down the middle to a pitcher. And I was ready for it. I took my hacks when I was up there. If I saw something I liked, I was swinging.”

Wise had his two homers and was six outs away from no-hitting a lineup that featured Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Pérez, George Foster, Lee May and Dave Concepcion. He ended the no-hitter by retiring Rose, who Wise called “the last guy you want to see to get the 27th out.” John Vukovich grabbed Rose’s liner, and the Phils mobbed Wise at the mound before they celebrated in the clubhouse.

“It’s not that easy against any team because all it takes is a chopper or a bunt or a blooper or whatever, and there goes the no-hitter,” Wise said. “But against that team under the conditions that I felt, it was tremendous. That lineup was tremendous.”

Wise was traded after that season to St. Louis for Steve Carlton, one of the most significant trades in Philadelphia sports history. Wise wanted a bigger contract from the Phillies, and Carlton wanted more money from the Cardinals.

“Back then, I didn’t have any agent or anything. I was making, at that time, after seven years in the big leagues, $25,000,” Wise said. “I’d be a multimillionaire these days, but then, a lot of pitchers from those days would be, too. You can’t miss what you never had.

“John Quinn was giving it to the veteran players, but he was lowballing the younger players. He wouldn’t give in. He wouldn’t budge. The same thing happened with Carlton. He went to Philly and got what he wanted, and I went to St. Louis and got what I wanted. They doubled my salary, and that’s what I was looking for.

“We had a record attendance that year, and we didn’t have a real good team, per se. Just the type of year I had, to really become the ace of the staff, I thought I deserved more than he offered. I never got anything for throwing the no-hitter. They didn’t give me a bonus, or anything like that. But then, to be traded after all that.

“I was down in spring training when I was traded, and the traveling secretary was the one who came to my door, knocked on my door, and told me I’d been traded. It wasn’t from John Quinn. It wasn’t from the president of the Phillies. It was the traveling secretary.”

Ohtani was named the MVP of the NLCS and likely will be named the National League’s MVP next month for a second consecutive year. He will pitch next week for the Dodgers in the World Series, something Wise did twice with Boston. And Ohtani will have a chance to write another October chapter.

“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Friday’s win. “There’s been a lot of postseason games. And there’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the planet.”

It often seems that there’s nothing Ohtani can’t do on a baseball field from throwing triple-digit fastballs to hitting 500-foot homers. But there’s still something Wise did that Ohtani has yet to match.

“What he’s doing right now is captivating the baseball world, and I imagine Japan follows every single game he plays,” Wise said in 2021. “He has such a unique capability.”