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Former Cub Ken Holtzman has died

Ken Holtzman burst onto the Cubs scene at age 19, barely three months after he was selected out of the University of Illinois in the very first amateur draft in 1965.

A full-time member of the Cubs rotation by the following year, he tantalized Cubs fans with near no-hitters a couple of times, including a memorable matchup with Sandy Koufax in late 1966, before throwing one in 1969 against the Braves at Wrigley Field and another in Cincinnati in 1971.

Holtzman passed away Sunday in his hometown of St. Louis, aged 78, per this article by Benjamin Hochman in the St.