Perfection. Merriam-Webster defines it as “the quality or state of being perfect; flawlessness; an exemplification of supreme excellence and an unsurpassable degree of accuracy or excellence”. It is rarely attainable in our day-to-day lives, and even less so in the sports we love. In baseball, it is so rare that it has only been accomplished 19 times, and that includes both the 19th century and the Modern Era. Don Larsen, Sandy Koufax, and of course…Cy Young. These men are forever part of a very select group, and have earned the right to be called perfect. For approx. 2 hours, 19 different men have stood on a mound and performed a feat that is simply astonishing. They have achieved the pinnacle of their craft, and for that one day, they could claim they were the best pitcher on the planet.
1st Perfect Game - Worcester, MA
I had the good fortune of attending a work-related training today at Becker College in Worcester, MA. It was beautiful day, and a beautiful campus. As I walked towards the building where my meeting was to be held, I observed a small granite marker in the courtyard. Someone had placed a baseball in front of it, and they were taking a picture. It turns out that the stone marks the location where the very first professional baseball perfect game was pitched. In 1880, Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs tossed the gem against the Cleveland Blues, earning the 1-0 victory and a place in history. I am a baseball fan(atic), I breathe the game, but I was amazed to find that this special historical event took place 15 minutes from my house! I simply never heard about it. So naturally, when I got home, I immediately looked up Richmond (thanks Wikipedia, of course) and began to reminisce about some of the other perfect games. Here’s a few interesting fact I came across:
Of the 19 Perfect Games pitched in the Major Leagues…
- 8 have been tossed by Lefties and 11 by Righties.
- Yankee pitchers have thrown 3 (most), with Oakland and Chicago White Sox pitchers recording 2 each.
- Cy Young did it the quickest in 1:23, while David Wells took the longest at 2:40. (That’s right Joe West, the Yankees even take forever to achieve perfection…so shut up!)
- The youngest player to achieve the feat was John Montgomery Ward of the Providence Grays. Ward was the 2nd pitcher ever to accomplish perfection, and he did it just 5 days after Richmond made history. There would not be another Perfect Game for 24 years. By the way the oldest to do so was Randy Johnson in 2004.
- Babe Ruth never pitched a Perfect Game, but he did pitch IN one…sort of. In 1917, while pitching for the Red Sox, Ruth walked the first Washington Senators batter he faced on 4 straight pitches. Ruth argued and eventually charged the umpire and was promptly ejected and led off the field by police. Ernie Shore entered the game, and on the very first pitch, the runner on 1st was gunned down attempting to steal a base. Shore proceeded to retire the next 26 batters he faced. Because he was on the mound for all 27 outs, and he did not allow any runners to reach 1st base, it was originally considered a Perfect Game. However, MLB now considers it a combined no-hitter.
- Five of the games ended with a 1-0 score, four ended 2-0,and the largest margin was 6-0 (twice). A clear indication that the winning team’s batters would swing at everything once the lead was in hand, thereby getting the pitcher back on the mound as quickly as possible. In addition, the statistics might prove that the losing pitcher(s) probably elevated their game as well.
So, what was the most dominant and impressive Perfect Game? Well, in my opinion there is really no contest. On July 18, 1999, David Cone of the Yankees took the mound to face the Montreal Expos. Now, I’ll grant you that the Expos were always the doormat of the league in those days, but what followed was a performance and an atmosphere for the ages. It was Yogi Berra Day at the old Yankee Stadium, and Don Larsen was on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch to Berra, who caught Larsen’s Perfect Game in the ’56 World Series. It took Cone just 88 pitches to finish off the Expos. Of those 88 pitches, he threw 68 for strikes and forced 13 fly ball outs, 4 ground outs and struck out 10! Just to make it more interesting, the Baseball Gods decided it would be 95 degrees that day, and just for kicks they decided that Cone would sit through a 33 minute rain delay in the 3rd inning! So, for me, this was the most impressive, efficient and the MOST perfect of all the Perfect Games. By the way, Cone was 36 years old in 1999…I’m just saying.
UPDATE: (5/29/10) Add Roy Halliday of the Philadelphia Phillies to the list. He becomes the 20th pitcher (and 12th right-hander) to toss a Perfect Game, as he mesmerized the Florida Marlins tonight. This marks the first time in MLB history that 2 Perfect Games have been thrown in the same season.
UPDATE: (4/21/12) Phil Humber of the Chicago White Sox joins the ranks of the elite. He becomes the 21st pitcher, the 13th right-hander, and the 3rd Whte Sox player to toss a Perfect Game,Shutting down the Seattle Mariners today. Interesting to note that Humber had Tommy John surgery that delayed his career before he even made the big leagues.
