After Boston defeated Pittsburgh in the first World Series in 1903, the late Don Larsen remains the only pitcher to hurl a perfect game during the 119-year history of the Fall Classic.
Larsen’s perfect game gave the New York Yankees a 2-0 victory over their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, in the fifth game played on Oct. 8, 1956. His perfect game stands out from the more than 3,000 post season pitching starts since Boston defeated Pittsburgh five games to three in their best of nine games series.
I was a freshman at McDowell High School in Floyd County, Ky. the year Larsen make history, and because I had achieved high marks in history class, my teacher allowed me to listen to the game on my transistor radio during class.
Little did I realize at the time that during my senior year in 1959 that I would ride the train with Larsen and Casey Stengel’s Yankees from Washington D.C. to New York City where I would catch up with Larsen and yell, “Don Larsen!”
Nor could I have known that Larsen would turn to see who had recognized him and respond to me by saying, “Hang in there, kid.”
My McDowell Daredevils’ baseball teammates and I had attended the Yankees’ game against the Washington Senators while the rest of our classmates visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and we were treated to a 4-3 Yankee victory, thanks to a three-run home run by Mickey Mantle and our principal’s permission to split from our classmates and take a taxicab to Griffith Stadium.
Our high school baseball team was the defending champions of the 58th District in Kentucky my senior year, and we entered the 1959 tournament at 10-0, only to suffer a 3-2 upset at the hands of a team we had beaten twice during the regular season, proving perfection does not last long, especially in baseball where it is seldom achieved.
Just as our perfect record was not a future indicator of our performance in the tournament, Larsen’s perfection on Oct. 8, 1956 was not indicative of his future in MLB, and by 1967 when he finished 1-2 as a pitcher of record with the Baltimore Orioles, his career record was 81-91 with a 3.78 ERA.
Following Larsen’s departure from the Yankees after the 1959 season, he posted a 1-10 record as a member of the Kansas City Athletics in 1960. The next season, he was 1-0 with the Athletics before joining the White Sox where he enjoyed one of his best seasons by posting a 7-2 record.
Larsen bounced around the Majors during the last years of his career, pitching for the Giants, the Colt .45s, the Astros, the Orioles, and the Chicago Cubs where he ended his career with a 0-0 record after pitching in only three games in 1967.
Having pitched for seven MLB teams during his 14-year career, Larsen actually achieved a winning record during his last 12 seasons by posting a 71-57 record. However, his first two seasons, 7-12 for the Browns in 1953 and 3-21 for the Orioles in 1954, proved too much for him to overcome in order to post a winning record for his career.
Still, the late Don Larsen, a 6’4” 215 lb. right-hander from Michigan City, Ind. who was born on Aug. 7, 1929, holds MLB’s record for pitching a perfect game that has remained unequaled in MLB’s postseason play.
Only Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies besides Larsen has hurled a no-hitter during post-season play. Halladay’s feat was achieved on Oct. 6, 2010, during the National League Division Series. His pitching triumph gave the Phillies a 4-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Halladay missed a perfect game by walking one batter.
Larsen passed away in Hayden, Idaho on Jan. 1, 2020, and he will be remembered for his perfect pitching gem that earned him the MVP Award for the World Series the Yankees won four games to three in 1956.
As for me, I’ve been “hanging in there” ever since Don Larsen told me to back in 1959.
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