Everything about Don Larsen totally explained
|debutdate=
April 18
|debutyear=
1953
|debutteam=
St. Louis Browns
|finaldate=
July 7
|finalyear=
1967
|finalteam=
Chicago Cubs
|stat1label=Record
|stat1value=81-91
|stat2label=
ERA
|stat2value=3.78
|stat3label=
Strikeouts
|stat3value=849
|teams =
Career statistics
Don Larsen's career won-loss record was 81-91, as a journeyman
pitcher for seven different franchises from -. He had only two 10-win seasons, in and . In, Larsen went 3-21 with the
Baltimore Orioles, which by itself accounts for his career losing record.
Larsen was part of an enormous two-part, 17-player trade following the 1954 season. As a member of the
New York Yankees from -, Larsen was used by manager
Casey Stengel as a backup starter and occasional reliever. He went 45-24 during his five seasons in New York, making 90 starts in 128 appearances. His 1956 season was the best of Larsen's career; adopting a no-windup delivery late in the season, he posted an 11-5 record, with a career best 107 strikeouts and a 3.26 ERA.
Larsen also had a reputation as a partier. Stengel once said of Larsen, "The only thing he fears is sleep." When Larsen crashed his car into a lightpole in the middle of the night during
spring training, after curfew, Stengel quipped, "He must have went out to mail a letter." Larsen's teammates gave the gangly righthander the nickname "Gooney Bird."
The perfect game
Larsen's most notable accomplishment was pitching the only
perfect game in the history of the
World Series, and one of only 17 perfect games overall. He was pitching for the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the
Brooklyn Dodgers, on
October 8, 1956. His perfect game remains the only
no-hitter of any type ever pitched in postseason play.
Larsen's opponent in the game was Brooklyn's
Sal Maglie. The Larsen start was a slight surprise considering his performance in Game 2 of the Series. Despite being given a 6-0 lead by the Yankee batters, Larsen had lasted less than two innings, allowing four runs on four walks (and a crucial error by first-baseman Joe Collins). Larsen maintains that he didn't even know he was going to start the fifth game of the World Series until he arrived in
Yankee Stadium that morning and discovered a baseball tucked inside his baseball spikes, although newspapers across the country had him listed as the starter that day. Fifty years later, teammate
Moose Skowron recalled, "I couldn't believe he was pitching that day. I still can't believe the look he'd on his face when he saw the ball... shock or something." Backup catcher
Charlie Silvera, who warmed up Larsen in the bullpen "very casually," remembered, "It wasn't like I went to anybody and said, 'He really has it, we're in'."
Unlike his previous start, Larsen's control didn't desert him. He needed just 97 pitches to complete the game, and only one Dodger batter (
Pee Wee Reese, in the first inning) was able to get a three-ball count. In
1998, Larsen recalled, "I had great control. I never had that kind of control in my life." Larsen's catcher
Yogi Berra said, "His stuff was good, good, good. Anything I put down, he put over."
There were two close calls. The first was a "bang-bang" play in the second inning, when Dodger second baseman
Jackie Robinson hit a
line drive that caromed off Yankee third baseman
Andy Carey's glove. Fortunately for Larsen, it bounced straight to shortstop
Gil McDougald, who threw out Robinson in a close play. In the fifth inning, center fielder
Mickey Mantle made a one-handed catch in left center, running down a deep drive by
Gil Hodges. The next batter,
Sandy Amoros, hit a long drive to right field that went just foul; asked about the play later, umpire Ed Runge held his thumb and index finger an inch apart and said, "That much."
Brooklyn's Maglie also pitched an outstanding game, giving up only two runs on five hits. Mickey Mantle's fourth-inning home run broke the scoreless tie. The Yankees added what would prove to be an insurance run in the sixth.
The later innings were tense for players and fans alike. Larsen's teammates remained silent. Baseball custom dictates that players never discuss the possibility of a no-hitter as it unfolds. Announcer
Red Barber was criticized for mentioning the no-hitter during his broadcast of the game. This particular tradition meant little to Larsen, who playfully asked his teammates if they thought he could complete the no-hitter, earning a gruff dismissal from Mantle. Larsen says that Mantle stalked away in silence; some teammates remember Mantle saying, "Shut the fuck up." The unconcerned Larsen even took a cigarette break in the clubhouse during the seventh inning stretch. "I had no tension on the mound," remembered Larsen, "but the dugout was a morgue. No one would talk to me. I was more comfortable on the mound than there."
With the score 2-0, manager Casey Stengel had
Whitey Ford warming up in the bullpen during the eighth and ninth innings, in case Larsen got into trouble. After Larsen got
Carl Furillo to line out for the first out of the ninth, Ford and Silvera stopped warming up and watched the conclusion of the game.
With two outs in the ninth inning, Larsen faced pinch hitter
Dale Mitchell, a .311 career hitter. Throwing fastballs, Larsen got ahead in the count at 1-2 On his 97th pitch, a called strike, Larsen caught Mitchell looking for the 27th and last out. Mitchell complained that the pitch was high and outside to home plate umpire
Babe Pinelli (who was working his final game behind the plate, retiring after the season). Mickey Mantle later admitted that the pitch looked high from his center-field angle. Dodgers outfielder
Duke Snider said, "I think he (Pinelli) wanted to go out with a no-hitter," adding, "But there were 26 outs before that and he got them all. You can't take anything away from him."
But all eyes were on Larsen. As he walked off the mound, Yankee catcher Yogi Berra leaped into his arms, creating an indelible, iconic image in American sports. After it was over, Berra reportedly quipped to Larsen that he'd performed the baseball equivalent of walking on water. Years later, Larsen said, "He jumped on me, my mind went blank. Probably still is."
After the game, a reporter asked Stengel perhaps one of the most obvious questions a sports reporter has ever posed: Was this the best game Larsen had ever pitched? Stengel diplomatically answered, "So far!"
Don Larsen's unparalleled game earned him the award for World Series MVP. Alluding to Larsen's carousing habits and lackluster record, the following day's
New York Daily News included the well-remembered lead suggested by columnist
Dick Young, "
The imperfect man pitched the perfect game."
Fifty years later, color home movie footage of Don Larsen's Perfect Game shot by Saul Terry, of Jupiter Fla., while on his honeymoon was found, according to both
The Palm Beach Post
and
USA Today. The
Zapruder-like 8mm film footage contains shots from the right field stands of the historic last out, Mickey Mantle's famous catch, Duke Snider's catch, Billy Martin's backpedaling catch, two Yankee pitchers warming up in the bullpen at the Top of the 9th inning, fans running on to the field after the last out and scenes before and after the game outside of Yankee Stadium.
In
2007, Don, Yogi Berra, and about 100 others watched an unearthed copy of the original broadcast courtesy of Illinois collector Doak Ewing according to ESPN. Don was heard to remark "It ended the way I hoped it would" after the game ended.
Further career
Larsen would win additional World Series games, one each in the two classic tilts with the
Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and . Both of those Series went to a seventh game, and Larsen was New York's starting pitcher in both of them. However, he lasted just 2.1 innings in each of the starts, losing the 1957 finale and taking a no-decision in 1958.
Both the Yankees' and Don Larsen's fortunes would dip in . New York slipped to third place and Don Larsen dropped below .500 for the first time in his Yankee career, going 6-7. He was part of the trade to the
Kansas City Athletics that brought
Roger Maris to the Yankees.
He made a comeback of sorts in, going 8-2 while playing for both the Kansas City (now Oakland) A's and the
Chicago White Sox. Joining San Francisco in, Larsen became a full-time relief pitcher, anchoring a strong bullpen that included
Bob Bolin and
Stu Miller. He had five wins with 11 saves for the pennant-winning Giants. In fact, Larsen won the deciding game of the three-game playoff series against the L.A. Dodgers, relieving
Juan Marichal in the eighth inning. In the 1962 World Series, Larsen won Game 4 in relief, giving him a career World Series record of 4-2 with an ERA of 2.75.
In, the pitching-poor
Houston Colt .45s pressed Larsen back into a starting role. He responded well at age 35, going 4-8 with a fine 2.27 ERA. Larsen was also a good-hitting pitcher, finishing his career with a .242 average and 14 home runs. He was regarded well enough by his managers that he was used as a pinch hitter 66 times.
Post career
Larsen was in
Yankee Stadium for two of baseball's 15 modern perfect games: his own in 1956, and
David Cone's in . Cone's game occurred on Yogi Berra Day; Larsen threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Berra before the game.
When
David Wells threw a perfect game in, it was noted that, coincidentally, Larsen and Wells had both attended
San Diego's Point Loma High School. Larsen phoned Wells to congratulate him, and later told a reporter, "He won't forget it. He'll think about it every day, like I do."
Over the years, Larsen has often been asked whether he ever gets tired of talking about the same one game. "No," he says, "why should I?"
Trivia
Don Larsen's license plate number is DL000, representing his initials and the no-hit, no-run, no-error line score from his perfect game.
The headline in the New York Daily News for Larsen's game read, "ZERO HERO."
Joe Torre was a 16-year-old spectator at the game. He sat in the left field upper deck. Torre is a former manager of the New York Yankees and is the current manager of the Dodgers, who left Brooklyn and relocated to Los Angeles, California after the 1958 season.
When pitcher Bob Trice made his major league debut for the Philadelphia Athletics, he became the first black player in Athletics history. He lost to the St. Louis Browns 5-2...Don Larsen was the winning pitcher.
Umpire Pinelli later commented, "What a spot to be in...if I were to call a base on balls, it would go down as the Crime of the Century."
On the day of the perfect game, Larsen's wife Vivian filed for divorce.
Larsen's Game 4 victory in the 1962 World Series occurred on October 8, six years to the day and in the same stadium where he pitched his perfecto.Further Information
Get more info on 'Don Larsen'.
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