Perfect game (baseball)

For other uses, see Perfect game.
The "everlasting image" of New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra leaping into the arms of pitcher Don Larsen after the completion of Larsen's perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series

In baseball, a perfect game is a game in which one or more pitchers complete a minimum of nine innings with no batter from the opposing team reaching any base. To achieve a perfect game, a team must not allow any opposing player to reach base by any means: no hits, walks, hit batsmen, uncaught third strikes, catcher's or fielder's interference, or fielding errors which allow a batter to reach base.

A perfect game, by definition, is also a no-hitter, and is also guaranteed to result in a win and a shutout if the game does not go into extra innings. In leagues that use a WBSC tiebreaker (including MLB since 2020), runners are placed on second base, and in some leagues, also on first base at the start of each half inning during extra innings; this automatic runner would not cause a perfect game to be lost. Therefore, if the runner advances and scores without any batters reaching base (by means of stolen base, sacrifice, fielder's choice, etc.), and this turns out to be the winning run, then the losing team will still be credited with a perfect game, despite losing the game. A fielding error that does not allow a batter to reach base, such as a misplayed foul ball, does not spoil a perfect game. Games that last fewer than nine innings, regardless of cause, in which a team has no baserunners do not qualify as perfect games. Games in which a team reaches first base only in extra innings also do not qualify as perfect games.

The first known use of the term perfect game was in 1908; its current definition was formalized in 1991. In Major League Baseball (MLB), it has been achieved 24 times – 22 times since the modern era began in 1901, most recently by Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees on June 28, 2023, against the Oakland Athletics. Although it is possible for two or more pitchers to combine for a perfect game (which has happened 20 times in MLB no-hitters), every MLB perfect game so far has been thrown by a single pitcher. Nippon Professional Baseball's 2007 Japan Series ended with a combined perfect game.

History

See also: List of Major League Baseball perfect games

The first known occurrence of the term perfect game in print was in 1908. I. E. Sanborn's report for the Chicago Tribune about Addie Joss's performance against the White Sox calls it "an absolutely perfect game, without run, without hit, and without letting an opponent reach first base by hook or crook, on hit, walk, or error, in nine innings". Several sources have claimed that the first recorded usage of perfect game was by Ernest J. Lanigan in his Baseball Cyclopedia, made in reference to Charlie Robertson's 1922 perfect game. The Chicago Tribune came close to the term in describing Lee Richmond's game for Worcester in 1880: "Richmond was most effectively supported, every position on the home nine being played to perfection." Similarly, in writing up John Montgomery Ward's 1880 perfect game, the New York Clipper described the "perfect play" of Providence's defense.

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) existed from 1943 to 1954. Four of its players pitched a perfect game: Annabelle Lee in 1944, Carolyn Morris in 1945, Doris Sams in 1947, and Jean Faut in 1951 (against the Rockford Peaches) and again in 1953 (against the Kalamazoo Lassies). Faut is the only professional baseball player, male or female, to have pitched two perfect games.

There has been one perfect game in the World Series, thrown by Don Larsen for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers on October 8, 1956. By coincidence, Larsen was in attendance when Yankee pitcher David Cone threw a perfect game in 1999 on the same day that Larsen and Yogi Berra (the catcher in the 1956 perfect game) were invited to do the ceremonial first pitch.

Ron Hassey is the only catcher in MLB history to have caught more than one perfect game. His first was with pitcher Len Barker (for the Cleveland Indians against the Toronto Blue Jays) in 1981 and his second was with pitcher Dennis Martínez (for the Montreal Expos against the Los Angeles Dodgers) in 1991.

The most recent perfect game for MLB occurred on June 28, 2023, with Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees against the Oakland Athletics in a 11–0 victory, finishing with 9 strikeouts. Germán became the first-ever pitcher born in the Dominican Republic to throw a perfect game in the MLB, as well as the third-ever non-American-born player to do so.

Rule definition by MLB

As of 2021, the Major League Baseball definition of a perfect game is largely a side effect of the decision made by the major leagues' Committee for Statistical Accuracy on September 4, 1991, to redefine a no-hitter as a game in which the pitcher or pitchers on one team throw a complete game of nine innings or more without surrendering a hit. That decision removed a number of games that had long appeared in the record books: those lasting fewer than nine innings, and those in which a team went hitless in regulation but then got a hit in extra innings. The definition of perfect game was made to parallel this new definition of the no-hitter, in effect substituting "baserunner" for "hit". As a result of the 1991 redefinition, for instance, Harvey Haddix does not receive credit for a perfect game or a no-hitter for his performance on May 26, 1959, when he threw 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves before a batter reached in the 13th.

Since MLB implementation of the softball variant of the WBSC tie-breaker in 2020, the offensive team is awarded a free runner on second base each half-inning during extra innings. This itself would not end a perfect game, even if the runner scores or is erased on a double play. Another rule change effective for two seasons (2020–2021) stipulated that games that are part of doubleheaders last only seven innings. Such a game in which one team did not reach first base would not have been credited as a perfect game (similar to weather-shortened games). However, if such a doubleheader game were to have at least two extra innings and one team still did not reach first base, then the game would have been credited as a perfect game. During those two seasons, no potential perfect games were affected but there were two potential no-hitters affected.

Both rule changes were expected to be reversed prior to the 2022 season, but the international tiebreaker was permanently added to the Official rules of Major League Baseball regular season rules in February 2023. The WBSC tiebreaker is not used in postseason play.

In other leagues

See also: Nippon Professional Baseball § Perfect games

In Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the first perfect game was thrown by Hideo Fujimoto of the Giants on June 28, 1950, against the Nishi Nippon Pirates. 16 total have been thrown in NPB, with the most recent perfect game for NPB by Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Rōki Sasaki on April 10, 2022. Sasaki tied an existing NPB record by striking out 19 batters, and set a new record by striking out 13 consecutive batters. Sasaki compiled a game score of 106, surpassing the 105 for Kerry Wood's 20 strikeout game from the 1998 Major League Baseball season, which was the highest MLB game score since the end of the baseball color line.

On April 11, 2021, University of North Texas softball pitcher Hope Trautwein threw a perfect game, facing 21 batters and striking out all 21. It was the first seven-inning perfect game with every out being a strikeout in NCAA Division I history.

The only perfect game thrown in a Little League World Series championship was by Ángel Macías of the Monterrey, Mexico, team in 1957.

The only perfect game thrown in Chinese Professional Baseball League play was by Ryan Verdugo of the Uni-President Lions on October 7, 2018, against the Chinatrust Brothers, in a game where Kuo Fu-Lin had to hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to win the game and preserve the perfect game, 1-0.

Four Puerto Rico pitchers combined for an 8-inning perfect game against Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Starter José De León recorded ten strikeouts in 5+2⁄3 innings, and three relievers recorded the remaining outs before the game ended early because of the mercy rule. It was ruled to not be a perfect game by the Elias Sports Bureau as they stipulate that a perfect game must last at least 9 innings. Puerto Rico international José De León stated at the time that "It's perfect for us".

See also