A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher (or combination of pitchers) pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base.[2] Thus, the pitcher (or pitchers) cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any other reason: in short, "27 up, 27 down". The feat has been achieved 23 times in the history of major league baseball—21 times since the modern era began in 1900, most recently by Félix Hernández of the Seattle Mariners on August 15, 2012.
A perfect game is also a no-hitter and a shutout. Since the pitcher cannot control whether or not his teammates commit any errors, the pitcher must be backed up by solid fielding to pitch a perfect game. An error that does not allow a batter to get on base, such as a misplayed foul ball, does not spoil a perfect game. Weather-shortened contests in which a team has no baserunners and games in which a team reaches first base only in extra innings do not qualify as official perfect games under the present definition. The first confirmed use of the term "perfect game" was in 1908; the current official definition of the term was formalized in 1991. Although it is possible for multiple pitchers to combine for a perfect game (as has happened ten times at the major league level for a no-hitter), to date, every major league perfect game has been thrown by a single pitcher.[3]
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History [edit]
The first known use in print of the term perfect game occurred in 1908. I. E. Sanborn's report for the Chicago Tribune about 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."[4] Several sources have claimed (erroneously) that the first recorded usage of the term "perfect game" was by Ernest J. Lanigan in his Baseball Cyclopedia, made in reference to Robertson's 1922 game.[5] The Chicago Tribune came close to the term in describing Richmond's game in 1880: "Richmond was most effectively supported, every position on the home nine being played to perfection."[6] Similarly, in writing up Ward's perfect game, the New York Clipper described the "perfect play" of Providence's defense.[7]
The current official 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.[8] 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 receives credit for neither a perfect game nor a no-hitter for his performance on May 26, 1959 when he threw 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves before allowing a baserunner in the 13th.[9]
See also [edit]
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- Golden set in tennis
- Maximum break in snooker
- Nine-dart finish in darts
- Perfect game in bowling
Notes [edit]
- ^ Madden, Bill (September 12, 2008). "Yogi Berra's Favorite Stadium Moment: Don Larsen's Perfect Game". Daily News. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
- ^ "MLB Miscellany: Rules, Regulations and Statistics". Major League Baseball. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
- ^ "History: No-hitters". Major League Baseball. Retrieved August 22, 2007.
- ^ Deutsch et al. (1975), p. 68. This source also includes an 1880 clipping from the New York Herald describing John Richmond's perfect game for Worcester. A double error by Cleveland resulted in the lone run scoring, and the writer described it as "the only lapse from perfect play made by the Clevelands during the game"; the use of the word "perfect" in this context refers only to defensive play, a different meaning than its modern baseball sense, as Cleveland's pitcher also surrendered three hits and a walk. See Deutsch et al. (1975), p. 14. Writeups for the Ward perfect game of 1880 and the Young game of 1904 describe the games as "wonderful" and other effusive terms, but do not use the term "perfect game".
- ^ Buckley (2002), p. 16, citing Paul Dickson, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (1989); Coffey (2004), p. 50. The Baseball Cyclopedia reference came in a supplement to the 1922 edition of the book (a publication of Baseball Magazine) and was worded thus: "Charles Robertson of Chicago Americans pitched an absolutely perfect no-hit game against Detroit on April 30, 1922, no one reaching first." The publication listed all the perfect games to that point (a total of five, including Robertson's) and used the term "perfect game" matter-of-factly, possibly indicating the term was already familiar to the readership. Lanigan's work references a 1914 book called Balldom as a source for his list of perfect games, although Balldom itself does not use the term "perfect game", merely characterizing the games as "no batter reached first base." Lanigan was also familiar with Sanborn's baseball articles, making various references to him elsewhere in the Cyclopedia, although there is nothing indicating that Sanborn necessarily inspired Lanigan's use of the term.
- ^ Buckley (2002), p. 15.
- ^ Buckley (2002), p. 26.
- ^ Young (1997), p. 29.
- ^ Forker, Obojski, and Stewart (2004), p. 116.
Sources [edit]
- Alvarez, Mark, ed. (1993). The Perfect Game: A Classic Collection of Facts, Figures, Stories and Characters from the Society for American Baseball Research (Taylor). ISBN 0-87833-815-2
- Anderson, David W. (2000). More Than Merkle: A History of the Best and Most Exciting Baseball Season in Human History (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press). ISBN 0-8032-1056-6
- Browning, Reed (2003). Cy Young: A Baseball Life (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press). ISBN 1-55849-398-0
- Buckley, Jr., James (2002). Perfect: The Inside Story of Baseball's Seventeen Perfect Games (Triumph Books). ISBN 1-57243-454-6
- Chen, Albert (2009). "The Greatest Game Ever Pitched", Sports Illustrated (June 1; available online).
- Coffey, Michael (2004). 27 Men Out: Baseball's Perfect Games (New York: Atria Books). ISBN 0-7434-4606-2
- Cook, William A. (2004). Waite Hoyt: A Biography of the Yankees' Schoolboy Wonder (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland). ISBN 0786419601
- Deutsch, Jordan A. et al. (1975). The Scrapbook History of Baseball (New York: Bobbs-Merrill). ISBN 0-672-52028-1
- Deveaux, Tom (2001). The Washington Senators, 1901–1971 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland). ISBN 0-7864-0993-2
- Dewey, Donald, and Nicholas Acocella (1995). The Biographical History of Baseball (New York: Carroll & Graf). ISBN 1-57243-567-4
- Dickson, Paul (2009). The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, 3d ed. (New York: W. W. Norton). ISBN 0-393-06681-9
- Egan, James M. (2008). Base Ball on the Western Reserve: The Early Game in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, Year by Year and Town by Town, 1865–1900 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland). ISBN 0-7864-3067-2
- Elston, Gene (2006). A Stitch in Time: A Baseball Chronology, 3d ed. (Houston, Tex.: Halcyon Press). ISBN 1-931823-33-2
- Fleitz, David L. (2004). Ghosts in the Gallery at Cooperstown: Sixteen Little-Known Members of the Hall of Fame (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland). ISBN 0-7864-1749-8
- Forker, Dom, Robert Obojski, and Wayne Stewart (2004). The Big Book of Baseball Brainteasers (Sterling). ISBN 1-4027-1337-1
- Gallagher, Mark (2003). The Yankee Encyclopedia, 6th ed. (Champaign, Ill.: Sports Publishing LLC). ISBN 1-58261-683-3
- Hanlon, John (1968). "First Perfect Game In the Major Leagues", Sports Illustrated (August 26; available online).
- Holtzman, Jerome (2003). "Pitching Perfection Is in the Eye of the Beholder", Baseball Digest (June; available online).
- James, Bill. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, rev. ed. (Simon and Schuster, 2003). ISBN 0-7432-2722-0
- Kennedy, Kostya (1996). "His Memory Is Perfect", Sports Illustrated (October 14; available online)
- Lewis, Allen (2002). "Tainted No-hitters", Baseball Digest (February; available online).
- Lupica, Mike (1999). Summer of '98: When Homers Flew, Records Fell, and Baseball Reclaimed America (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons). ISBN 0-399-14514-1
- McNeil, William F. (2003). The Dodgers Encyclopedia, 2d ed. (Champaign, Ill.: Sports Publishing LLC). ISBN 1-58261-633-7
- Nemec, David (2006 [1994]). The Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated (Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot). ISBN 1-59228-844-8
- Newman, Bruce (1981). "Perfect in Every Way", Sports Illustrated (May 25; available online).
- Nowlin, Bill (2005). "Rick Wise", in '75: The Red Sox Team That Saved Baseball, ed. Bill Nowlin and Cecilia Tan (Cambridge, Mass.: Rounder). ISBN 1-57940-127-9
- Okrent, Daniel, and Steve Wulf (1989). Baseball Anecdotes (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press). ISBN 0-19-504396-0
- Reisler, Jim (2007). The Best Game Ever: Pirates vs. Yankees, October 13, 1960 (New York: Carroll & Graf). ISBN 0-7867-1943-5
- Robbins, Mike (2004). Ninety Feet from Fame: Close Calls with Baseball Immortality (New York: Carroll & Graf). ISBN 0-7867-1335-6
- Schneider, Russell (2005). The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia, 3d ed. (Champaign, Ill.: Sports Publishing LLC). ISBN 1-58261-840-2
- Schott, Tom, and Nick Peters (2003). The Giants Encyclopedia (Champaign, Ill.: Sports Publishing LLC). ISBN 1-58261-693-0
- Simon, Thomas P., ed. (2004). Deadball Stars of the National League (Brassey's). ISBN 1-57488-860-9
- Sullivan, Dean, ed. (2002). Late Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1945–1972 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press). ISBN 0-8032-9285-6
- Thielman, Jim (2005). Cool of the Evening: The 1965 Minnesota Twins (Minneapolis, Minn.: Kirk House Publishers). ISBN 1886513716
- Vass, George (1998). "Here Are the 13 Most Fascinating No-Hitters", Baseball Digest (June).
- Vass, George (2002). "Seven Most Improbable No-Hitters", Baseball Digest (August; available online).
- Vass, George (2007). "One Out Away from Fame: The Final Out of Hitless Games Has Often Proved to Be a Pitcher's Toughest Conquest", Baseball Digest (June; available online).
- Westcott, Rich (2005). Veterans Stadium: Field of Memories (Philadelphia: Temple University Press). ISBN 1-59213-428-9
- Young, Mark C. (1997). The Guinness Book of Sports Records (Guinness Media). ISBN 0-9652383-1-8
- Zingg, Paul J., and Mark D. Medeiros (1994). Runs, Hits, and an Era: the Pacific Coast League, 1903–58 (Champaign: University of Illinois Press). ISBN 0-252-06402-X
External links [edit]
- Perfect Games Baseball Almanac links to boxscores of both official and unofficial games
- Pitchers who retired 27 consecutive batters or more over a span of two or more games Baseball Prospectus article by Keith Woolner on "hidden" perfect games (also see the follow-up)
- Rare Feats: Perfect Games MLB.com links to historical video and audio extracts
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