Perfect Games, like their slightly less impressive brethren, No-Hitters, have occurred in almost every era in the history of baseball including the pre-regulated days of the 1880s. Of the 18 perfect games in the history of professional baseball, two such games happened before it was guaranteed that four balls meant a walk and there was such thing as an over-hand curveball.
In 1880, there were two perfect games but no American League. The American Association (precursor to the American League) was broken down and rebuild many times before the National League took it in in 1891. Before then, the National League was all that was considered Major League Baseball. There was no World Series, no All-Star Games, definitely no million-dollar contracts.
Actually, in 1880 baseball had not even been segregated yet. Africans Americans, such as Moses Fleetwood “Fleet” Walker and his brother, Welday, played professional baseball before the bigoted “gentleman’s agreement” to keep players of color out of the major leaguers took place during the 1887 season. It wasn’t until Jackie Robinson’s debut in 1947 that things became right again.
Baseball was a different game in 1880. Some of the differences were for the better, some for the worse, most were just terribly disorganized. I do not want to take anything away from Lee Richmond (6/12/1880), Monte Ward (6/17/1880), the Worchester Ruby Legs or the Providence Grays, but baseball before the turn of the twentieth century was nothing close to the modern game and its records should not be listed side by side with those of the modern game.
Back to the topic – Two of those 18 perfect games can be all but erased from the MLB record books. Since the AL/NL merger of 1901 there have been 16 perfect games and 221 other no-hitters. The NL saw 23 no-hitters and 2 perfectos before the merger – including 12 in 1884 alone.
The Select Few
With Mark Buehrle’s performance on Thursday, the Chicago White Sox become one of only three teams since 1900 to throw more than one perfect game. The Yankees have thrown the most with three flawless games in their history.
Yankee starter, Don Larsen threw his perfect game in game five of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. In just two hours and six minutes, Larsen shut down “‘Dem Bums” in front of over 64,000 fans on the way winning the Yankees’ seventeenth World Series title.
David Wells and David Cone threw perfect games in 1998 and 1999, respectively, en route to the twenty-third and twenty-fourth titles in the storied history of the Bronx Bombers.
Of all teams in the last 109 seasons, who would you think would be the third team to throw numerous perfectos? Boston? Detroit? The Braves or the Rangers in the ‘90s? Nope.
The only team other than Chicago and New York to have more than one perfect game thrown by their pitchers is the Cleveland Indians.
The Best Ever
One of my favorite pitchers in history, Adrian “Addie” Joss was the first Cleveland hurler to be flawless. Joss was a member of two teams that later became the Indians – Cleveland Blues and Cleveland Naps (named for Player/ Manager Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie),
The story of his perfect game quickly became a creature of legend as it was widely revered by experts as the best pitching duel of the dead-ball era and possibly the best of all time. Joss and White Sox ace Ed Walsh were friends but at the same time intense rivals. At the very tail end of the 1908 season, both the Sox and Naps were in closing phases of a dramatic pennant race. The White Sox, Naps and Tigers fought until the bitter end of the season to represent the AL in what was to be only the fifth World Series.
Both pitchers were the best in the AL in this particular year.
Joss would end the year 24-11 with a 1.16 ERA in 35 starts while Walsh would finish 40-15 with a 1.42 ERA in 49 starts (66 appearances). Forty-two of his 49 starts resulted in complete games. Walsh’s 464 innings pitched in that single season are a record that is just as unlikely to be broken as Cy Young’s career win/ loss marks.
Ed Walsh in 1908. Photo: Library of Congress and Chicago Daily News
As the game goes down on October 2, 1908, Ed Walsh throws a complete game which included fifteen strikeouts and one un-earned run. Joss saw Walsh’s performance and raised him a perfect game. Joss’ gem took just one hour and twenty-nine minutes and only took 74 pitches to achieve.
The two dead-ball-era aces still sit atop the all-time ranks in ERA (Walsh 1.82, Joss 1.89). Joss died at 31 years-old due to tubercular meningitis after playing just nine Major League seasons.
The Other Elite
Cleveland’s other perfect game comes from an odd source. Len Barker, a pitcher whose career numbers make him quite forgettable in the halls of history. He pitched a perfect game in mid-May 1981.
Barker finished the season with three complete-game shut-outs and an 8-7 record in 22 starts. His 3.91 ERA in ’81 was amongst the best of his career. He would finish his 11 season Major League career two games under .500 with an ERA in the mid fours.
The other Chi-Sox perfecto came from a similar source. In late April of 1922 Charlie Robertson threw what was without a double the pinnacle of his professional career. In the ’22 season Robertson, like Barker, threw three complete game shut outs.
Robertson, however, threw 21 total complete games that season – It was a different game then.
White Sox Pitcher Charlie Robertson in 1922. Photo: Chicago Daily News and Library of Congress
Despite the perfect game, 21 CG, and 3 SHO, Robertson would end the 1922 season one game under .500 which is as close as he would ever come to that mark. Robertson would leave baseball after eight seasons (In only four of which did he start more than 20 games) with a 4.44 ERA and a record where he would lose 31 games more than he would win.
Mark Buehrle is currently 35 games over .500 with an ERA of 3.80 in nine seasons.
No Surprises Here
Some of the other pitchers who have had recorded 27 straight hitters wouldn’t really surprise anyone. Three more of baseball’s best fit in one this list and two others who just so happen to be Hall of Famers are also a part of the elite club to which Buehrle has recently joined.
Cy Young threw the first perfect game of the twentieth century to go with a No-hitter in 1887 and 1908. His unfaltering performance on May 5, 1904 is merely just another gem in a diamond mine. Young’s career numbers include and unimaginable 511 wins with 316 losses, a career 2.63 ERA and five season of 30 or more wins.
Cy Young with the Boston Americans in 1903. Photo: Library of Congress and Chicago Daily News
No wonder they named an award after him.
Sandy Koufax is another ace who surprises no one by being on this list. Koufax has three other No-Hitters to go along with his perfect game (9/9/1965). Koufax earned three Cy Young awards in what was possibly the greatest generation for pitcher domination in the modern era. In his brief 12 year career, Koufax won 25 games or more three times on his way to a 165-87 record with a 2.76 career ERA.
Randy Johnson, who will be in the Hall of Fame exactly five years after he decides to retire, is the third “no shock” pitcher on this list. Johnson recorded his first No-Hitter in his third major league season and a perfect game 14 years later (5/18/2004). Johnson recorded his 300th win this season and is only 131 strikeouts away from 5,000 in his career. His five CY Young awards and career high 372 strikeouts in a single season make him a sure-thing for Cooperstown.
“Catfish” Hunter and Jim Bunning are two other Hall of Famers, justifiably or not, who have also thrown perfect games. Bunning has both a No-Hitter and a Perfect Game (6/21/1964) to his credit while “Catfish” has just that one amazing game to live on (5/8/1968).
Wrap
With his perfect game on Thursday (7/23/2009) Mark Buehrle joins a club that includes five men who have been immortalized in Cooperstown, NY and another that is soon to be.
Buehrle is in his tenth season in the majors and fine-tunes his craft more and more every season. Given the fact that he is a lefty and has a solid change-up in his repertoire, Buehrle could be a pitcher for a long time to come. He already has 133 victories.
With a No-Hitter and Perfect Game to coincide with an ERA in the low threes and a record nearing 40 games over .500, it is not long before we start hearing the southpaw’s name thrown into Cooperstown discussions.
Congratulations Mark Buehrle.
Sometimes it is important to put things into context when you start hearing overwhelming amounts of talk regarding an event. This perfect pitching performance really is as amazing as the baseball fandome and experts have made it out to be. If you don’t understand why, please read this again and just think about what kind of company this one event puts Buehrle in line with.
(Here is a complete list of baseballs perfect games)
May 10th, 2010 at 5:17 am
[...] NateWorthy Notes: ______________________ To check out my column on the history of the perfect game, written last July, click this Link [...]