Baseball pitcher, born in Michigan City, Indiana, USA. He was known during his 21 years in organized baseball as a colourful, old-fashioned, fun-loving player of average major league abilities. But on 8 October 1956, in the fifth game of the New York Yankees-Brooklyn Dodgers World Series, with his 97th and final pitch of the day, he struck out Dodgers pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell and became the only pitcher in baseball history ever to pitch a perfect World Series game (20). During his career, Larsen pitched for nine major league teams and had a mediocre 8191 record. Upon retirement (1968) he became a salesman for the Blake-Moffit & Towne paper company of San Francisco.
Career statistics
Don Larsen's career won-loss record was 81-91, as a journeyman pitcher for seven different franchises from 1953-1967. In 1954, 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 1955-1959, Larsen was used by manager Casey Stengel as a backup starter and occasional reliever. His 1956 season was the best of Larsen's career;
Larsen also had a reputation as a partier. Larsen's teammates gave the gangly righthander the nickname "Gooney Bird."
The perfect game
Larsen's singular accomplishment was pitching the only perfect game, with the New York Yankees, in the history of the World Series, and one of only 17 perfect games overall.
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 did not 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. 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 did not desert him. Larsen's catcher Yogi Berra said, "His stuff was good, good, good. Fortunately for Larsen, it bounced straight to shortstop Gil McDougald, who threw out Robinson in a close play.
Brooklyn's Maglie also pitched an outstanding game, giving up only two runs on five hits. 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; 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.
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. On his 97th pitch, a called strike, Larsen caught Mitchell looking for the 27th and last out.
But all eyes were on Larsen. After it was over, Berra reportedly quipped to Larsen that he had performed the baseball equivalent of walking on water. Years later, Larsen said, "He jumped on me, my mind went blank.
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."
50 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 rightfield 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.
Further career
Larsen would win additional World Series games, one each in the two classic tilts with the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and 1958. Both of those Series went to a seventh game, and Larsen was New York's starting pitcher in both of them.
Both the Yankees' and Don Larsen's fortunes would dip in 1959. New York slipped to third place and Don Larsen dropped below .500 for the first time in his Yankee career, going 6-7. Joining San Francisco in 1962, Larsen became a full-time relief pitcher, anchoring a strong bullpen that included Bob Bolin and Stu Miller. In fact, Larsen won the deciding game of the three-game playoff series against the L.A. 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 1964, the pitching-poor Houston Colt .45s pressed Larsen back into a starting role. Larsen was also a good-hitting pitcher, finishing his career with a .242 average and 14 home runs.
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 1999. Larsen threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Berra before the game.
When David Wells threw a perfect game in 1998, 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.
Larsen's career was mostly forgettable, and is typically boiled down to those 2 hours and 6 minutes on October 8, 1956. Over the years, Larsen has often been asked whether he ever gets tired of talking about the same one game.
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