![]() Yankees pitcher David Cone, eleven days after his perfect game. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date | July 18, 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Venue | Yankee Stadium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
City | Bronx, New York | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Managers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Television | WNYW | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TV announcers | Bobby Murcer (play-by-play) Tim McCarver (color commentary) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Radio | WABC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Radio announcers | John Sterling (play-by-play) Michael Kay (color commentary) |
On July 18, 1999, David Cone of the New York Yankees pitched the 16th perfect game in Major League Baseball (MLB) history and the third in team history, and the first no-hit game in regular season interleague play. Cone pitched it against the Montreal Expos at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, with 41,930 fans in attendance. The game took 2 hours and 49 minutes, from 2:05 PM ET to 4:54 PM ET. The game was interrupted by a 33-minute rain delay in the bottom of the third inning in the middle of an at-bat for Tino Martinez. As part of the day's "Yogi Berra Day" festivities honoring the Yankees' former catcher, before the game, former Yankees pitcher Don Larsen threw the ceremonial first pitch to Berra; the two comprised the battery for Larsen's perfect game in 1956.
Cone's perfect game was the 247th no-hitter in MLB history, and 11th in Yankees history. The previous perfect game in both MLB and Yankee history was 14 months prior on May 17, 1998, when David Wells pitched a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium; Wells' perfect game was also the most recent no-hitter in franchise history at the time. Cone's perfect game gave the Yankees the record for the franchise with most perfect games, breaking a two-perfect game tie with the Cleveland Guardians. Since Cone's perfect game, the Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, and Chicago White Sox have recorded their second perfect games, with the White Sox tying the Yankees with a third perfect game in 2012. However, the Yankees once again took the lead on June 28, 2023, when pitcher Domingo Germán threw his own perfect game against Oakland, now standing alone with four. To date, Cone's perfect game is the only one achieved in regular-season interleague play. [1]
The Yankees' third perfect game was witnessed by the battery that executed its first perfect game. Before the game began, Don Larsen, who pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series, threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Yogi Berra, who caught that game. [2] It was Yogi Berra Day at the stadium, as he had recently reconciled with owner George Steinbrenner. [3]
Cone never worked a count more unfavorable to the pitcher than 2–0. A 33-minute rain delay interrupted the game in the third inning. [4] The Yankees scored most of their runs in the second inning. Chili Davis walked, then Ricky Ledée hit a two-run home run into the upper right field deck. Scott Brosius was hit by a pitch, then scored on a double by Joe Girardi. Girardi was tagged out between second and third trying to stretch the hit into a triple. Chuck Knoblauch worked a walk and then Derek Jeter hit a home run to make it 5–0. In the eighth inning, O'Neill led off with a double to right and scored on a single to center by Bernie Williams. In the third inning, Cone recorded three strikeouts. In the eighth inning Knoblauch, whose defense had significantly deteriorated since the 1997 season, made a good defensive play when Jose Vidro hit a ball hard between first and second. Knoblauch moved quickly to his left, fielded it cleanly, and made a strong throw to first, retiring Vidro and preserving the perfect game.
Cone struck out Chris Widger swinging to start the ninth. Ryan McGuire pinch hit for Shane Andrews and hit a soft fly ball to left field. Ricky Ledée seemed to momentarily lose the ball in the sun, but made the play, and would say afterward he was not sure how he did so. The last batter, Orlando Cabrera, popped up to third baseman Scott Brosius in foul territory to end the game. [4] Immediately afterwards, Cone fell on his knees and into the arms of his catcher Girardi. Cone's teammates then lifted him off the field. When Cone returned to his locker, Berra and Larsen were waiting for him, and together embraced him. [5]
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Montreal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
New York | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 6 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
WP: David Cone (10–4) LP: Javier Vasquez (2–5) Home runs: MTL: None NYY: Ricky Ledee (3), Derek Jeter (16) |
FIELDING
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BATTING
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David Cone had nearly the same Yankee lineup behind him for his perfect game as David Wells did. The only exceptions were that Cone had Ledee as his left fielder and Davis as his designated hitter, while Wells was backed by Chad Curtis and Darryl Strawberry respectively. In addition, Jorge Posada, who had caught Wells' perfect game, was on the bench for Cone's perfect game.
After his perfect game, Cone seemed to decline rapidly. He never threw another shutout in his career. In 2000, he posted a career-worst 4–14 record [7] with a 6.91 ERA. In the 2000 World Series, he faced one batter, Mike Piazza in Game 4. It was a key at-bat, though; the Mets had two runners on, and were threatening to take the lead. Yankees' manager Joe Torre unconventionally lifted starter Denny Neagle after just 4+2⁄3 innings and went to Cone, who induced a Mike Piazza pop-up to end the fifth inning. [8]
The 2001 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2001 season. The 97th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Arizona Diamondbacks and the three-time defending World Series champions and American League (AL) champion New York Yankees. The underdog Diamondbacks defeated the heavily favored Yankees, four games to three to win the series. Considered one of the greatest World Series of all time, its memorable aspects included two extra-inning games and three late-inning comebacks. Diamondbacks pitchers Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were both named World Series Most Valuable Players.
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was an 18-time All-Star and won 10 World Series championships as a player—more than any other player in MLB history. Berra had a career batting average of .285, while hitting 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of only six players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
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 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 interference, fielder's obstruction, or fielding errors which allow a batter to reach base.
David Brian Cone is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, and current color commentator for the New York Yankees on the YES Network and Amazon Prime as well as for ESPN on Sunday Night Baseball. A third round draft pick of the Kansas City Royals in 1981 MLB Draft, he made his MLB debut in 1986 and continued playing until 2003, pitching for five different teams. Cone batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
Don James Larsen was an American professional baseball pitcher. During a 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he pitched from 1953 to 1967 for seven different teams: the St. Louis Browns / Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees (1955–1959), Kansas City Athletics (1960–1961), Chicago White Sox (1961), San Francisco Giants (1962–1964), Houston Colt .45's / Astros (1964–65), and Chicago Cubs (1967).
Scott David Brosius is an American former professional baseball third baseman for the Oakland Athletics (1991–1997) and the New York Yankees (1998–2001) of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was an MLB All-Star in 1998 and won a Gold Glove Award in 1999. Brosius was a member of three consecutive World Series champions with the Yankees from 1998 to 2000 and won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award in 1998.
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