A perfect game, by definition, is also a no-hitter, a win, and a shutout. A fieldingerror that does not allow a batter to reach base, such as a misplayed foul ball, does not spoil a perfect game.[3] 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), the feat has been achieved 23 times– 21 times since the modern era began in 1901, most recently by Félix Hernández of the Seattle Mariners on August 15, 2012. Although it is possible for several pitchers to combine for a perfect game (which has happened 19 times in MLB no-hitters[4]), every MLB perfect game so far has been thrown by a single pitcher.[5]Nippon Professional Baseball's2007 Japan Series ended with a combined perfect game.
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".[6] 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.[7] 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."[8] Similarly, in writing up John Montgomery Ward's 1880 perfect game, the New York Clipper described the "perfect play" of Providence's defense.[9]
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.[10]
Ron Hassey is the only catcher in MLB history to have caught more than one perfect game (his first was with pitcher Len Barker in 1981 and his second was with pitcher Dennis Martínez in 1991).[11][12]
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.[14] 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.[15]
A rule change in effect for the 2020 through 2022 seasons awarded the offensive team a free runner on second base each half-inning during extra innings. This rule opened the possibility of a team scoring a run (batting in the free baserunner on a sacrifice fly, for example) without any player ever reaching first base. This would still have been recorded as a perfect game according to MLB's official record-keeper, the Elias Sports Bureau, since an automatic runner is not a batter who reached base safely.[16] Another rule change effective for the same two seasons 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.[16] During those two seasons, no potential perfect games were affected. Both rule changes were expected to be reversed prior to the 2022 season; however, the extra innings rule did return while doubleheaders reverted to a full nine-inning length.
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.[17]
↑ Deutsch et al. (1975), p. 68. This source also includes an 1880 clipping from the New York Herald describing Lee 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.
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External links
Perfect GamesBaseball Almanac links to boxscores of both official and unofficial games
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