October 8, 1956: Don Larsen's Perfect Game

October 8, 1956: Game 5 of the World Series is played at the original Yankee Stadium in The Bronx. The previous year, the Brooklyn Dodgers had beaten the New York Yankees in the Series. They had previously been 0-7 in World Series, including 0-5 against the Yankees.

This time, the Dodgers had won Games 1 and 2 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. This included the Game 2 start of the Yankees' Don Larsen, who didn't get out of the 2nd inning, but also didn't end up as the losing pitcher, since the Yankees came back to retake the lead, and then lost it again. The Yankees took Games 3 and 4 at Yankee Stadium.

For Game 5, Yankee manager Casey Stengel took a chance on Larsen, who'd had only 3 days rest (in those days, when it was an All-New York "Subway Series," there were no travel days), but had pitched less than 2 full innings. He also had a "no-windup delivery," which was easier on his arm.

A 27-year-old righthanded pitcher born in Michigan City, Indiana, who grew up in San Diego, Donald James Larsen was unremarkable for most of his career. Indeed, like the only man ever to pitch back-to-back no-hitters, Johnny Vander Meer of the 1938 Cincinnati Reds, he had a losing won-lost record for his career: 81-91. Much of that was due to his 3-21 performance for the 1954 Baltimore Orioles, although he did go 11-5 for the Yankees in the 1956 regular season.

Starting for the Dodgers was Sal Maglie, the former ace of the New York Giants and one of the most hated opponents in Brooklyn history, but who had come to the Dodgers in midseason and pitched a no-hitter of his own -- something he hadn't done for the Giants. It is still the last no-hitter pitched by a player for a National League team in New York -- unless you believe that Carlos Beltran’s line drive really was foul, thus giving Johan Santana a no-hitter for the Mets in 2012.

Maglie was a proven veteran, Larsen a journeyman. And Game 6 would be at Ebbets Field. If necessary, so would Game 7.

It wasn't looking good for the Bronx Bombers.

Here was the Dodgers' starting lineup:

2B 19 Jim "Junior" Gilliam
SS 1 Harold "Pee Wee" Reese
CF 4 Edwin "Duke" Snider
3B 42 Jackie Robinson
1B 14 Gil Hodges
LF 15 Edmundo "Sandy" Amoros
RF 6 Carl "The Reading Rifle" Furillo
C 39 Roy Campanella
P 35 Sal "The Barber" Maglie

Granted, Walter Alston was the manager of the defending World Champions, but what was he thinking? Robinson, an ideal leadoff man but not with much home run power, batting 4th? Furillo, a former batting champion, 7th? Campy, a terrific power hitter, 8th?!?

And for the Yankees:

RF 9 Hank Bauer
1B 15 Joe Collins
CF 7 Mickey Mantle
C 8 Lawrence "Yogi" Berra
LF 17 Enos Slaughter
2B 1 Billy Martin
SS 12 Gil McDougald
3B 6 Andy Carey
P 18 Don Larsen

The umpires were:

* At home plate, Ralph "Babe" Pinelli, a former 3rd baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, who was calling his last games before retiring after 22 seasons as a National League umpire.

* At 1st base, an American League ump who had been a two-way back for the football New York Giants, appearing in 5 NFL Championship Games, winning in 1938.

* At 2nd base, Lynton "Dusty" Boggess, an NL ump and a former St. Louis Cardinal farmhand.

* At 3rd base, an AL ump, a Brooklyn native, and a former minor league catcher, who would be the 1st base umpire for Catfish Hunter's perfect game in 1968.

* In left field, Tom Gorman, a Manhattan native who pitched 4 games for the Giants in 1939 before becoming an NL ump.

* And, in right field, Ed Runge, an AL ump whose son Paul and grandson Brian also became major league umps. 

At 1:02 PM, Eastern Time, Pinelli yelled, "Play ball!" and a crowd of 64,519 was ready to go. Larsen began the game by striking Gilliam out. He got to 3 balls on Reese, but struck him out. He would not get to 3 balls on another batter that day. He got Snider to line out to right. In the Yankee half of the 1st, Bauer popped to short, Collins was unable to beat out a bunt to 3rd, and Mantle flew to left.

The closest call came leading off the top of the 2nd inning, when Robinson hit a sharp grounder off Carey's glove. McDougald, who moved from 3rd to short in the Yankee lineup after Phil Rizzuto was released a few weeks earlier, took it, and just barely threw Robinson out. Larsen then struck Hodges out, and got Amoros to pop to 2nd. For the Yankees, Berra popped to short, Slaughter flew to left, and Martin struck out.

In the 3rd, Larsen got Furillo to fly to right, struck Campanella out, and got Maglie to line out to Mantle. McDougald grounded to 3rd, Carey popped up behind the plate where the ball was caught by Campanella, and Larsen did the same.

In the top of the 4th, Larsen got Gilliam to ground to 2nd, got Reese to do the same, and struck Snider out. Maglie, whom Dodger fans despised when he was the headhunting ace of their arch-rivals, actually had a perfect game going himself going into the bottom of the 4th. He got Bauer to ground to 2nd, and struck Collins out. But Mickey Mantle broke it up with a home run into the right field seats. It wasn't one of Mantle's famed towering drives, but it wasn't a "short porch" home run, either: It would have been a home run in just about any ballpark. Maglie then got Berra to line to center, but it was 1-0 Yankees.

In the 5th, Robinson hit a long fly to right, but Bauer caught it. Hodges came up, and drove the ball to Yankee Stadium's famed left-center "Death Valley." Mantle made a running, onehanded, backhanded catch. It was about 420 feet from home plate, and was nearly as remarkable as the 440-foot catch Willie Mays had made 2 World Series earlier. Perhaps even more so, since, unlike Willie, Mickey wasn't known as a spectacular fielder (though that may have been because so much fuss was made about his hitting). Larsen got Amoros to ground to 2nd.

Slaughter led off the bottom of the 5th with a walk. Martin tried to bunt him over, but the Dodgers got the lead run. And then McDougald hit a line shot at Reese, who caught it, and threw over to Hodges to double Martin off. End of 5, Yankees 1, Dodgers 0.

Larsen got Furillo to pop up to 2nd, then got Campanella to do the same, and struck Maglie out. With 6 innings gone, people began to talk about the fact that a no-hitter was in progress. But old superstitions die hard. No one wanted to say the word "no-hitter" for fear of jinxing it.

After all, none had ever been itched in the World Series before. The Yankees' Herb Pennock came within 4 outs of a perfect game in 1927. In 1947, the Yankees' Bill Bevens needed 1 more out against the Dodgers, but he had walked 10 batters, and Cookie Lavagetto cost him the game with a 2-RBI double. That was only 9 years earlier, and 1 Yankee from that game was in this one: Berra.

When Larsen sat down in the dugout, everybody near him got up and moved to the other end of the dugout. After the 7th, he purposely sat down next to Mantle, and said, "Hey, Mickey, can you believe I got a no-hitter going?" Mickey jumped up, and said, "Get away from me!"

Equally nervous was Berra, who said, many years later, "I think I woulda thought more about it if we had a 9-0 lead: 'Ooh, he's got a no-hitter goin'.' But, at 2-0, I was just worried about winning the game."

Yogi was right to worry. Snider was that season's NL home run leader and the previous season's RBI leader, and would end up with 407 career home runs. At the time, comparing him to Mantle and Willie Mays among New York's center fielders was no joke. Hodges would end his career with 370 home runs. Campanella had won 3 NL Most Valuable Player awards, and had been the NL RBI leader in 1953. That same year, Furillo had been batting champion. Robinson was batting champion and MVP in 1949. These were dangerous hitters, as Larsen had found out firsthand in Game 2.

Carey led off the bottom of the 6th with a single. Larsen sacrificed him to 2nd. Bauer singled him home. Collins singled, but Mantle grounded into a double play. End of 6: Yankees 2, Dodgers 0.

Top of the 7th: Larsen got Gilliam to ground to short, Reese to fly to center, and Snider to fly to left. Bottom of the 7th: Berra popped to 3rd, Slaughter flew to left, Martin singled to left, McDougald walked, and Carey grounded to short for a force play.

Top of the 8th: Robinson grounded back to Larsen. Hodges lined out to Carey. Amoros flew to center. Bottom of the 8th: Maglie was still pitching strong, and struck out the side: Larsen, Bauer and Collins.

Top of the 9th. A huge audience was watching Mel Allen call the game on NBC-TV, and listening to Bob Wolff on CBS radio. There had never been a no-hitter pitched in 53 years of World Series play. And the term "perfect game" wasn't widely known, either: It had been done by such luminaries as John Montgomery Ward, Cy Young and Addie Joss, but hadn't been done by anyone since another journeyman, Charlie Robertson, did it for the Chicago White Sox in 1922.

Furillo led off, and hit a long drive to right, barely going foul. He flew to right again, but, this time, it was a comparatively easy catch for Bauer. Campanella grounded to 2nd. Just 1 out to go.

Alston sent Dale Mitchell up to pinch-hit for Maglie. As a Cleveland Indian, Mitchell had been in the opposing dugout for Mays' catch, but had always hit well against the Yankees. He was a .312 lifetime hitter, a 2-time All-Star, and a member of the Indians' 1948 World Champions. This would, however, turn out to be the last career at-bat for the 35-year-old lefty-hitting left fielder from Colony, Oklahoma.

Larsen threw a pitch that Pinelli called a ball. Then he threw a pitch that Pinelli called a strike.

Wolff: "I guarantee you that nobody, but nobody, has left this ballpark. And if somebody did, by chance, manage to leave early, man, he is missing the greatest! Here comes the pitch: A swing and a miss, strike 2!"

It was 3:08 PM. The count was 1-and-2. Larsen threw his 97th pitch of the afternoon. It snuck over the outside corner. Mitchell took the pitch. He died in 1987, still insisting that the pitch was a ball. Well, even if Pinelli had called it as such, the count would have been 2-and-2, and not to Mitchell's advantage.

But Pinelli called, "Strike three!" Ballgame over. Shutout over. No-hitter over. Perfect game over. Yankees win.

Wolff's call: "Two strikes, ball one, here's the pitch: Strike three! A no-hitter, a perfect game for Don Larsen! Yogi Berra leaps on Larsen!"

Two years later, Wolff would be behind the mike at Yankee Stadium again, calling the 1958 NFL Championship Game, in which the Baltimore Colts beat the football version of the New York Giants in overtime, the so-called "Greatest Game Ever Played."

It remains the greatest pitching performance in baseball history, and it was by an ordinary pitcher who was usually so unserious, his teammates called him Gooney Bird. But he had done what no other pitcher -- not Christy Mathewson, not Walter or Randy Johnson, not Lefty Grove, not Bob Feller, not Whitey Ford, not Sandy Koufax, not Bob Gibson, not Tom Seaver, not Steve Carlton, not Roger Clemens, not Greg Maddux -- has ever done: Pitch a no-hitter in the World Series. And he made it a perfect game. And he did it against the defending World Champions, with only a 2-0 lead, in what was really a must-win game.

The series shifted back to Ebbets Field. Bob Turley of the Yankees and Clem Labine of the Dodgers both went all 10 innings of Game 6, before a walkoff single by Jackie Robinson ensured a Game 7 for the Dodgers.

That Game 7 would prove calamitous for the Brooks, as Don Newcombe got shelled. Yogi hit 2 homers, Elston Howard added one, and Moose added another, a grand slam. Johnny Kucks pitched a 3-hit shutout, and the Yankees won, 9-0, avenging the previous year's defeat.

The last out was Jackie Robinson. Kucks struck him out, but Berra couldn't handle it. Perhaps remembering Game 4 of the 1941 World Series, where a similar play cost the Dodgers against the Yankees, Robinson ran to 1st. Unlike the ill-fated Mickey Owen in 1941, however, Yogi was able to throw Jackie out.

No one knew it at the time, but that was Jackie's last at-bat. He retired in the off-season. Also not known at the time: That Game 7 was the last World Series game the Brooklyn Dodgers ever played. After 1 more season, they moved to Los Angeles. At the same time, the Giants moved to San Francisco. There would not be another "Subway Series" until 2000, Yankees vs. Mets.

On May 17, 1998, David Wells pitched a perfect game for the Yankees. He went to the same high school as Larsen, Point Loma in San Diego. On July 18, 1999, the Yankees honored Yogi, and had him catch a ceremonial first ball from Larsen. Wells had been traded, so he wasn't there. David Cone pitched a perfect game as Larsen and Berra watched.

Yogi and Don, on an Old-Timers' Day

On September 21, 2008, the last game was played at the old Yankee Stadium. As part of pregame ceremonies, the 3 men who pitched perfect games there, and their catchers, assembled on the mound: Larsen and Berra, Wells and Jorge Posada, and Cone and Joe Girardi.

Left ot right: Girardi, Cone, Larsen, Berra, Wells, Posada

Larsen's gem is no longer the only no-hitter in postseason history -- Roy Halladay turned the trick for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2010 -- but it's still the only perfect game in postseason history, and still the only no-hitter in a game later than the Division Series. (UPDATE: Five Houston Astros pitchers combined to pitch a no-hitter against the Phillies in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series.)

In 1981, baseball historian John Thorn published Baseball's 10 Greatest Games. He included this game as one of them.

UPDATE: Among the Yankees' many traditions is Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. From the 1955-58 team that won 4 straight American League Pennants, including 2 World Series, they have honored center fielder Mickey Mantle with a Monument; and given Plaques to catcher Lawrence "Yogi" Berra, shortstop Phil Rizzuto (who became a broadcaster in 1957), pitcher Edward "Whitey" Ford, left fielder Elston Howard (who switched positions with Yogi in 1960), manager Charles "Casey" Stengel (who managed 1 more Pennant in 1960), public address announcer Bob Sheppard, and broadcaster Mel Allen.

Billy Martin played 2nd base until mid-1957, but that's not why he's in Monument Park, or why his uniform Number 1 is retired. The Yankees have retired the numbers 7 for Mantle, 8 for Berra, 10 for Rizzuto, 16 for Ford, 32 for Howard and 37 for Stengel. Although left fielder Enos Slaughter and general manager George Weiss are in the Baseball Hall of Fame, they are not honored in Monument Park. Neither are team owners Dan Topping and Del Webb, who are also not in the Hall of Fame.

*

October 8, 1956 was a Monday. It was the only baseball game on the day. Basketball and hockey seasons were about to start. And while it was football season, there was, as yet, no Monday Night Football. So the score that made this a historic day was the only score on this historic day.

Actress Stephanie Zimbalist was born, co-star with Pierce Brosnan on the 1980s NBC drama Remington Steele. She was the granddaughter of classical music conductor Efrem Zimbalist Sr. and the daughter of actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

September 9, 1965: Sandy Koufax's Perfect Game

September 9, 1965: The Los Angeles Dodgers host the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. In the 1st 152 seasons of what we now call Major League Baseball, no game has ever had fewer hits, both teams combined.

Sandy Koufax started for the Dodgers. He had pitched a no-hitter in each of the last 3 seasons: 1962, 1963 and 1964. He was pitching as well as anybody ever had in the history of baseball.

Bob Hendley started for the Cubs. He was not a particularly well-known pitcher. On this night, he pitched the game of his life. Unfortunately for him, it was only the 2nd-best pitched game... in that game.

Neither pitcher allowed a single baserunner until the bottom of the 5th. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. So can errors. Hendley walked Lou Johnson to start the inning. Ron Fairly sacrificed Johnson over to 2nd base. Johnson tried to steal 3rd base. Cub catcher Chris Krug made a bad throw, allowing Johnson to score. Johnson would also get a hit, the Dodgers' only hit: A "Texas Leaguer" double to right field with 2 out in the 7th, but would be stranded.

The Dodgers had 1 run, without a hit contributing to it. That was all Koufax needed: One run. He went to a 3-balls, 2-strikes count on Ernie Banks in the top of the 5th, but struck him out. He went to another full count on Billy Williams in the 7th, but got him to fly out. He struck out the side in the 8th: Ron Santo, Banks, and Byron Browne.

He went into the 9th inning without having allowed a baserunner. Krug led off. He got to a 2-and-2 count, before Koufax struck him out swinging. Joey Amalfitano came up. Koufax struck him out on 3 pitches, the last a swing and a miss.

Cub manager Lou Klein sent Harvey Kuenn up to bad for Hendley, who had pitched 8 innings, allowing 1 run, 1 hit, and 1 walk, striking out 3. Ordinarily, even in that pitching-friendly era of baseball, it would have been enough to win. Not on this night.

Kuenn was 34 years old, and nearing the end of the line. But he was a .303 lifetime hitter, the 1953 American League Rookie of the Year, the 1959 AL batting champion with a .353 average, a 4-time AL leader in hits, a 3-time AL leader in doubles, an All-Star in 8 seasons (including 2 in which there were 2 All-Star Games, so he's sometimes listed as a 10-time All-Star), and, while not really a power hitter, topping off at 12 home runs in 1956, he was certainly capable of driving in runs, topping off at 88 RBIs that same year. He had spent most of his career with the Detroit Tigers, but had helped the San Francisco Giants win the 1962 NL Pennant.

No less than Casey Stengel had said that Kuenn was "one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball. The guy can hurt you a million ways. He has no weakness at the plate that I have ever noticed." However, he was now batting just .217. He had previously made the last out in Koufax's 2nd no-hitter, over the Giants in 1963.

There is no surviving film or videotape of this game, just a recording of Vin Scully's broadcast on radio station KFI, 640 on the AM dial: "It is 9:46 PM. Two and two to Harvey Kuenn. One strike away. Sandy into his windup. Here's the pitch: Swung on and missed, a perfect game!" (Note: That's 9:46 PM Pacific Time, so it was 12:46 AM Eastern Time on September 10.)

The perfect game was also his 4th no-hitter, breaking the record of 3, which had been shared by Larry Corcoran, Cy Young and Bob Feller. Young's 2nd no-hitter was a perfect game.

Koufax threw 113 pitches, 79 of them for strikes. He struck out 14 batters. Home plate umpire Ed Vargo didn't have the chance to make bad calls. His single-game strikeout peak was 18, having done it in 1959 (before he found his control) and 1962. The 14 from this game would be part of a total of 382, a major league record at the time. Nolan Ryan would raise the record to 383 in 1973, a year in which he pitched 2 no-hitters. Koufax's 382 remains a National League record, and a major league record for lefthanded pitchers.

Koufax's 4 no-hitters would be a record until Ryan pitched a 5th in 1981, eventually reaching 7 -- although none of those was a perfect game. In a weird twist of events, Jeff Torborg caught Koufax's last no-hitter, and also caught Ryan's 1st in 1973. That made him the 2nd catcher to catch no-hitters in both leagues, following Gus Triandos. They have since been joined by Darrell Porter, Ron Hassey and Drew Butera.

Torborg also caught Bill Singer's no-hitter for the Dodgers, in 1970, so he was the 1st catcher to catch 3 no-hitters. Jason Varitek now holds the record, with 4.

The Dodgers went on to win the World Series. Koufax would be the story of that Series, in more ways than one.

Harvey Kuenn would go on to manage the Milwaukee Brewers to their 1st Pennant, in 1982. He died in 1988. Ed Vargo died in 2008. Lou Johnson, who got the Dodgers' only hit, died in 2020. Vin Scully died on August 2, 2022. As of September 9, 2022, Sandy Koufax, Jeff Torborg and Bob Hendley are still alive.

UPDATE: Torborg died in 2025.

*

September 9, 1965 was a Thursday. Future basketball star Dan Majerle was born. Hurricane Betsy hit the Gulf of Mexico region, killing 81 people. This was also the day that both the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Gatorade made their debuts. I have separate entries for those events.

There were only 4 other major league games that night:

* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Rookie Tug McGraw, not yet converted into a reliever, started for the Mets, and allowed 2 runs over 7 innings. The Mets tied the game in the 8th, but Tony Pérez won it with a home run off Gordie Richardson in the bottom of the 9th. Frank Robinson -- as it turned out, in his last month with the Reds -- went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Jim Kaat outpitched Joe Horlen. Harmon Killebrew did not play. The Twins were about to win Minnesota's 1st major league Pennant, the franchise's 1st since 1933, when they were the Washington Senators. But they would lose the World Series to the Dodgers.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Athletics, 7-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 4-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Juan Marichal, having returned from his suspension after hitting John Roseboro with his bat on August 22, pitched a 4-hit shutout. Tom Haller hit a home run. Willie Mays went 0-for-3.

September 2, 1972: Bruce Froemming Blows Milt Pappas' Perfect Game

September 2, 1972: The Chicago Cubs host the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Milt Pappas is the Cubs' starting pitcher, entering the game with a record of 11-7. Although a decent pitcher, he is best known for being the pitcher that the Cincinnati Reds traded their best player, Frank Robinson, for following the 1965 season. In the past 7 years, that trade had already gone down in history as one of baseball's worst trades. The events of this game did not change that.

The Cubs granted Pappas a quick lead, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. They made it 4-0 in the 3rd. In the 8th, they extended it to 8-0. The result of the game was no longer in doubt. But Pappas inched closer and closer to baseball history. In the 8th inning, he made a fine play on a comebacker hit by Derrel Thomas for the final out. It was 24 men up 24 men down.

Johnny Jeter, no relation to Derek, led off the top of the 9th inning, and he hit a line shot to left-center field, where future Hall-of-Famer Billy Williams caught it. Fred Kendall, father of future All-Star Jason Kendall, grounded to shortstop, and Don Kessinger threw him out.

The batter was Larry Stahl, pinch-hitting for Al Severinsen, who had relieved Padre starter Mike Caldwell. He ran the count full. Pappas threw a pitch that was a little outside. Stahl checked his swing, but appeared to go around. It should have been strike 3, the last out, a no-hitter and a perfect game for Pappas.

The home plate umpire was Bruce Froemming, in only his 2nd season in the major leagues. A native of Milwaukee, a few days away from his 33rd birthday, he called the pitch a ball, and sent Stahl to 1st base. The perfect game was ruined.

Garry Jestadt was the next batter. He popped up, and 2nd baseman Carmen Fanzone caught it for the final out. Pappas had his no-hitter. But this game went into the books as a perfect game ruined on a walk to the 27th and, potentially, last batter. It remains the only such game in baseball history: 27th men have reached on hits, and on errors, but only this one due to a base on balls.

After the game, Pappas approached Froemming, and appealed to his ego. He reminded Froemming of how few perfect games had been pitched -- 10 at that point -- and thus how few umpires had called them. Froemming told Pappas, "Milt, if I'd called that pitch a strike, I'd never be able to live with myself." Pappas forgot the high road and yelled, "How do you live with yourself with all the other lousy calls you make?"

Pappas would finish his career with a fine record of 209 wins and 164 losses, a 3.40 ERA, and a 1.225 WHIP. He deserved better than to be remembered only as the man acquired in the Frank Robinson trade. Certainly, he deserved that perfect game. He is still remembered for having pitched a no-hitter for the Cubs, something that Burt Hooton had done the season before, and Ken Holtzman had done 1 and 3 seasons before. Pappas died in 2016, shortly after the 50th Anniversary of the infamous trade.

Froemming went on to umpire for a record 37 years (since broken), and became one of the worst ever. In Philadelphia, he is notorious for a call at 1st base that cost the Phillies an out that would have clinched the 1977 National League Pennant, leading to the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the Pennant. Froemming's swan song was the 2007 American League Division Series between the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians, when he, as crew chief, refused to stop the game until the Lake Erie Midges left.

*

September 2, 1972 was a Saturday. These other Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. Steve Kline outpitched Tom Bradley. Bernie Allen hit a home run. Thurman Munson went 1-for-3 with the team's other RBI.

* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 11-8 at the Astrodome in Houston. Ken Boswell hit a home run for the Mets. Willie Mays appeared only as a defensive replacement, and did not come to bat.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3, with an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* A doubleheader was split at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). The Atlanta Braves won the opener, 10-7. The Philadelphia Phillies won the nightcap, 3-0. Dave Downs pitched an 8-0 shutout. It was 1 of 13 shutouts pitched by the Phillies that year, 8 of which were pitched by Steve Carlton.

Over the 2 games, Hank Aaron went 4-for-8 with a walk and 4 RBIs, including hitting the 666th and 667th home runs of his career. Ten days later, Mike Schmidt would make his major league debut for the Phils.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-3 with 2 walks, a home run, and 3 RBIs. It was the 239th home run of his career. He would hit 1 more.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose and Johnny Bench both went 0-for-4, with Rose adding a walk.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 at Metropolitan stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Steve Dunning was the winning pitcher, and helped his own cause with a 2-run home run. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Rod Carew went 2-for-5.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Lou Brock went 0-for-3. Frank Robinson, in his only season with the Dodgers, did not enter the game.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The California Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium). Rudy May pitched a 3-hit shutout to beat Jim Palmer. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4.

* And the Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Bill Freehan and Mickey Stanley hit home runs in the top of the 11th inning, off Dave Hamilton, who blew the game for Vida Blue. Fred Scherman was the winning pitcher, in relief of Mickey Lolich. Al Kaline went 2-for-5. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4.

This was also the day of Game 1 of the "Summit Series," and the Soviet Union shocked Canada, 7-3 at the Montreal Forum.

It was the week before the college football season opened in America. In English soccer, it was a battle of London teams, and Arsenal and Chelsea played to a 1-1 draw at Highbury.

July 23, 2009: Mark Buehrle Pitches a Perfect Game -- and It's Nearly His 2nd

April 18, 2007: Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox pitches a no-hitter. He walks Sammy Sosa in the 5th inning, but that's the only baserunner he allows. Jim Thome hits 2 home runs, Jermaine Dye hits 1, and the South Siders beat the Texas Rangers 6-0 at what's now named Rate Field in Chicago.

July 23, 2009: Buehrle pitches a 2nd no-hitter, and this one is a perfect game, against the Tampa Bay Rays, also at home. Josh Fields hit a grand slam home run. Scott Kazmir, a pretty good pitcher, was the losing pitcher.

Buehrle was one walk away from having pitched 2 perfect games in the major leagues. This remains the closest any pitcher has come to that achievement.

The 30-year-old native of the St. Louis suburbs had helped the ChiSox win the 2005 World Series, their 1st title in 88 years. He made 5 All-Star Games. He finished his career at 214-160, 161-119 of that with the White Sox, and with 3 trips to the postseason. The White Sox retired his Number 56.

*

July 23, 2009 was a Thursday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-3 at the new Yankee Stadium. CC Sabathia was the winning pitcher. Mark Teixeira hit a home run, Derek Jeter went 1-for-4 with an RBI, and Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 9-4 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Carlos Ruiz hit a home run, and Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz each got 3 hits.

* The St. Louis Cardinals were leading the Washington Nationals, 4-1 in the top of the 7th, when the game was called due to rain at Nationals Park in Washington, making the Cardinals the winner.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-1 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-4 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* And the Los Angeles Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-5 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mike Napoli doubled Chone Figgins home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

July 18, 1999: David Cone's Perfect Game

July 18, 1999: It wasn't quite a perfect day at the original Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York City. After all, it was brutally hot: 92 degrees at first pitch, and it felt even hotter. Other than that, it was about as close to perfect as you can get, as 2 of baseball's most memorable characters combined for a truly historic day.

In 1985, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner fired team legend Yogi Berra as manager. But he sent front-office official Clyde King to tell him. Being fired wasn't the problem for Yogi: It had happened before, as Yankee manager after the 1964 season, and as New York Mets manager during the 1975 season. He knew: As the old saying goes, "That's baseball."

The problem was that, this time, George didn't tell him face-to-face, man-to-man. So Yogi said he would never return to Yankee Stadium as long as George owned the team. George knew that, even if the managerial change was the right thing to do -- and, competitively speaking, it was, as, under Billy Martin in his 4th run as manager, the Yankees got a lot better, and nearly won the American League Eastern Division -- it was a public-relations nightmare. Nobody ever won a popularity contest with Yogi Berra.

George tried to lure Yogi back. He invited him to every Old-Timers Day. He never came. He dedicated a plaque in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park for Yogi in 1988, and also for Yogi's predecessor and catching mentor, Bill Dickey. Dickey, 80 years old, in a wheelchair, and living far away in Arkansas, came. Yogi, 63, in good health, and living nearby in Montclair, New Jersey, didn't come.

George even tried to give Old-Timers Days themes that involved Yogi. The 1991 edition was a tribute to Joe DiMaggio on the 50th Anniversary of his hitting streak. Yogi didn't go back that far, but George was sure he would turn up to honor the Yankee Clipper. He didn't. The 1996 edition was a tribute to Don Larsen on the 40th Anniversary of his World Series perfect game, still the only single-pitcher no-hitter ever pitched in the World Series, and Yogi was the catcher. Yogi didn't come. Later that year, when the Monument to Mickey Mantle, who'd died the year before, was to be unveiled, Whitey Ford came, but he unveiled the Monument alone, as Yogi didn't come.

In 1997, Interleague Play came into Major League Baseball. The Yankees played the Mets at Yankee Stadium. Yogi is the only man to manage both teams to Pennants: The Yankees in the American League in 1964, the Mets in the National League in 1973. George invited Yogi. He didn't come. 

In 1998, the "Subway Series" (a misnomer: Only a World Series can truly be a Subway Series) was held at Shea Stadium for the 1st time. The Mets invited Yogi to throw out a ceremonial first ball. Not only did he accept, but he wore a Mets cap for the occasion -- and got a nice hand from Met fans, many of whom still blaming him for starting Tom Seaver in Game 6 of the 1973 World Series, instead of saving him for Game 7, and losing the Series. But the Mets reached out, Yogi accepted, and the Met fans reacted. That must have really ticked George off.

On March 8, 1999, DiMaggio died. A few days earlier, in the hospital, George visited him. Joe gave George a last request: Patch things up with Yogi. A few days later, at Spring Training, George was approached by Yankee broadcaster Suzyn Waldman, who said, "I'd like to talk to you about Yogi." With Joe's death still on his mind, George got concerned, and said, "Why? What's wrong?"

At that, Suzyn knew that there was a chance. George told her he was ready to apologize to Yogi. Suzyn told Yogi this. A meeting was set up at the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center, on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, New Jersey, not far from Yogi's house. George came, and apologized. Yogi, whose many odd sayings included "It ain't over 'til it's over," had the perfect thing to say: "It's over."

George invited Yogi to throw out the ceremonial first ball on Opening Day, and he did. George invited Yogi to the dedication for the new Monument for DiMaggio -- as with Mantle, the former plaque was replaced with a monument upon the player's death -- and he came. George invited Yogi to Old-Timers Day, and this was the big deal, the thing everybody wanted: Yogi now had grandchildren who had never seen him wear a Yankee uniform. Now, they had seen it.

And Yogi Berra Day was set for July 18. It was a very hot day, and the country was still in something of a daze because of the disappearance of John F. Kennedy Jr., whose plane had not yet been found, and many were hanging onto a thin hope that he and his passengers, his wife and her sister, would be found alive. (They were found, but dead.) So it didn't feel like a great day at first.

But Yogi received all kinds of gifts, including the copy of his plaque that had waited 11 years. When he gave a speech, there were no "Yogi-isms," just a heartfelt message of thanks: To his family, to his surviving teammates, to the current Yankees for making him feel welcome, and to George. To finish the ceremony, Yogi caught a first ball, pitched by Larsen.

Yogi Berra (left) and Don Larsen, July 18, 1999

A year earlier, David Wells had pitched a perfect game for the Yankees against the Minnesota Twins. Larsen wasn't there, but someone realized that Wells and Larsen, the only 2 men to pitch a perfect game for the Yankees to that point, had both gone to Point Loma High School in San Diego, and a phone call was set up between them.

The Yankees then played their game, with Yogi's Number 8 written in chalk on each foul line. It was an Interleague game, against the Montreal Expos, and the Yankees' starting pitcher was David Cone. The Kansas City native had reached the major leagues with the Mets in 1987, too late to be a part of their recent World Series winners. He helped them win the NL Eastern Division in 1988, and had struck out 19 batters in the 1991 season finale, tying what was then the major league record. But there was a wedge between him and Mets management, and he was let go.

In 1992, he helped the Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series. In 1993, he went to his hometown Kansas City Royals, and won a Cy Young Award with them in 1994. The Yankees traded for him in 1995, and he missed most of the 1996 season with a shoulder injury. In his 1st game back, he pitched 7 innings of no-hit ball, but, worried about his recovery, manager Joe Torre took him out. The bullpen did not keep the no-hitter. Nevertheless, Cone helped the Yankees win the World Series in 1996 and 1998.

Now, in 1999, he was pitching as well as ever, coming into the game with a 9-4 record, sometimes seeming to make pitches up on the spot. And he toyed with the Expos. Despite having future Hall-of-Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr., All-Stars José Vidro and Rondell White, and Vlad's brother Wilton Guerrero, who was a decent hitter, none of them could reach base. None of them could even get to a 3-ball count on him.

People began to realize what was happening. Cone was doing this with Don Larsen and his catcher, Yogi Berra, in the house. Wells had been put in the trade package for Roger Clemens before the season, so he wasn't there. But Larsen was.

The pressure on Cone to make history was palpable. Unlike Larsen, however, whose team only beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0, the pressure to win the game wasn't. The Yankees gave him 5 runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning, including home runs by Ricky Ledée and Derek Jeter, and an RBI double by his catcher, Joe Girardi. By this point, Jorge Posada had replaced Girardi as the starting catcher, and had caught Wells' perfecto, but Cone preferred catching Girardi, who had also caught Dwight Gooden's no-hitter in 1996.

After 8 innings, the Yankees still had the 5-0 lead. But they got 3 straight hits to start off the bottom of the 8th: A double by Paul O'Neill, an RBI single by Bernie Williams, and a single by Tino Martinez. It was now 6-0, but the extra run seemed totally unnecessary. Suddenly, a big question arose: Would Cone still go out for the 9th inning? Pitchers don't like to wait long between innings, and it was very hot. But Chili Davis grounded into a double play, and Ledée grounded out. Torre sent Cone back out for the 9th.

The 1st batter was Chris Widger. Cone struck him out on 3 pitches. He hadn't stiffened up. The 2nd batter was Ryan McGuire, and he hit a sinking drive into left field. It looked like it would drop for a hit, and ruin the story. But Ledée came on and made a shoestring catch. Just as one of "the unwritten rules of baseball" is that you do not say the word "no-hitter" while one is in progress, for fear of jinxing it, another unwritten rule is that every no-hitter has at least one great defensive play, the kind that makes a fan say, "If he wasn't gonna lose it on that play, then he's gonna get it."

That left Orlando Cabrera, the Expo shortstop. In 2004, the Colombian would have a great moment on that field with the Boston Red Sox. But on this day, on a 1-1 count, Cone got him to pop up along the 3rd-base line. Scott Brosius got under it. He had a little trouble with the Sun. But he made the catch.

Cone had his 1st career no-hitter, and it was a perfect game. He dropped to his knees, and hugged Girardi, toppling him over. A crowd of 41,930 had braved the nasty heat, knowing that Yogi would be honored, but not knowing he would be honored like this, and gave Cone a standing ovation.

And the scoreboard operator put one of Yogi's familiar quotations on the board: "It's déjà vu all over again."

In all, Cone threw 88 pitches -- a pair of 8s, to match the 8s on each foul line, in honor of Yogi. Cliché Alert: You can't make this stuff up. For comparison's sake: In his perfect game on October 8, 1956, Larsen threw 97 pitches; in his, on May 17, 1998, Wells threw 120. For all 3, it was 27 men up, 27 men down.

There is a theory that Cone used himself up to pitch that perfecto. To that point, he was 10-4 on the season, but only went 2-5 the rest of the way. And 2000 was an awful season for him, as he went 4-14 with a 6.91 ERA. But he still helped the Yankees win the World Series both times. He pitched for the Boston Red Sox in 2001, retired, then came out of retirement to sign back with the Mets in 2003, and retired again.

Before the perfect game, he went 178-93. After it, he went 16-29. Overall, he was 194-126, with a 3.46 ERA, a 1.256 WHIP, and 2,668 career strikeouts. He went 8-3 in postseason play, including 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA in World Series play. He was named to 5 All-Star Games, and is one of the few players who remains popular with fans of both New York baseball teams: He was 81-51 as a Met, 64-40 as a Yankee, and 145-91 overall in New York. He is not yet in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but many pitchers who have achieved less are. Since 2004, he has been a broadcaster for the Yankees Entertainment & Sports (YES) Network.

On September 21, 2008, the last game was played at the old Yankee Stadium. One of the photos taken was on the mound, with the Stadium's 3 perfect game pitchers and their catchers: Larsen and Berra, Wells and Posada, Cone and Girardi (who was, at that point, the Yankees' manager). Berra died in 2015, Larsen in 2020.

*

July 18, 1999 was a Sunday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball that day, all but 1 of them Interleague:

* The New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-6 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Rickey Henderson hit a home run, and he and Robin Ventura each had 3 hits, with Edgardo Alfonzo and Mike Piazza each adding 2, in support of Masato Yoshii. The Orioles' lineup included such esteemed players as Brady Anderson, B.J. Surhoff, Albert Belle, Harold Baines, Will Clark and Jeff Conine -- but not Cal Ripken Jr., who was injured.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Florida Marlins, 11-9 at Fenway Park in Boston. Jason Varitek and Damon Buford hit home runs for the Sox. Pedro Martinez got rocked, and didn't get out of the 4th inning, and Derek Lowe turned out to be the winning pitcher.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 3-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Scott Rolen hit 2 homers, in support of Curt Schilling.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* In the only intraleague game of the day, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Adrian Brown won it with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-8 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. Tony Clark hit 2 home runs, but the winning run came in the top of the 10th inning, when a suicide squeeze bunt by Brad Ausmus brought Frank Catalanotto home.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Sammy Sosa did not hit a home run for the Cubs, but Henry Rodriguez did. Tim Spehr hit one for the Royals.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Mark McGwire did not enter the game for the Cardinals.

* The Texas Rangers beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-4 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Barry Bonds did not hit a home run for the Giants, but J.T. Snow did.

* The Houston Astros beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Mike Hampton pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Anaheim Angels, 6-3 at Edison International Field (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Tony Gwynn did not enter the game for the Padres.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Colorado Rockies, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum).

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-7 at the brand-new Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run, and Russ Davis singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

June 23, 1917: The Ernie Shore Game

June 23, 1917: One of the weirdest games in baseball history is played at Fenway Park in Boston. That is not surprising. The specifics of the surprise are.

Babe Ruth started for the Boston Red Sox. He had debuted in 1914, and, in his 1st 2 full seasons, 1915 and 1916, he had become one of the best pitchers in baseball, and helped the Red Sox win the World Series each time. He would finish this season 24-13 with a 2.01 ERA and, not that anybody knew it at the time, an ERA+ of 128 and a WHIP of 1.079. And he had only begun to show what he could do when he swung the bat.

But he would barely begin this game, when he was finished in it. The Red Sox were playing the Washington Senators, and the Senators' leadoff hitter was Ray Morgan. Morgan drew a walk, and Ruth, just 22 years old and very much a hothead at this stage of his career, argued with home plate umpire Clarence "Brick" Owens.

Owens threw him out of the game, and, when catcher Chester "Pinch" Thomas argued that, Owens threw him out of the game, too. Ruth decked Owens. For this, he was fined $100 (about $2,258 in 2022 money), and suspended for 10 games. He issued a public apology.

Red Sox manager Jack Barry brought Ernie Shore in to pitch. Winner of 35 games over the last 2 World Championship seasons, 38 counting the Series, Shore was a 26-year-old native of East Bend, North Carolina, in the Appalachian Mountains. Sam Agnew was the new catcher.

Instead of pitching to the next batter, Eddie Foster, Shore picked Morgan off 1st base. He then went through the Washington lineup 3 times, and got everybody out. Everybody: 26 men up, 26 men down. Meanwhile, backup catcher Agnew drove in 2 runs with a 7th-inning double, and the Red Sox won, 4-0.

For the record, the Senators' pitcher that day, Yancey Wyatt "Doc" Ayers, wasn't all that bad: He allowed 4 runs, 2 of them earned, on 9 hits and no walks, although he also had no strikeouts.

Shore finished the 1917 season 13-10, and missed the 1918 season, in which the Sox won another World Series, serving in World War I. He never recovered his prewar form, last pitched in the majors in 1920, retired with a career record of 65-43, became Sheriff of Forsyth County, North Carolina, led the building of a ballpark in Winston-Salem, North Carolina that bore his name from 1956 and 2008 (it still stands, but now bears someone else's name), and lived until 1980.

He died believing he had pitched a perfect game. After all, he had gotten the credit for it, because he had retired all 27 batters. But in 1991, Major League Baseball changed its rules, and so the game, while still a combined no-hitter between Ruth and Shore (even though Ruth didn't get an out), was no longer officially a perfect game.

Brick Owens was not seriously injured by Babe Ruth's punch. He was an umpire in the National League in the 1908, 1912 and 1913 seasons, and in the American League from 1916 to 1937. He officiated at 5 World Series, including as crew chief for 1928 and 1934. He died in 1949.

*

June 23, 1917 was a Friday. Football, basketball and hockey were out of season. These other baseball games were played that day:

* The Shore no-hitter was the 1st game of a doubleheader. In the 2nd game, which Shore was supposed to start, the Red Sox got another shutout, winning 5-0. Hubert "Dutch" Leonard allowed only 4 hits, outpitching Walter Johnson.

* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Athletics at the Polo Grounds. The not-yet-Bronx, far-from-Bombers won the opener, 10-4; and the nightcap, 2-1.

* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-2 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers (known as the Robins when Wilbert Robinson managed them from 1914 to 1931) swept a doubleheader from the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field. They won the 1st game, 3-0, with Leon Cadore pitching a 6-hit shutout. A little less than 3 years later, Cadore would pitch against the Braves for 26 innings, with no decision. Brooklyn won the 2nd game, 7-5.

* The Chicago Cubs swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, 2-0 and 6-4 in 10 innings.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 in 15 innings at League Park in Cleveland.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-1 at Robison Field in St. Louis.

* And the Detroit Tigers were supposed to host the St. Louis Browns at Navin Field in Detroit (later renamed Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium), but were rained out. It was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 13. The Browns won the 1st game, 10-5. The Tigers won the 2nd game, 7-6.

June 21, 1964: Jim Bunning, Father of 6, Pitches a Perfect Game On Father's Day

June 21, 1964: As was often the case in that era, Sundays often featured baseball doubleheaders. The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the New York Mets, 6-0 and 8-2 at Shea Stadium.

In the opener, Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game for the Phillies. It was Father's Day, and Bunning, a Catholic from the Cincinnati suburb of Southgate, Kentucky, was already the father of 6 children. He and his wife, Mary Catherine, would eventually have 9, which is believed to be the most children of any Major League Baseball player. One, David Bunning, became a federal Judge.

Bunning was backed by an RBI single by Richie Allen in the 1st inning, an RBI double by Gus Triandos in the 2nd, and 4 runs in the 6th, including a leadoff home run by Johnny Callison.

The last batter was John Stephenson. He was pinch-hitting for pitcher Tom Sturdivant, a former Yankee reliever. The Mets' starter was Tracy Stallard, who had given up Roger Maris' 61st home run in 1961, and had probably had enough baseball history by this point.

Stephenson was a rookie catcher, who usually came in for defensive purposes. He was making only his 31st major league plate appearance, and was batting just .074. Triandos was catching for the Phillies, and went to the mound, telling Bunning, who had probably the best slider in baseball at that point, "He can't spell 'curve.'" Bunning listened to his catcher, threw Stephenson all curveballs, and struck him out.

This was the first perfect game since Don Larsen's in the World Series in 1956, the first in the regular season since Charlie Robertson in 1922, and the first in the National League since John Montgomery Ward in 1880 -- making it the first ever in the NL with the standard pitching distance of 60 feet, 6 inches.

It made Bunning only the 2nd pitcher ever to pitch a no-hitter in each League: He had previously pitched one in the American League, for the Detroit Tigers in 1958. Cy Young had pitched a no-hitter for the NL's Cleveland Spiders in 1897, and for the AL's Boston Americans (Red Sox) in 1904 and 1908.

Years later, Nolan Ryan threw 6 no-hitters in the AL, 4 for the California Angels and 2 for the Texas Rangers, and 1 in the NL, in 1981 for the Houston Astros. Randy Johnson threw one in 1990 for the AL's Seattle Mariners, and one for the NL's Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004. And Hideo Nomo threw one for the NL's Los Angeles Dodgers in 1996, and one for the Red Sox in 2001.

In the nightcap, Callison and John Briggs hit home runs, and rookie Rick Wise outpitched Frank Lary. Like Bunning, Lary had once pitched for the Tigers, and his wins over the Yankees in 1959 and '60 earned him the nickname "The Yankee Killer." But the Yankees' defeats of him in 1961 were a big reason why the Tigers won 101 games but fell 8 games short of the Yankees for the Pennant. Like Bunning, Wise would pitch a no-hitter for the Phillies, in 1971, and hit 2 home runs in the game.

This was the highlight of a season that saw the Phillies make their best run at the NL Pennant between 1950 and 1976. When the day was done, they were in 1st place by 2 games. At no time in the season, from Game 1 to Game 162, were they more than 2 1/2 games out of 1st place. But, with their staff, including Bunning, overworked down the stretch, they lost 10 straight games at the end of September, blowing a 6 1/2-game lead with 12 to play, ultimately finishing 1 game behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

It has long been suggested that, had the Phillies hung on to win the Pennant, Callison would have been named the NL's Most Valuable Player. Instead, that award went to the Cardinals' Ken Boyer. Allen was be named NL Rookie of the Year. Later, he insisted upon being called "Dick" Allen, saying that "Richie" was a little boy's name. Phillies broadcaster and former star center fielder Richie Ashburn backed him up, at least on principle, calling Allen what he preferred to be called himself: "Rich."

Bunning finished with a career record of 224-184. He joined Young and Al Orth as the only pitchers to win 100 games in each League. They have since been joined by Ryan, Johnson, Gaylord Perry, Ferguson Jenkins and Pedro Martínez. Milt Pappas missed by 1 win in the AL. (UPDATE: As of June 21, 2026, Max Scherzer is 6 AL wins short of joining them.)

Bunning also finished with a 3.27 ERA and 2,855 strikeouts. He was named to 9 All-Star Games. In 1967, he joined Young as only the 2nd pitcher ever to lead both Leagues in strikeouts. They have since been joined by only Ryan and Johnson. He was the winning pitcher in the 1st game at Veterans Stadium in 1971. The Phillies retired his Number 14 and elected him to their team Wall of Fame.

It has often been suggested that the reason that Curt Schilling, a former Phillies pitcher who also excelled in both Leagues, with more strikeouts than Bunning but fewer wins and a higher ERA, isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame is his conservative politics.

But Bunning was elected to represent his native Kentucky in both houses of Congress, serving in the House of Representatives from 1987 to 1999, and then in the Senate until 2011. While there, he voted to approve policies that have hurt people much more than Schilling's infamous business scams. And yet, Bunning is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. So, clearly, Schilling's denial has not been about politics. Bunning died in 2017.

Being a backup catcher, John Stephenson was far more valuable than his career batting average of .216 would suggest. He hung on in the major leagues until 1973, getting to catch Ryan with the California Angels in the season in which he struck out a major league record 383 batters. He later coached in the minor leagues and at the college level.

*

June 21, 1964 was, as I said, a Sunday. These other games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees had one of their longest days, but a successful one, sweeping the Chicago White Sox, 2-0 and 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. In the opener, Jim Bouton pitched 3-hit shutout ball over 7 2/3rds innings, then Pete Mikkelsen went the rest of the way, completing a 4-hit shutout. Mickey Mantle and Elston Howard hit home runs.

The nightcap went 17 innings. With 1 out in the top of the 17th, Héctor López doubled of Don Mossi. White Sox manager Al López (no relation to Héctor) ordered that Howard be intentionally walked. But Mossi unintentionally walked Phil Linz to load the bases. Having no more available pinch-hitters, Yankee manager Yogi Berra sent pitcher Bill Stafford up to bat for himself. He hit a grounder to short, and future Met hero Al Weis bobbled it, allowing to Héctor to score. Stafford finished the South Siders off, getting the win. Al Downing had started, going 12 innings.

The games took a combined 26 innings to play, but, in time, just 6 hours and 42 minutes. To really show how times have changed, over those 26 innings, the Yankees used just 5 pitchers, although Mikkelsen pitched in both games. The Yankees ended up beating the White Sox for the Pennant by only 1 game, so this day may have decided the title.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-6 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 and 7-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Ernie Banks went 1-for-8 with a walk and 2 RBIs, and Roberto Clemente went 0-for-8.

* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 1st game, 4-2. Sandy Koufax outpitched Bob Purkey. The Cincinnati Reds won the 2nd game, 2-1. Over the 2 games, Frank Robinson went 3-for-8. Pete Rose only appeared as a pinch-hitter in the 1st game, and did not reach base.

* The Houston Astros swept the Milwaukee Braves, 5-2 and 5-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rusty Staub hit 2 home runs in the 1st game. Bob Bruce outpitched Warren Spahn. Ken Johnson won the 2nd game, and helped his own cause with a homer. Hank Aaron went 2-for-9 with 3 RBIs, but none was on a home run.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Al Kaline went 0-for-3, but drew a walk. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Willie Mays and Hal Lanier hit home runs for the Giants, while the newly-acquired Lou Brock did so for the Cardinals. Gaylord Perry pinch-hit for Giants starter Jack Sanford in the 6th, and had a sacrifice bunt. He then pitched the rest of the way for the save.

* The Washington Senators swept the Kansas City Athletics, 13-2 and 5-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* And the Los Angeles Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels groundshared with the Dodgers until their stadium in suburban Anaheim could open.

This was also the day that Fascist Spain beat the Soviet Union in the Final of the European Nations' Cup, the tournament now known as the UEFA Euro. And also the day that members of the Ku Klux Klan murdered 3 men who were working to register black voters in the project called "Mississippi Freedom Summer." I have separate entries for both of those events. 

June 21, 1964: The Murders in the Mississippi Freedom Summer

Left to right: Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman

June 21, 1964: Three men working on the "Mississippi Freedom Summer" project are murdered by agents of the Ku Klux Klan, outside the small city of Philadelphia, Mississippi. The assassination infuriates the nation.

Andrew Goodman was 20 years old, from the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Michael Schwerner was 24, from The Bronx. Both being Jewish, the felt the sense of the underdog from watching African-Americans struggle for their civil rights, and volunteers for the Freedom Summer project of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1964, attempting to register black people to vote, and to change the course of governance in the Magnolia State. James Chaney was 20, a native of Meridian, Mississippi, and had been on the Freedom Rides in the early 1960s.

Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney were investigating the burning of Mt. Zion Methodist Church, which had been a site for a CORE Freedom School. In the wake of Schwerner and Chaney's voter registration rallies, parishioners had been beaten by Ku Klux Klan members. They accused the sheriff's deputy, Cecil Price, of stopping their caravan and forcing the deacons to kneel in the headlights of their own cars, while white men beat them with rifle butts. The same Klansmen who beat them were also identified as having burned the church.

Price arrested Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner for an alleged traffic violation, and took them to the Neshoba County Jail. They were released that evening, without being allowed to telephone anyone. On the way back to Meridian, they were stopped by patrol lights and two carloads of KKK members on Highway 19, then taken in Price's car to another remote rural road. The men approached then shot and killed Schwerner, then Goodman, both with one shot in the heart; then Chaney with three shots, after severely beating him. They buried the young men in an earthen dam nearby.

The men's bodies remained undiscovered for 44 days. The FBI was brought into the case by John Doar, the U.S. Department of Justice representative in Mississippi monitoring the situation during Freedom Summer. The missing civil rights workers became a major national story, especially coming on top of other events as civil rights workers were active across Mississippi in a voter registration drive; and, the previous year, the March On Washington, and the uses in Birmingham, Alabama of firehoses and police dogs on demonstrators and the bombing of a church.

Schwerner's widow, Rita, who also worked for CORE in Meridian, expressed indignation that the press had ignored previous murders and disappearances of blacks in the area, but had highlighted this case because 2 white men from New York had gone missing. She said she believed that if only Chaney were missing, the case would not have received nearly as much attention.

The assassination inspired the songs "Mississippi Goddam" by Nina Simone and "Here's to the State of Mississippi" by Phil Ochs; and the 1988 film Mississippi Burning.

In 1967, the federal government charged 10 men with conspiracy to deprive the 3 murdered men of their civil rights, under the Enforcement Act of 1870, the only federal law then applying to the case. The jury convicted 7 men, including Deputy Sheriff Price; but 3 were acquitted, including Edgar Ray Killen, the former KKK organizer who had planned and directed the murders.

Price was sentenced to 6 years in prison, and served 4. He died in 2001. In 2005, the State of Mississippi convicted Killeen of 3 counts of manslaughter, and sentenced him to 60 years in prison. He died in prison in 2018, nearly 93 years old, having gotten away with the crime for 41 years.

The historical markers marking the locations of the murders of Emmett Till and of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney, 9 years earlier, are 117 miles apart.

*

June 21, 1964 was a Sunday. This was also the day that Fascist Spain defeated the defending Champions, the Communist Soviet Union, to win the European Football Championship. I have a separate entry for that event.

As was often the case in that era, Sundays often featured baseball doubleheaders. These games were played:

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the New York Mets, 6-0 and 8-2 at Shea Stadium. In the opener, Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game for the Phillies, the 1st perfect game in the National League since 1880. It was Father's Day, and Bunning was already the father of 6 children. He would eventually have 9. It made him only the 2nd pitcher ever to pitch a no-hitter in each League: He had previously pitched one in the American League, for the Detroit Tigers in 1958. I have a separate entry for this event, too.

* The New York Yankees had one of their longest days, but a successful one, sweeping the Chicago White Sox, 2-0 and 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. In the opener, Jim Bouton pitched 3-hit shutout ball over 7 2/3rds innings, then Pete Mikkelsen went the rest of the way, completing a 4-hit shutout. Mickey Mantle and Elston Howard hit home runs.

The nightcap went 17 innings. With 1 out in the top of the 17th, Héctor López doubled of Don Mossi. White Sox manager Al López (no relation to Héctor) ordered that Howard be intentionally walked. But Mossi unintentionally walked Phil Linz to load the bases. Having no more available pinch-hitters, Yankee manager Yogi Berra sent pitcher Bill Stafford up to bat for himself. He hit a grounder to short, and future Met hero Al Weis bobbled it, allowing to Héctor to score. Stafford finished the South Siders off, getting the win. Al Downing had started, going 12 innings.

The games took a combined 26 innings to play, but, in time, just 6 hours and 42 minutes. To really show how times have changed, over those 26 innings, the Yankees used just 5 pitchers, although Mikkelsen pitched in both games. The Yankees ended up beating the White Sox for the Pennant by only 1 game, so this day may have decided the title.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-6 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 and 7-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Ernie Banks went 1-for-8 with a walk and 2 RBIs, and Roberto Clemente went 0-for-8.

* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 1st game, 4-2. Sandy Koufax outpitched Bob Purkey. The Cincinnati Reds won the 2nd game, 2-1. Over the 2 games, Frank Robinson went 3-for-8. Pete Rose only appeared as a pinch-hitter in the 1st game, and did not reach base.

* The Houston Astros swept the Milwaukee Braves, 5-2 and 5-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rusty Staub hit 2 home runs in the 1st game. Bob Bruce outpitched Warren Spahn. Ken Johnson won the 2nd game, and helped his own cause with a homer. Hank Aaron went 2-for-9 with 3 RBIs, but none was on a home run.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Al Kaline went 0-for-3, but drew a walk. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Willie Mays and Hal Lanier hit home runs for the Giants, while the newly-acquired Lou Brock did so for the Cardinals. Gaylord Perry pinch-hit for Giants starter Jack Sanford in the 6th, and had a sacrifice bunt. He then pitched the rest of the way for the save.

* The Washington Senators swept the Kansas City Athletics, 13-2 and 5-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* And the Los Angeles Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels groundshared with the Dodgers until their stadium in suburban Anaheim could open.