May is the month of the perfect game

Len Barker celebrates with his teammates after tossing the 10th perfect game in baseball history on May 17, 1981, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Photo by Sports Illustrated.

Jack Butler

The perfect game is one of the rarest feats in all of baseball with only 23 occurring over the game’s 153 history. The first two came in the 19th century by Lee Richmond and John Montgomery Ward coming 5 days apart during the middle of June 1880. Richmond retired all 27 he faced defeating the Cleveland Blues 1-0 at the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds in Worcester, Massachusetts. Richmond finished 1880 with a 32-32 mark in 66 starts with 57 complete games, 5 shutouts, and 243 strikeouts in 590.2 innings.

On June 17, Ward took the mound for the Providence Grays against the Buffalo Bisons at the Messer Street Grounds. Ward shut down Buffalo for the second-ever perfect game, needing just 2 strikeouts to do it. He ended up going 39-24 in 67 starts, tossing 59 complete games, and leading the majors in shutouts with 8 while throwing 595.0 innings along with 230 strikeouts. Ward was one of the phenomenal hurlers of his era but become more well-known as a shortstop where he collected 2,017 hits, 26 homers, 869 RBI, and 540 SB en route to being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee in 1964 39 years after he died. No pitcher achieved the feat for another 24 years until Cy Young pitched his second no-hitter, a perfect game that was the first of seven to have been tossed in May.

Cy Young

Young authored the first perfect game of the World Series era on May 5, 1904, for the Boston Americans. The 36-year-old right-hander was coming off a 7-inning, no-hit performance out of relief against the Washington Senators five days earlier to earn his first save of the season, improving Boston’s record to 10-2. At the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds, the ballpark Boston played in before Fenway Park featured a Hall of Fame matchup between Rube Waddell and Young, and the latter bested the former as he tossed 9 shutout frames without allowing a hit, issuing a walk, or simply a base runner. Buck Freeman and Lou Criger provided the offense off Waddell to back Young’s masterful performance. Young helped the Americans win the American League Pennant, however, the owner of the National League Pennant New York Giants, John T. Brush, refused to play Boston in the World Series as he considered that the Americans played in an inferior league.

Catfish Hunter

Hunter was a core piece of the Oakland Athletics dynasty from 1972-to 1974, where the franchise claimed 3 consecutive World Series championships. But before they reached the top of the baseball world, Catfish tossed the ninth perfect game on May 8, 1968, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum against the Minnesota Twins. Hunter was 5 days removed from a complete-game victory over the Boston Red Sox where the 22-year-old righty allowed 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 4 and striking out 4. He effectively handled three future Hall of Famers – Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, and Tony Oliva – in his perfect game that included 11 strikeouts, which at the time was the second-most in a perfect game only behind Sandy Koufax’s 14 K performance in early September 1965.

Len Barker

Barker isn’t the type of pitcher you’d expect to toss a perfect game as he experienced only a single season of more than 15 wins up to that point with 19 in 1980, but on May 15, 1981, pitched the game of his life versus the Toronto Blue Jays. The 25-year-old right-hander had a solid outing his last time out six days prior against the Twins where he went 8 innings, just allowing 1 earned run on 6 hits and struck out 6. In front of 7,290 fans at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in mid-May, Barker took the hill for the Cleveland Indians and took care of the Blue Jays lineup while Jorge Orta, Andrea Thornton, and Ron Hassey drove in the only 3 runs of the game. Barker got Ernie Whitt to fly out to centerfielder Rick Manning to give him a perfect game – the second one in franchise history and the last pitcher to throw it in a Cleveland uniform.

David Wells

Wells was a decent pitcher of the 1990s and 00s who never truly dominated. He pitched for nine different teams mainly the Blue Jays but revived his career with the New York Yankees in the late 90s. In 1998, Wells got off to a promising start with the Yankees where he received a decision in 5 of his first 8 starts going 4-1, averaging over 6 innings and 5.0 strikeouts per start while having a 5.23 ERA. On May 17, 1998, he pitched for the Yankees versus the Twins in a Sunday day game at Yankee Stadium. The 49,820 spectators were in for a treat as Wells retired all 27 Twins, he faced for the perfect game, which consisted of 11 strikeouts and lowered his ERA by .78 points to 4.45. More impressive is that Wells claimed to have been half-drunk and dealing with a terrible hangover during his perfect game.

Randy Johnson

By 2004, Johnson had done everything imaginable by a pitcher, win multiple Cy Youngs, have 200 victories, strikeout over 3,800 batters, a World Series ring, WS MVP, start multiple All-Star Games, and pitch a no-hitter, but hadn’t tossed a perfect game until May 18 of that year. Standing at 6-9, he was one of the most intimidating starters of all time, and being a southpaw made it that much tougher for hitters on a nightly basis, especially for the Atlanta Braves in mid-May. At 40 years old, Johnson carved up the Braves, where he struck out 13 to become the oldest ever to toss a perfect game. 2004 was Johnson’s last spectacular year compiling a 2.60 ERA, leading the majors with 290 strikeouts, and having an NL-best 176 ERA+ while being first in other pitching categories. His win-loss record of 16-14 is misleading as he played for a terrible offensive team which resulted in him finishing 2nd in the NL Cy Young vote behind Roger Clemens.

Dallas Braden

Braden, like Barker, was an unlikely author of a perfect game on Mother’s Day 2010 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Before his career-defining performance, Braden had gone 3-2 in 6 starts over 37.0 innings and struck out 22 to 7 walks to compile a 4.14 ERA. The 26-year-old left-hander was facing a tough task in the 22-8 Tampa Bay Rays led by manager Joe Maddon. Braden finessed the Rays with his four-pitch mix of an 82 mph cutter, 86-88 mph fastball, 72-79 mph slurve, and 65-75 mph changeup to pitch the 19th perfect game in baseball history with his grandmother in attendance whom he celebrated with on the field. He’d start 26 more games for the Athletics going 8-13 with a 3.51 ERA and 100 strikeouts, and retired following a series of left shoulder injuries. Currently, Braden is a co-host of the Draft Kings Baseball Is Dead Podcast alongside Jared Carrabis.

Roy Halladay

Halladay was a workhorse for the Blue Jays from 2002-09, and no wonder why the reigning NL Pennant-winning Philadelphia Phillies traded for him to try and get back to the Fall Classic. The 33-year-old right-hander got off to an amazing start for the Phillies going 6-3 in 10 starts with a 2.22 ERA and 59 strikeouts to just 12 walks, which included 4 complete games and 2 shutouts. On May 29, 2010, Halladay faced off against the eventual NL ERA Champion Josh Johnson on a humid night at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida. Halladay and Johnson traded zeros for the first two frames until the Marlins gifted the Phillies a run in the 3rd on an error. It’s all Doc needed to shutout Florida on 11 strikeouts to pitch the 20th perfect game and 2nd in Phillies history. Less than five months later, Halladay tossed a no-hitter in Game 1 of the NLDS – the second postseason no-no – as he led Philadelphia to the NLCS against the San Francisco Giants. They fell in 6 games to the Giants, who ended up winning their first World Series in 58 years.

5 of the top 10 highest Game Scores of a perfect game occurred in May. Randy Johnson’s 100 Game Score is best in the month while Catfish Hunter, Len Barker, David Wells, and Roy Halladay tie with a 98 Game Score. Graph by Jack Butler.

Sources

Arizona Diamondbacks at Atlanta Braves Box Score, May 18, 2004. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL200405180.shtml

Catfish Hunter Stats. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hunteca01.shtml

Cy Young Stats. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/youngcy01.shtml

Dallas Braden Stats. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bradeda01.shtml

David Wells Stats. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wellsda01.shtml

Philadelphia Athletics at Boston Americans Box Score, May 5, 1904. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS190405050.shtml

Len Barker Stats. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/barkele01.shtml

Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees Box Score, May 17, 1998. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA199805170.shtml

Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics Box Score, May 8, 1968. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK196805080.shtml

Philadelphia Phillies at Florida Marlins Box Score, May 29, 2010. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/FLO/FLO201005290.shtml

Randy Johnson Stats. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsra05.shtml

Roy Halladay Stats. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hallaro01.shtml

Stoltz, Nathaniel. Here’s a Thought: Examining Dallas Braden. Bleacher Report. September 8, 2009. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://bleacherreport.com/articles/250395-heres-a-thought-examining-dallas-braden

Tampa Bay Rays at Oakland Athletics Box Score, May 9, 2010. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK201005090.shtml

Toronto Blue Jays at Cleveland Indians Box Score, May 15, 1981. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE198105150.shtml