Fifty Years Ago, Don Larsen was Perfect

Don Larsen could party with the best of them. Once, as a member of the New York Yankees, Don Larsen crashed his car into a light pole late at night. Manager Casey Stengel deadpanned that Don Larsen "must have been going out to mail a letter". But on the evening of October 8th, 1956, Don Larsen had every reason to party. Earlier that day, Don Larsen pitched what is still the only perfect game in World Series history. This fall will mark fifty years since the event, one which famed New York Daily News sports columnist Dick Young described with this line- "the imperfect man pitched the perfect game".

As a member of the Baltimore Orioles in 1954, a team that had just relocated after being the doormat St. Louis Browns for decades, Don Larsen went 3-21. This terrible season helps to explain his sub .500 lifetime 81-91 record. As part of a seventeen player blockbuster of a trade in November of 1954, Don Larsen came to the New York Yankees, partly because two of his three wins the year before were against New York. He promptly went 9-2 in 1955, but he pitched poorly in his one appearance in the 1955 World Series, as Brooklyn's Dodgers finally defeated the Bronx Bombers in seven games. The right-hander then had his best campaign the following year, as he went 11-5 and gave up over forty fewer hits than innings pitched. Don Larsen still had control problems, walking 96 batters in 179 innings, but his ERA was a respectable 3.26 in 38 outings.