(SEATTLE, Washington)
- Sitting down 27 consecutive batters is an accomplishment that has only
happened 23 times in the history of baseball’s big leagues.
The most recent perfect game came yesterday at the hands of “King”
Felix Hernandez, as the Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0.
Even more amazing is the fact that the gem pitched by
Hernandez is the third one in 2012.
In 1880, Lee Richmond and John Montgomery Ward pitched
perfect games only five days apart.
Since then, the average time between perfect games has average out to be
nearly seven years, with the longest stretch being over 34 years. The only times multiple perfect games have
been thrown in the same year was in 1880, 2010, and 2012.
It took 76 years to get the first five perfect games in the books
and 110 years for the first dozen. Since
1991, when the 13th perfect game was pitched, there have been 11 perfect
games.
One perfect game was played on AstroTurf. In 1988, Tom Browning threw a perfect game
for the Cincinnati Reds as they beat the Dodgers 1-0 at Riverfront Stadium
following a two-and-a-half hour rain delay.
Browning came closer than anyone else to duplicating the feat when, in
July 1989, he sat down the first 24 batters before giving up a double in the
ninth inning.
 | ||
| AstroTurf's Todd Britton and perfect game pitcher Tom Browning |
Following are the dates and pitchers for these 23 special
dates in baseball history:
Lee Richmond
June 12, 1880
Worcester Ruby Legs 1,
Cleveland Blues 0
John Montgomery Ward
June
17, 1880
Providence
Grays 5, Buffalo Bisons 0
Cy Young
May
5, 1904
Boston
Americans 3, Philadelphia Athletics 0
Addie Joss
October
2, 1908
Cleveland Naps 1,
Chicago White Sox 0
Charlie Robertson
April
30, 1922
Chicago White
Sox 2, Detroit Tigers 0
Don Larsen
October
8, 1956
New York Yankees 2,
Brooklyn Dodgers 0
Jim Bunning
June
21, 1964
Philadelphia
Phillies 6, New York Mets 0
Sandy Koufax
September
9, 1965
Los Angeles Dodgers 1,
Chicago Cubs 0
Catfish Hunter
May
8, 1968
Oakland A’s
4, Minnesota Twins 0
Len Barker
May
15, 1981
Cleveland
Indians 3, Toronto Blue Jays 0
Mike Witt
September
30, 1984
California Angels 1, Texas
Rangers 0
Tom Browning
September
16, 1988
Cincinnati Reds 1, Los
Angeles Dodgers 0
Dennis Martinez
July
28, 1991
Montreal
Expos 2, Los Angeles Dodgers 0
Kenny Rogers
July
28, 1994
Texas
Rangers 4, California Angels 0
David Wells
May
17, 1998
New York
Yankees 4, Minnesota Twins 0
David Cone
July
18, 1999
New York
Yankees 6, Montreal Expos 0
Randy Johnson
May
18, 2004
Arizona
Diamondbacks 2, Atlanta Braves 0
Mark Buehrle
July
23, 2009
Chicago
White Sox 5, Tampa Bay Rays 0
Dallas Braden
May
9, 2010
Oakland A’s
4, Tampa Bay Rays 0
Roy Halladay
May
29, 2010
Philadelphia
Phillies 1, Florida Marlins 0
Phillip Humber
April
21, 2012
Chicago White
Sox 4, Seattle Mariners 0
Matt Cain
June
13, 2012
San Francisco
Giants 10, Houston Astros 0
Felix Hernandez
August
15, 2012
Seattle Mariners
1, Tampa Bay Rays 0
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