A perfect game is a baseball game in which not a single batter from the losing team ever gets on base. It requires that every one of the 27 batters be retired with an out. Unlike a "no-hitter", in which batters can get on base (and even win the game) due to a walk or an error, in a perfect game no batter can get on base for any reason.
As of 2013, there have been only 23 perfect games in major league baseball history, out of hundreds of thousands of games. At least two of those games (including the only World Series perfect game) have ended on questionable calls by the home plate umpire. And although several pitchers have pitched multiple no-hitters (Nolan Ryan leads with seven), no pitcher has ever pitched more than one perfect game in Major League Baseball.
Phil Humber pitched the 21st perfect game in major league baseball history in April 2012, but he threw 6 more pitches than Great Conservative Sports Star Jim Bunning did in his 90-pitch perfect game four decades ago.
The first perfect game was thrown on June 12, 1880, by Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs in a 1-0 defeat of the Cleveland Blues. The most recent such game was thrown by Seattle Mariners Felix Hernandez to shut out the Tampa Bay Rays on August 15, 2012.
|Pitcher (Team)||Opposing Team||Score||Date|
|Lee Richmond (Worcester Ruby Legs)||Cleveland Blues||1-0||06-12-1880|
|Monte Ward (Providence Grays)||Buffalo Bisons||5-0||06-17-1880|
|Cy Young (Boston Americans)||Philadelphia A's||3-0||05-05-1904|
|Addie Joss (Cleveland Naps)||Chicago White Sox||1-0||10-02-1908|
|Charlie Robertson (Chicago White Sox)||Detroit Tigers||2-0||04-30-1922|
|Don Larsen (New York Yankees)||Brooklyn Dodgers||2-0||10-08-1956|
|Jim Bunning (Philadelphia Phillies)||New York Mets||6-0||06-21-1964|
|Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles Dodgers)||Chicago Cubs||1-0||09-09-1965|
|Catfish Hunter (Oakland Athletics)||Minnesota Twins||4-0||05-08-1968|
|Len Barker (Cleveland Indians)||Toronto Blue Jays||3-0||05-15-1981|
|Mike Witt (California Angels)||Texas Rangers||1-0||09-30-1984|
|Tom Browning (Cincinnati Reds)||Los Angeles Dodgers||1-0||09-16-1988|
|Dennis Martinez (Montreal Expos)||Los Angeles Dodgers||2-0||07-28-1991|
|Kenny Rogers (Texas Rangers)||California Angels||4-0||07-28-1994|
|David Wells (New York Yankees)||Minnesota Twins||4-0||05-17-1998|
|David Cone (New York Yankees)||Montreal Expos||6-0||07-18-1999|
|Randy Johnson (Arizona Diamondbacks)||Atlanta Braves||2-0||05-18-2004|
|Mark Buehrle (Chicago White Sox)||Tampa Bay Rays||5-0||07-23-2009|
|Dallas Braden (Oakland Athletics)||Tampa Bay Rays||4-0||05-09-2010|
|Roy Halladay (Philadelphia Phillies)||Florida Marlins||1-0||05-29-2010|
- Baseball almanac
- Rare Feats (English). Major League Baseball. Retrieved on May 31, 2010.