By current definition, a perfect game in baseball is one in which a pitcher completes a minimum of nine innings without allowing the opposing team to reach base. It is also a no-hit game, which means that the team does not record a hit through regular methods. If there are no extra innings, the game is a guaranteed win and a shutout.
In the history of Major League Baseball, which has been in existence for 154 years and has played over 238.000 games, there have officially been 24 perfect games.
An unofficial perfect game
Boston Red Sox pitchers Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore. In a 1917 game, Ruth was ejected after walking the first batter. Shore replaced him, erased the baserunner, and completed the game without allowing another.
The first perfect time the term “perfect game” occurred in relation to baseball was in 1908: a Chicago Tribune reporter, I. E. Sanborn wrote, commenting on Addie Joss’s performance against the Chicago White Sox, “ An absolutely perfect game, without run, without hit, and without letting an opponent reach first base by hook or crook, on hit, walk, or error, in nine innings.”
List Of Perfect Games In MLB
Scorecard for Richmond’s perfect game, 1880.
Although the first two games from the 19th century had different pitching rules, they still fit into this category.
Date | Picher and age | Game | |
1 | June 12, 1880 | Lee Richmond, 23 | Cleveland Blues, 0 – Worcester Worcesters, 1 |
2 | June 17, 1880 | John Montgomery Ward, 20 | Providence Grays, 5 – Buffalo Bisons, 0 |
3 | May 5, 1904 | Cy Young, 37 | Philadelphia Athletics, 0 – Boston Americans, 3 |
4 | October 2, 1908 | Addie Joss, 28 | Chicago White Sox, 0 – Cleveland Naps, 1 |
5 | April 30, 1922 | Charlie Robertson, 26 | Chicago White Sox, 2 – Detroit Tigers, 0 |
6 | October 8, 1956 | Don Larsen, 27 | Brooklyn Dodgers, 0 – New York Yankees, 2 |
7 | June 21, 1964 | Jim Bunning, 32 | Philadelphia Phillies, 6 – New York Mets, 0 |
8 | September 9, 1965 | Sandy Koufax, 29 | Chicago Cubs, 0 – Los Angeles Dodgers, 1 |
9 | May 8, 1968 | Catfish Hunter, 22 | Minnesota Twins, 0 – Oakland Athletics, 4 |
10 | May 15, 1981 | Len Barker, 25 | Toronto Blue Jays, 0 – Cleveland Indians, 3 |
11 | September 30, 1984 | Mike Witt, 24 | California Angels, 1 – Texas Rangers, 0 |
12 | September 16, 1988 | Tom Browning, 28 | Los Angeles Dodgers, 0 – Cincinnati Reds, 1 |
13 | July 28, 1991 | Dennis Martínez, 36 | Montreal Expos, 2 – Los Angeles Dodgers, 0 |
14 | July 28, 1994 | Kenny Rogers, 29 | California Angels, 0 – Texas Rangers, 4 |
15 | May 17, 1998 | David Wells, 34 | Minnesota Twins, 0 – New York Yankees, 4 |
16 | July 18, 1999 | David Cone, 36 | Montreal Expos, 0 – New York Yankees, 6 |
17 | May 18, 2004 | Randy Johnson, 40 | Arizona Diamondbacks, 2 – Atlanta Braves, 0 |
18 | July 23, 2009 | Mark Buehrle, 30 | Tampa Bay Rays, 0 – Chicago White Sox, 5 |
19 | May 9, 2010 | Dallas Braden, 26 | Tampa Bay Rays, 0 – Oakland Athletics, 4 |
20 | May 29, 2010 | Roy Halladay, 33 | Philadelphia Phillies, 1 – Florida Marlins, 0 |
21 | April 21, 2012 | Philip Humber, 29 | Chicago White Sox, 4 – Seattle Mariners, 0 |
22 | June 13, 2012 | Matt Cain, 27 | Houston Astros, 0 -San Francisco Giants, 10 |
23 | August 15, 2012 | Félix Hernández, 26 | Tampa Bay Rays, 0 – Seattle Mariners, 1 |
24 | June 28, 2023 | Domingo Germán, 30 | New York Yankees, 11 – Oakland Athletics, 0 |
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