The Perfect Game Edition

On MLB, rarity, and statistics

Matt Locke (ML) is a WITI reader and the Director of Storythings, a content studio in the UK. He previously wrote the Andy Warhol Album Covers Edition, The Call Sheet Edition, and the Baseball in the UK Edition.

Matt here. On June 28th 2023, Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán threw a perfect game against the Oakland Athletics. This was only the 24th perfect game in MLB history, only the 4th in Yankees history, and the first one in the MLB since 2012.

A perfect game is one in which a single pitcher lasts all 9 innings of the game, and doesn’t allow any of the opposing team’s batters to reach first base. That means not giving up a hit, a walk, a hit by pitcher or a wild third strike. It’s a remarkable feat that, on MLB current statistics, happens only once in every 10,000 games.

It’s not even that common to see a pitcher finish a complete game these days, let alone throw a perfect one—in 1982 there were 734 games in which a pitcher went the full 9 innings, but in 2022, there were only 34. So the perfect game might be rarer now than it has ever been.

Why is this interesting?

The perfect game is not only rare in baseball, it’s a rare item in sports in general. There isn’t any equivalent situation in other team sports where the game can be won so completely by a single team. The NFL and NBA have various statistical anomalies like the ‘triple-double’ in basketball, where a single player scores double figures in three statistical categories. But these are often focused on a single player, and not the overall result of the game.

There are more examples of perfection in solo player sports. Snooker has the 147 maximum break, in which a single player manages to clear all 15 reds, each followed by the black, and then clears all the colors in order in a single break. Darts has the nine dart finish, in which a player achieves the 501 frame score in the fewest amount of darts possible. And bowling has the perfect 300 game, in which the player throws 12 strikes in a row.

These remarkable individual achievements have become less rare as their sports moved from semi-professional to professional, with bigger investment in training and analytical technologies, and a wider network of global players. For example, the official list of recognized 147 breaks includes only 8 in the 1980s, when snooker was turning professional and at the height of its popularity in the UK. By the 2010s, with snooker now a global sport, there were 85 maximum breaks recorded.

Individual sporting perfection can be made more common through technical training, as the competition is against yourself. But the perfect baseball game is a collective effort, requiring intense focus from the entire team against both their opponents and the sheer chaotic randomness of team sports. If you watch the MLB video of all 27 outs from Germán’s perfect game, the first two innings alone include 3 strikeouts, a deep fly ball caught in centerfield, a ground ball to 3rd base, and a pop-up caught by the catcher. In fact, the only Yankees player not involved in any of the 27 outs was second baseman DJ LeMahieu.

As the game progresses and Germán’s potential achievement gets more and more likely, you can see the tension on the field—a misplaced throw or fielding fumble could bring the whole thing down in a second. Every player who fields the ball has a responsibility to keep the dream of perfection alive, until in the late innings if feels like everyone, from the match commentators to the fans in the stadium, is holding their breath in anticipation.

It’s this collaboration that makes baseball’s perfect game so unrivaled. No other team sport has a game structure that allows such a statistical demonstration of perfection, the complete dominance of one team over another. Even in a 10-0 thrashing in soccer, the losing side will have some possession, and make positive attacking contributions at some point. In baseball’s perfect game, the losing side doesn’t just get out-scored, they are denied even the basic building block of scoring- reaching first base.

The poetry of the perfect game lies in the fact it’s a collective effort- the product of a team. Although it will be Germán’s name that goes down in the history books, he couldn’t have done it without his team. For me, it’s the power of the collective that makes the perfect game, and baseball itself, so beautiful. (ML)

Quick Links

• We can’t talk about perfect games without mentioning Armando Gallaraga, who was one out away from a perfect game in 2019 until the umpire called the final batter safe on 1st base. Video replays, which were not allowed in the game at the time, cleared showed the call was wrong, and Gallaraga should have been given a perfect game. This documentary about the wrong call, and the lovely way the umpire made it up to him afterwards, is an essential watch for all baseball fans. (ML)

• The fastest 147 break ever recorded was an incredible 5 mins and 20 seconds by the legendary Ronnie O’Sullivan in 1997. The sheer speed of his decision making and cue skills is extraordinary to watch. (ML)

• I don’t want to take anything away from Germán and the Yankees (even though I’m a Red Sox fan) but the perfect game was against the 2023 Oakland Athletics, who are on course to break records as the worst team ever to play in the MLB. (ML)

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Thanks for reading,

Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN) & Matt (ML) 

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