October 8, 1956
The Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees came to Yankee Stadium for Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. The Dodgers took the first two games at Ebbets Field by a combined score of 19-11. The Series then went to New York, where the Yankees tamed the Dodger hitters for the next two games. In the pivotal fifth game, the Yankees sent up hurler Don Larsen to face Dodger pitcher Sal Maglie.
The Dodgers have already beaten the Yankees best pitcher, scoring five runs against Whitey Ford in just three innings. Larsen gave up four runs and left the game with two outs in the second inning of Game 2. Ford bounced back in Game 3, going the distance, giving up two earned runs and getting the win. Tom Sturdivant pitched a complete game to get the second win for the Yankees.
That set up Larsen’s most important start of his career. Just two years before, Larsen led the league in losses with 21. He only had double-digit wins twice in his entire 14 year career. The first one was in 1956, when he went 11-5 in his fourth season.
None of that mattered when he took the mound on October 8, 1956. He faced a fierce lineup that included Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, and Roy Campanella. This is the same lineup that scored 13 runs the last time Larsen pitched.
Larsen started out with a pair of strikeouts before getting Snider to line out to right field. Maglie also had a 1-2-3 inning. Neither pitcher allowed a base runner through the first three innings. Larsen induced two ground balls to second before striking out Snider to end the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fourth, with two out, Mickey Mantle hit a home run down the right field line.
Mantle was the only base runner for either team through the first five innings, thanks in part to Mantle’s running catch in left-center field to rob Hodges of extra bases.
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Larsen had another 1-2-3 inning and remained perfect through six. The Yankees had three hits in the bottom of the sixth, including an RBI single by Hank Bauer that gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
Larsen breezed through the seventh and eighth innings, throwing only 18 pitches. The Dodgers came up in the top of the ninth without having a single base runner. Right fielder Carl Furillo came up to lead off the inning. He fouled off two 2-strike pitches before flying out to right field. Campanella grounded out to second base for the second out. Dale Mitchell came in to pinch hit for Maglie. Mitchell was called out on strikes on a 1-2 count to end the game.
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Don Larsen had done it. He pitched the first (and at this point, only) perfect game in World Series history.
Birthdays
1959 – Tony Eason
1959 – Mike Morgan
1971 – Monty Williams
