Perfect games had always left a sour taste in my mouth since I first watched Don Larsen of the Yankees twirl one at my favorite team, the Dodgers, in the 1956 World Series. The Dodgers came within inches several times of breaking up the perfect game and winning the contest. I was disgusted when the game was over. The Dodgers hit him hard all day and had nothing to show for it. Well, since there had only been three earlier "perfect games" at that point, I could rack it up to a quirk of fate. But it began to become annoying when two other pitchers also had perfect games against the Dodgers (Tom Browning and Dennis Martinez) while only one Dodger, the great Sandy Koufax, had one to his credit.
Perfect games seem to happen all of the time now. There have been 7 since 1981. Seeing that Bill James had written a foreword to this book, I thought perhaps I could learn more about what makes these unusual performances happen. What I learned was an eye-opener and I recommend this book to all baseball fans.
First, I had forgotten that you have to be the winning pitcher in a complete game that goes at least nine innings to have a perfect game. Poor Harvey Haddix (12 perfect innings), Pedro Martinez (he came out before the game was complete), and Ernie Shore (27 perfect outs in relief). Their remarkable efforts don't count.
Second, I didn't know very much about most of the games. This book filled me in. Some of the efforts seem to have been helped by players who were in a hurry to get out of town, umpires with enormous strike zones and meeting up with weak-hitting teams at the end of the season. So not all perfect games are equal.
Third, some of these pitchers names didn't mean anything to me. How well do you know Addie Joss, Charlie Robertson, Len Barker and Kenny Rogers? I was glad to learn more.
Fourth, there are some great pitchers who have finished perfect games. It was a nice treat to read more about them, especially Cy Young who doesn't come in for much discussion these days.
The unexpected surprise in the book was that Mr. Coffey also made connections between the developments in the game of baseball and these pitching masterpieces. So I had a chance to learn more about when 60 feet six inches became the distance from the plate to the rubber, when underhanded pitching ended, and the early battles among start-up leagues. I also learned many interesting things about the development of Latin American players. You will probably have other nice surprises as well.
The games themselves are described in interesting detailed ways, without becoming too developed. You find out about the close calls (3-0 counts, hard hit shots that are almost fair, balls that are snagged by lunging infielders and close plays at first) as well as the demeanor the players and fans. It's a little like being there.
Speaking of being there, Mr. Coffey was inspired to write the book after taking his young son to see David Cone's perfect game in 1999. That game is especially interesting to learn about since it includes Mr. Coffey's personal reminiscences.
With the all-star break coming up soon, I recommend that you read this book during off-days. I found it so fascinating that I doled out the chapters to read only one a day. It was more delightful that way.
Play ball!
