Don Larsen, Yankees legend, passes away at age 90
Former Major League pitcher of 14 seasons, five of which were with the New York Yankees, Don Larsen has passed away on the first day of 2020, at
the age of 90. Larsen was most widely known for pitching the first, and only, perfect game in World Series history for the Yankees in 1956.
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| Photo Credit: AP |
According to the New York
Times write-up
on his life, Larsen was “an otherwise ordinary pitcher who achieved the
extraordinary.” Before his World Series perfection, the Major Leagues had
not witnessed a perfect game for 34 years, in the regular season or in the
postseason.
On the 1956 regular season,
Larsen’s record was 11-6. He started Game Two of the 1956 World Series
only to be taken out of the game in the second inning. But going into
Game Five, the World Series was tied at two games for the Yankees and two games
for their rival, the Brooklyn Dodgers. Larsen found out he was called to
the mound when he arrived at the stadium for Game Five. By the seventh inning of that game, Larsen
still did not realize he had a perfect game going (but was aware that he had a
no-hitter through seven). Once the game was over, he still wasn’t aware
that he recorded a perfect game until he retired to the clubhouse.
Larsen went on to pitch for the
Kansas City Athletics, the San Francisco Giants, the Houston Colt .45s and the
Chicago Cubs after the Yankees traded him after the 1959 season. At the
time of his death, he was in the process of undergoing treatment for esophageal
cancer, which he was diagnosed with in the summer of 2019, according to his
son, Scott.
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