Posted on 01/02/2020 5:48:17 AM PST by foreverfree
NEW YORK -- Don Larsen, the journeyman pitcher who reached the heights of baseball glory when he pitched the only perfect game in World Series history in 1956 with the New York Yankees, died Wednesday, his representative, Andrew Levy, tweeted Wednesday night. Larsen was 90.
Levy said the former pitcher died of esophageal cancer in hospice care in Hayden, Idaho. Levy said Larsen's son, Scott, confirmed the death.
ff
Along with the JFK assassination, the Muslim attack on the WTC, I remember where I was and what I was doing when Don Larsen pitched the Perfect Game.
ML/NJ
After decades had passed, a kinescope film of Larsen’s perfecto surfaced, acquired by film restorer and sports buff Doak Ewing who allowed the game to be broadcast on the MLB Network (look for it to be replayed sometime in the coming days). As Ewing told the story, a GI overseas had a copy that was property of the Armed Forces Network. The military had orders that, after the film was shown to the troops, the copies had to be destroyed. This soldier disobeyed orders and kept the game on film, sending it back home for storage. He eventually died and his family cleaned out his attic in Oregon in preparation for probate. They found an old film projector in the attic which they sold since it still was salvageable. There was a roll of film on it which was used to prove the projector could still run. Later, they found other films, saw an ad from Ewing that solicits old film in any condition, and asked him if he wanted these cans simply marked “Larson” (note the typo) on them. To Doak’s surprise, this was the broadcast of Larsen’s no-no, all but the first inning which they suspect was the sample reel used to sell the projector. Attempts to locate the reel were unsuccessful.
One of the nice things about baseball is how the ordinary can occasionally do the extraordinary. Larsen was not a great pitcher, just a durable and effective one who rose from obscurity that day in 1956. By their very nature, basketball and football require athletes of extraordinary size. Baseball seems almost random in the ways heroes are made.
That would have been October 8, 1956? I was born October 31, 1956.
Wasn’t able to make it.
At least he got to pitch a good game just before he died. /s
Lot of sports deaths lately.
I only realized yesterday after watching the Auburn-Minnesota game that Auburn had “7” on their helmets, because Pat Sullivan passed away last month.
Game Called - Grantland Rice
Game Called.
Across the field of play
the dusk has come, the hour is late.
The fight is done and lost or won,
the player files out through the gate.
The tumult dies, the cheer is hushed,
the stands are bare, the park is still.
But through the night there shines the light,
home beyond the silent hill.
Game Called.
Where in the golden light
the bugle rolled the reveille.
The shadows creep where night falls deep,
and taps has called the end of play.
The game is done, the score is in,
the final cheer and jeer have passed.
But in the night, beyond the fight,
the player finds his rest at last.
Game Called.
Upon the field of life
the darkness gathers far and wide,
the dream is done, the score is spun
that stands forever in the guide.
Nor victory, nor yet defeat
is chalked against the players name.
But down the roll, the final scroll,
shows only how he played the game.
I was a huge baseball fan (White Sox), but that was a school day, and we did not have TVs at school in 1956.
In 1960 we did have school TVs, and my teacher let us watch Game 7 between the Yankees and Pittsburgh.
I have a vivid memory of Bill Mazeroski’s epic ninth inning home run - the only Game 7 walk off home run in World Series history.
I remember where I was the day Felix Hernandez pitched his perfect game --- on the couch watching. Perfect games (and no-hitters) are seriously intense games in the final innings.
I was born on Sept 17th that year.
The season would have just been finishing in about a week I am guessing.
Cool,
But as a Twins fan, I really dislike the Yankees.
I could only imagine the Umpires in that game.
They live to call a no hitter. We had a umpire from the majors who retired in Northern Wisconsin and bought a small tavern for something to do. He used to umpire the local baseball team games-some former minor league players used to play on those teams. My brother pitched a perfect game which he called. The old guy went nuts with joy. All the time he called games in the majors he never got to call a no hitter.
Took my brother and dad to a White Sox game and managed to get them into the locker room after to meet all the players.
The Sox played the NY Yankees that day and they got to watch Micky Mantle hit a home run. I think Whitey Ford was pitching that day also.
Them was the days of BASEBALL.
You may wish to delete this item from your home page my FRiend. I mean ... just damn. :-)
“My current stick-my-neck-out prediction, which I’ve been stating for a year or two already, is that there will not be a US Presidential Election in 2012.”
My father was bedridden through my teenage years and his only enjoyment was listening to the radio. He listened to every Yankee game that summer and said, “that Don Larsen is going to go places.” He passed away in July 1956 and Don Larsen’s perfect game was in October 1956. I was always sorry he never lived to hear that game...and of course, for other reasons. My father was only 49 when he passed away. Born the year of the San Francisco earthquake on December 26, 1906 and died on July 26, 1956..
Thank you for posting the thread.
I was 10 years old in the spring following the Don Larson perfect game and I got to go to St. Pete, FLORIDA to see the Yankees spring training games. I got autographs from Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Casey Stengle, and others but Don Larson wouldn’t be bothered. Disappointing.
Tell me about it. I saw Lew Burdette pitch a nearly perfect game in 1960. He faced only 27 batters, but he hit one with a pitch who was then doubled off. The Braves won 1-0 and didn't score until the eighth inning where Burdette led off with a double and was driven in for the only run of the game. It was probably the most exciting baseball game I have ever attended.
I was 13 years old at the time, traveling around the Middle West with my father. (He sold clothes and I went to baseball games!) I took a "Stadium Bus" from our downtown hotel to and from the ballpark. So after the game I get back on the bus and I'm just glowing from what I just saw. A teenage couple got on the bus and sat behind me. I guess they were about 16 or 17 years old. The girl said to here date, "Gee. What a boring game. They only scored one run." I really wanted to turn around and punch her out.
ML/NJ
Ff: Someone posted it before...RIP Don Larsen! Prayers to his family!!
I thought it would be a “hot” thread listed on the right hand side of the forum’s home page. That’s why I searched the way I did.
A while back I saw the 1956 game when Larsen pitched a perfect game being shown on the MLB channel. Amazing number of all-time greats on the field in the game (the opposing team was the Brooklyn Dodgers who included Jackie Robinson).
In May 2010 there were two perfect games pitched in the same month. There should have been a third perfect game that spring but the first base umpire made a bad call in the 9th inning--called the runner safe on first when it was clear to those watching on TV that he was out. That would have been the second or third out in the inning, if I remember correctly.
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