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Don Larsen’s perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers was special and unique for several reasons, but was the Yankee pitcher really perfect that day?
During a ``special lecture’’ last week at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Lew
Paper, author of ``Perfect: Don Larsen’s MiraculousWorld Series Game and the Men Who Made it Happen,’’ said most would say no. The presentation was a part of the Hall of Fame’s Summer Authors’ Series.
The count was one ball and two strikes when umpire Babe Pinelli called Dale Mitchell, a .311 career hitter who barely ever struck out, out on strikes. Paper said Pinelli, who was working his final game behind the plate and was prepared to retire after 22 years, later toldDodgers outfielder Duke Snider that when he knew he could go out with a bang by calling a perfect game, something he had not done before, he was going to call anything that came close to the plate a strike.
Paper said Larson and catcher Yogi Berra were the only ones who denied that the ball was outside the strike zone. Yogi said it was just over the corner and all the other Yankee players at the time said the ball was outside and never even came close, according to Paper.
No matter what or who people choose to believe is irrelevant because that moment will be almost impossible to repeat, said Paper. The game is significant because it has been the only perfect game (as well as the only no hitter) thrown in World Series history. Paper said somebody might someday pitch a perfect game or no hitter in a world series, but there are several other factors that will make the moment very difficult if not impossible to replicate.
One reason Paper gave was the rivalry that existed between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees. He said the teams had played in six World Series during a span of 10 years.
``That’s hard to believe, it does not happen today,” said Paper.
Secondly, the cast of characters who played in the World Series game that day will never be able to duplicated, said Paper. He said seven players out of the 19 who were on the filed that day were later inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Also, back then, baseball was truly America’s pastime, added Paper. He said baseball had an importance in people’s lives unlike it does today. The time was different _ the money and winning a World Series was important because a WorldSeries check could make the difference of living comfortably to just barely making ends meet, said Paper.
A player could make about 40 percent of his income in one week of World Series play, according to Paper.
This was not just any game, said Paper. Paper said it was a pivotal game because both teams had won a couple of games a piece and not only was there the pressure of pitching the perfect game, but there was the pressure of winning an important World Series game.
Paper said he personally feels the strike three call was just a part of baseball. If there was a replay and the umpires all got together and decided the pitch was really a ball what were they going to do go back and reverse the call, I think that would be a bit silly, said Paper.
``Any human endeavor is life with errors and is just part of the enterprise,’’ said Paper.
``And I think, in this case, I think actually it did more for baseball than as if he had pitched a perfect game.
It’s nice to say he pitched a perfect game, but this got a lot more attention because it showed the sportsmanship of both the umpire and the pitcher and so I think it did a world of good for both baseball and sports in general.’’
Paper, who practices law in Washington D.C., had written four books prior to this one and said there were several reasons why he chose Larsen’s perfect game as a topic to write about. He said he loves baseball and thought to himself that it would be great to be able to marry his interest of baseball and his love of writing.
``Then I remembered what Yogi Berra once said, `when you come to a fork in the road take it,’’ so that is what I did,’’ said Paper.
The World Series game featured a great cast of characters and it was between two highly famed baseball franchises, said Paper. The game was pitched by a guy who was not one of the top pitchers of his time who was able to do something no other pitcher has been able to do in baseball history, said Paper.
```I wanted to do something more that to just recapture the game, I wanted to tell the stories of the other 18 players on the field that day,’’ said Paper. ``Larsen did not do it all by himself.’’
Paper said most of the people he wanted to interview wanted to talk about the experience and were accessible, but not everyone.
He said his greatest challenge was getting an interview with Snider, the only person still alive from the old Dodger’s team. After trying just about everything, Paper said he was encouraged to write his wife. That finally worked, he said. It took some negotiating to get Larsen to speak as well, said Paper. Paper said Larsen expressed concern about the book having a negative effect on a book previously written to recount the game from Larsen’s perspective.
Paper said he explained that the book had been written more than 10 years ago and if Larson worked with him on his book perhaps it would have a positive impact on the other book. Paper said he told Larsen that people might read the newer book and become intrigued to find out more and might look for other resources such as the first book for information.
Larsen seemed to get on the bandwagon after that, said Paper.
According to Steve Light, programs manager at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the Hall has had authors come speak to visitors for years. It was not until last year that it became more formal and was given an official program title, said Light.
The Hall of Fame’s Summer Authors’ Series kicked off on June 19, and continues throughout July and August.
The program brings several noted writers to the Hall of Fame’s Bullpen Theater for ``special lectures’’ so fans can hear first-hand how their stories became part of written history.
``The purpose is so people can talk with scholars and get more knowledge about baseball,’’ said Light.
All programs are free with museum admission. The rest of the schedule is as follows:
- Friday, July 23: `` Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball’’ by Bill Madden, 1 p.m.
- Friday, July 30: ``Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend’’ by James S. Hirsch, 1 p.m.
- Friday, Aug. 6: ``Mint Condition” by Dave Jamieson, 1 p.m.
- Friday, Aug. 13: ``Fiftynine in ‘84” by Ed Achorn, 1 p.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 17: ``The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron’’ by Howard Bryant, 1 p.m.
- Friday, Aug. 20: ``1921: The Yankees, the Giants, & the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York’’ by Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg, 1 p.m.
