If one looks at Larsen's big league stats, he hardly had a distinguished career. Larsen did pitch for 14 seasons but had a decidedly mediocre career record of 81-91 with a 3.78 ERA in 412 big league appearances, most of which came out of the bullpen at a time when being in the bullpen was far from glorious. Originally signed by the St. Louis Browns out of high school in 1947 when he was 17. Larsen missed two seasons due to serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War although he did not see combat. Larsen made his big league debut with the Browns in 1953 and would follow the team to Baltimore in 1954 and would go 3-21 with a 4.37 ERA during the Orioles' inaugural season.
Despite his 21-loss campaign, the Yankees saw something in the lanky right-hander and acquired Larsen in a 17 player trade along with future 20 game winner Bob Turley in exchange for the likes of Gene Woodling, Gus Triandos and Hal Smith (who would come back and haunt the Yankees in the 1960 World Series). The Yankees used Larsen as a swing man in 1955 going 9-2 with a 3.06 ERA in 19 appearances (13 of them starts) despite walking more batters (51) than he struck out (44). Larsen pitched well enough to earn a start in Game 4 of the 1955 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was far from perfect lasting only four innings as both Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges took him deep en route to an 8-5 loss in what proved to be Brooklyn's only World Series title.
Larsen would have his best season in 1956 earning career highs in wins (11) and strikeouts (107) in 38 appearances including 20 starts. Despite his contributions, Larsen would have probably voted the pitcher least likely to throw a perfect game in the World Series. Larsen was nicknamed "Gooney Bird" for his love of the nightlife. Of course, Larsen wasn't the only Yankee who loved to party. Can you say Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and Billy Martin? Yet it was Casey Stengel who said of Larsen that the only thing he feared was sleep.
It didn't help matters when Larsen got knocked out in the second inning of Game 2 of the 1956 World Series after walking four batters as the Dodgers scored six runs that frame wiping out a 6-0 lead. The Dodgers would win this game 13-8. But 72 hours later, Larsen would make himself a baseball immortal and earn his first World Series ring along with World Series MVP honors. Well, here's how he told it to Bob Hope who was kind enough to give him a Corvette in return.
Larsen contributed to the Yankees' AL pennant winner in 1957 and earned another World Series ring in 1958. He pitched in four more World Series games. He wasn't perfect, but he won two more World Series games for the Yankees. Larsen was also very good hitting pitcher. In 1958, Larsen hit .306 with 4 HR and 13 RBI in only 57 plate appearances. Larsen had a lifetime batting average of .242 with 14 HR and 72 RBI.
The Yankees parted ways with Larsen prior to the 1960 season when they shipped him along with Hank Bauer, Norm Sieburn and "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry to the Kansas City A's for a young slugger named Roger Maris. While Maris would win the 1960 AL MVP and earn a baseball immortality of his own the following year, Larsen struggled with the A's going 1-10 with a 5.38 ERA in 22 appearances during the 1960 season.
The A's traded Larsen to the Chicago White Sox in the middle of the 1961 season. Prior to the 1962 season, the Chisox dealt Larsen and Billy Pierce to the San Francisco Giants which would win its first NL pennant on the West Coast. Larsen made three relief appearances for the Giants against the Yankees in the Fall Classic earning a win in Game 4. However, the Giants fell to the Yankees in seven games when Willie McCovey lined out to Bobby Richardson.
Larsen pitched with the Giants through the middle of the 1964 season when his contract was purchased by the Houston Colt-45s. Larsen was with the team when they were renamed the Astros, but would be traded back to the Orioles early in the 1965 season. Despite posting a respectful 2.67 ERA in 27 appearances with the Orioles, the team parted ways with him early in 1966 - a season in which the O's would win their first World Series. Larsen would spend 1966 in the minor leagues in the Giants organization. He briefly returned to the bigs for three appearances with the Chicago Cubs in 1967 before returning to the minors where he would remain before hanging it up after the 1968 season thus ending two decades as a professional baseball player.
In the 60 plus years after Larsen's day in the sun, his stature has only grown as his accomplishment has never been replicated. The late Roy Halladay did throw a no-hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2010 NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds. But even Halladay's achievement made Larsen's performance that much more amazing.
Larsen's perfect game took on a mystical quality when David Wells and David Cone threw their perfect games for the Yankees in 1998 and 1999. Larsen and Wells both attended Point Loma High School in San Diego. Cone's perfecto was even more poignant as both Larsen and Yogi Berra were in attendance. It was Berra's first appearance at Yankee Stadium in 14 years after his public falling out with George Steinbrenner. Larsen might have only been perfect for one day, but his perfection rubbed off when he was in the presence of other Yankee pitchers.
If Yogi Berra were still with us he might say of Don Larsen, "He didn't have to be perfect to be perfect." R.I.P.
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