The first known use of the term perfect game was in 1908; its current definition was formalized in 1991. In Major League Baseball (MLB), it has been achieved 24 times – 22 times since the modern era began in 1901, most recently by Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees on June 28, 2023 against the Oakland Athletics.
Now, this has never happened in the major leagues, but in the minors. Only one time in professional baseball has a pitcher struck out 27 hitters in a nine-inning game. Ron Necciai accomplished this feat.
No major league player has ever thrown two perfect games, although Jean Faut of the AAGPBL accomplished the feat with perfect games in 1951 and 1953.
Very, very small. "At the beginning of every major-league game, an average pitcher facing a lineup of average hitters has a . 000983 percent chance of pitching a perfect game," according to numbers crunched by smart people in a 2012 SBNATION article.
Yankees starting pitcher Domingo Germán made history Wednesday evening in Oakland. He threw the 24th perfect game in major-league history and the first since 2012 in an 11-0 Yankees win. A perfect game means that Germán faced just 27 batters and got every single one out. Not one opposing player reached base.
Individual pitchers have thrown two straight no-hitters seven times: Addie Joss 1908 and 1910; Vander Meer in 1938; Allie Reynolds in 1951; Warren Spahn in 1960 and 1961; Ryan twice, first in 1973, then in 1974 and 1975; and Homer Bailey in 2012 and 2013.
A perfect game, a special subcategory of no-hitter, has yet to be thrown in Tigers history.
The rarest type of triple play, and one of the rarest events of any kind in baseball, is for a single fielder to complete all three outs in one play. There have only been 15 unassisted triple plays in MLB history, making this feat rarer than a perfect game.
The rarest achievement for a pitcher is a perfect game, in which not a single player on the opposing team gets on base. Because there are no hits in a perfect game, all perfect games are no-hitters. And it's impossible to score without getting on base, of course, so a perfect game is also a de facto shutout.
This is because it requires a ball to be hit solidly to a distant part of the field (ordinarily a line drive or fly ball near the foul line closest to right field), or the ball to take an irregular bounce in the outfield, usually against the wall, away from a fielder.
Ryan also pitched 18 two-hitters. Despite this, he never pitched a perfect game, nor did he ever win a Cy Young Award; both were largely attributed to his high walk rate. Ryan is one of only 29 players in baseball history to have appeared in MLB games in four different decades.
On May 26, 1959, Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched a perfect game for 12 innings against the Milwaukee Braves, but lost the no-hitter and the game in the 13th inning. The game was played at Milwaukee County Stadium.
Fourteen franchises have managed to be on the wrong end of a perfect game, but oddly the circa-1998 Tampa Bay Rays were the victim of three perfect games in a four-season stretch (2009-2012).
Pitching an altered baseball
Regardless of what pitch is being thrown, if a pitcher is caught applying any foreign substance to a baseball (saliva, petroleum jelly, etc. Also, purposely damaging the baseball (with sandpaper or a nail file) to create more spin is illegal.
Brandon Belt holds the record for the longest at-bat by pitches in MLB history, having worked a 21-pitch at-bat on April 22, 2018. The San Francisco Giants first baseman faced Jaime Barria of the Los Angeles Angels when he hit 16 foul balls before eventually hitting a fly ball to right field.
As expected, only the hardest throwers in major league history have recorded the feat more than once: Sandy Koufax, Chris Sale and Max Scherzer (three times), and Lefty Grove, Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson (twice each).
Perfect Game uses an amateur grading system from 1-10.
MLB rules dictate that a no-hitter is a full game in which one or more pitchers do not allow a player to reach a base from a hit. Players can take bases from walks or errors or even score, and a game can still be a no-hitter.
Of the 21 perfect games for which pitch counts are available, Addie Joss's was the most efficient–74 pitches, fewer than three per batter.
The Red Sox' Johnny Damon became the only other major leaguer since 1900 to get three hits in an inning, when Boston whipped the Florida Marlins, 25-8, on June 27, 2003. Damon collected a single, double, and triple in the first inning as Boston scored a record 10 runs before recording an out.
Only about 10 percent of the general population is left-handed. That righty majority doesn't magically flip when it comes to baseball players. Take recent Major League Baseball history -- since 2010, nearly three quarters of all pitchers in MLB have been righties. Barely a quarter have been lefties.
His bid for a perfect game was ruined one out short when first-base umpire Jim Joyce incorrectly ruled that Indians batter Jason Donald reached first base safely on a ground ball.
Woods has hit a hole-in-one 20 times in the course of his lifetime, his first at the age of six. Three have come in PGA Tour competitions - at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open, 1997 Phoenix Open, and 1998 Sprint International. Woods is the only professional golfer to win four majors in a row.
Jack Nicklaus has won the most majors, achieving 18 victories during his career. Second on the list is Tiger Woods, who has won 15 majors to date; his most recent major victory was at the 2019 Masters. Walter Hagen is third with 11 majors; he and Nicklaus have both won the most PGA Championships with five.