How does a perfect game work in baseball?

★ wanayoo — archive 1999 http://www.howstuffworks.com/question199.htm

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Question

When David Cone threw a perfect game recently, my friends and I had a pretty intense "discussion" over what a perfect game really means. To ask the question in the proper form -- How does a "perfect" game in baseball work?

Answer

The right person to ask about perfect games is a pitcher. Here is the pitcher's view of perfection: A perfect game occurs when a pitcher faces 27 batters and none of them get on base. They all strike out, fly out or are tagged out while getting to first base.

16 major league perfect games have been pitched in the entire history of baseball:

Lee Richmond, Worchester vs. Cleveland, 1880

Monte Ward, Providence vs. Boston, 1880

Cy Young, Boston vs. Philadelphia, 1904

Addie Joss, Cleveland vs. Chicago, 1908

Charlie Robertson, Chicago vs. Detroit, 1922

Don Larsen, New York vs. Brooklyn, 1956

Jim Bunning, Philadelphia vs. New York, 1964

Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles vs. Chicago, 1965

Catfish Hunter, Oakland vs. Minnesota, 1968

Len Barker, Cleveland vs. Toronto, 1981

Mike Witt, California vs. Texas, 1984

Tom Browning, Cinncinati. vs Los Angeles,1988

Dennis Martinez, Montreal vs. Los Angeles, 1991

Kenny Rogers, Texas vs. California, 1994

David Wells New York vs. Minnesota, 1998

David Cone , New York vs. Montreal, 1999

This makes a perfect game one of the rarest events in sports!

The pitcher I spoke to also mentioned these other forms of perfection:

A minimal "perfect game" would be a game in which the pitcher threw 27 pitches and each batter was out on that first pitch. So each batter would swing on the first pitch and fly out or get tagged out while running to first base. This would be the least amount of work for the pitcher. This sort of "perfect game" has never occurred.
A strike-out "perfect game" would be a game in which no batter ever made contact with the ball. The pitcher would strike out 27 batters in a row. This sort of perfect game has never occured either.
A "no-hitter" is a game where no batter gets to base by hitting, but may get there because the pitcher walks a batter or accidentally hits the batter with a pitch.

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