BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…July 18, 1999, 25 years ago today:
Don Larsen, who pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series, is in the house at Yankee Stadium for Yogi Berra Day. Berra, Larsen’s battery mate for the stunning Fall Classic feat, had been on the outs with George Steinbrenner for 14 years—since the Yankees owner fired him just 16 games into the 1985 season. But the two had reconciled, so the stadium was emotionally-charged that day. Larsen threw out the first pitch to Berra behind home plate, with an appreciative roar from the 41,930 fans in attendance.
And what should happen? The Yankees’ David Cone tossed a perfect game himself in a 6-0 New York win over the Montreal Expos. Cone had to endure a 33-minute rain delay in the third inning, but he retained his lazer focus. The 36-year-old got it done on only 88 pitches, and the furthest behind he ever got in the count was 2-0. When Cone returned to his locker after a string of postgame interviews, Berra and Larsen were there and teamed up for a bear hug.
Was it destiny? “That day certainly shook me up and made me think about those sorts of things,” Cone said in an interview with the Washington Post last week. “I ended up with 88 pitches on Yogi Berra Day and there’s a big number 8 painted behind home plate,” to commemorate the Hall of Fame catcher’s uniform number. “So that makes you think as well. It was just an incredible day all the way around—the further removed I get from it, the more I appreciate it.”
Cone’s gem was the 16th perfect game in major league history—and the first one ever in regular-season interleague play. Larsen’s historic World Series game was, of course, the first one in what you could call interleague action. Cone’s perfect game marked the second year in a row a Yankee had tossed one, as David Wells had gone 27-up and 27-down 14 months earlier. Cone gave the Yanks a record third perfect game as a franchise. (The Chicago White Sox tied the record in 2012, but New York took it back last year with Domingo Germain’s perfect game at Oakland.)
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
