As part of our celebration of America 250, MLB’s content team has created 25 top 10 lists that capture the plays, people, rituals and moments that made baseball America’s game. We’ll be revealing five lists per week over the course of five weeks.
1. Larsen’s perfect World Series performance
1956 World Series Game 5 vs. Dodgers
Don Larsen was rarely the best pitcher on his own team, much less in the entire league during 14 MLB seasons. But in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series versus the Dodgers, he recorded the best pitching performance in postseason history. Larsen ended the only World Series perfect game with a strikeout. Once the last pitch flew into the mitt of Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, he jumped into Larsen’s arms.
2. The most dominant night of Koufax’s brilliant career
Sept. 9, 1965 vs. Cubs
As broadcaster Vin Scully made clear to his radio audience, history was made inside Dodger Stadium at 9:46 p.m. PT on Sept. 9, 1965. That’s the moment when Sandy Koufax struck out the Cubs’ Harvey Kuenn to finish the first perfect game thrown by a left-handed pitcher in the Modern Era. It was the fourth no-hitter of Koufax’s Hall of Fame career, and he seemed to get stronger as the night got longer. The Dodgers’ legend struck out the last six batters he faced to close with 14 K’s.
3. Abbott’s inspirational no-hitter
Sept. 4, 1993 vs. Cleveland
Jim Abbott was born without a right hand. But he was also born with a great left arm. The southpaw was sensational on Sept. 4, 1993, at Yankee Stadium as he no-hit a Cleveland lineup that featured Jim Thome, Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez. Those feared sluggers had no answer for Abbott, who didn’t allow a baserunner past first and induced 15 groundouts, including one from Carlos Baerga to end it.
4. Nolan turns back the clock for 7th no-no
May 1, 1991 vs. Blue Jays
Straight from the pages of “The Old Guy’s Still Got It,” Nolan Ryan was 44 years young when he notched his seventh and final no-hitter on May 1, 1991, versus the Blue Jays. The AL/NL leader in no-nos became the oldest pitcher to throw one that day inside Texas’ Arlington Stadium. Baseball’s strikeout king tallied 16 K’s and capped his outing by whiffing fellow future Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar.
5. Halladay throws MLB’s first postseason no-hitter in 54 years
2010 NLDS Game 1 vs. Reds
Roy Halladay showed why he deserved the 2010 NL Cy Young Award in Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS versus the Reds. In his first postseason appearance, the Phillies ace threw MLB’s first postseason no-hitter since Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Halladay wasn’t perfect — but he was pretty dang close. A fifth-inning walk accounted for the Reds’ lone baserunner.
6. Rapid Robert rings in 1940 with no-no
April 16, 1940 at White Sox
Every Opening Day brings tremendous joy and optimism across the big leagues. And one year, it brought a no-hitter. Bob Feller, at just 21 years old, did the trick for Cleveland against the White Sox on April 16, 1940. It was the first of Feller’s three career no-hitters. When he and his teammates returned home, their train was greeted by 7,000 fans, including a band and Cleveland’s mayor.
7. Consecutive no-hitters? Vander Meer makes the impossible possible
June 11, 1938 vs. Boston Bees; June 15, 1938 at Dodgers
If any baseball fans weren’t familiar with Johnny Vander Meer on June 11, 1938, they knew his name by the end of June 15, 1938. The Reds left-hander threw a no-hitter against the Boston Bees on that first date. Four days later, he tossed another no-hitter, this time against the Brooklyn Dodgers. It’s hard to imagine anyone ever matching Vander Meer’s incredible feat.
8. Braden’s perfect Mother’s Day celebration
May 9, 2010 vs. Rays
Mother’s Day was often a painful day for Dallas Braden, who lost his mother to melanoma when he was 17 years old. On May 9, 2010, the A’s pitcher found joy on the holiday as he threw a perfect game against the Rays, who entered the game with MLB’s best record. Once it was all over, Braden and his grandmother, Peggy, shared an emotional embrace on the field in Oakland.
9. King Félix’s perfection reigns over Rays
Aug. 15, 2012 vs. Rays
Popularly known as “King Félix,” Mariners right-hander Félix Hernández brightened a beautiful afternoon in Seattle with perhaps the best pitched game in franchise history on Aug. 15, 2012. He slayed the Rays with 13 K’s en route to a perfect game. Once his final pitch caught Tampa Bay’s Sean Rodriguez looking, Hernández’s cheering section in left field — known as King’s Court — hailed its ace.
10. Two homers AND a no-hitter? It wasn’t Shohei
June 23, 1971 at Reds
Not Babe Ruth. Not Shohei Ohtani. No one has done what Phillies pitcher Rick Wise did on June 23, 1971, versus the Reds. Wise was already having a standout game by the eighth inning, when he hit his second home run of the day. It got better — historically so — two innings later, once he got Pete Rose to line out to complete a no-hitter. One walk was all that kept Wise from a powerful perfecto.
• Jim Bunning throws a perfect game on Father’s Day in 1964: Watch >
• Mike Scott throws a no-no to help Houston clinch the NL West in 1986: Watch >
• Dave Stieb throws a no-hitter in 1990 after three near misses: Watch >
• Johan Santana throws the first no-hitter in Mets history in 2012: Watch >
• Matt Cain throws the first perfecto in Giants history in 2012: Watch >
• Joe Musgrove throws the 1st Padres no-no in the 53rd season of the team in 2021: Watch >
• Addie Joss only needs 74 pitches to throw the 4th perfecto in AL/NL history in 1908: Read more >
• Ernie Shore’s quasi-perfect game … that started with Babe Ruth punching an umpire in 1917: Read more >
• Dock Ellis walked 8 batters, but threw a no-hitter in 1970: Read more >
• Hideo Nomo showed that pitchers can pitch well at Coors Field with a no-no in 1996: Watch >
• Randy Johnson throws a perfecto and racks up 13 K’s at 40 years of age in 2004: Watch >
