In baseball, a perfect game is one of the rarest feats that can be accomplished. Throughout the history of Major League baseball, only seventeen (17) pitchers have thrown perfect games. To pitch a perfect game, the pitcher not only must toss a no-hitter, but he also cannot walk or hit a batter, and no hitters can reach base on an error. In short, a pitcher throws a perfect game when he faces and gets out all 27 batters he faces.

To throw a perfect game, the pitcher must be in command of his pitches. Baseball history indicates that most perfect game pitchers average roughly 100 pitches, or 3.7 pitches per batter. These numbers indicate that perfect game pitchers aren't necessarily striking out large numbers of batters. Rather, they're spotting the ball where they want it, and making the batter swing at what can be called, "the pitcher's pitch." By throwing strikes, the batter may be forced to swing at a pitch he didn't necessarily like, and as a result he may hit a weak grounder or an easy pop fly.

1n Game 5 of the 1956 World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees, Yankees pitcher Don Larsen threw a perfect game. This was the only time in World Series history that a perfect game or no-hitter has been thrown. After the game, Larsen, who had pitched poorly earlier in the series told a reporter, "When it was over, I was so happy, I felt like crying. I wanted to win this one for Casey (Yankees manager Casey Stengel). After what I did in Brooklyn, he could have forgotten about me and who would blame him. But he gave me another chance and I'm grateful." Larsen had seven strikeouts that game and the Yankees went on to win the World Series in seven games.

Some might say that a pefect game pitcher not only has to be at his best, but he might just have a bit of luck on his side, as well. In most perfect games, a player on the field generally makes an outstanding play or two to save the perfect game for the pitcher. Some would call this, "luck." For instance, in Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series, Yankee centerfielder Mickey Mantle made a spectacular over the shoulder grab that some baseball historians have dubbed, "the catch."

As you can see from these historical records of perfect games, a few interesting statistics become apparent. The 1990s was the decade with most perfect games: 4. The New York Yankees threw the most perfect games throughout history: 3. The Minnesota Twins and the Dodgers (once in Brooklyn and once in Los Angeles) are the only teams to have been at the unfortunate end of more than one perfect game: they both were the losers in two perfect games.