Don James Larsen (August 7, 1929 – January 1, 2020) was an American professional baseball pitcher. During a 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he pitched from 1953 to 1967 for seven different teams: the St. Louis Browns / Baltimore Orioles (1953–54; 1965), New York Yankees (1955–1959), Kansas City Athletics (1960–1961), Chicago White Sox (1961), San Francisco Giants (1962–1964), Houston Colt .45's / Astros (1964–65), and Chicago Cubs (1967).
Larsen pitched the sixth perfect game in MLB history, doing so in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. It is the only solo no-hitter and perfect game in World Series history and is one of only three no-hitters in MLB postseason history (the others being Roy Halladay's in 2010 and the combined Houston Astros no-hitter in 2022). He won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award and Babe Ruth Award in recognition of his 1956 postseason.
Early life
Larsen was born in Michigan City, Indiana. Larsen's family moved to San Diego, California, in 1944, where his mother became a housekeeper and his father worked as a department store salesman. Larsen attended Point Loma High School where he was a member of the basketball and baseball teams. He was selected for the All-Metro Conference team as a basketball player, and was offered several college scholarships to play basketball. The next season with Aberdeen, he won 17 games and had a 3.75 ERA in 34 games. He had his first career win a little less than a month later, on May 12, against the Philadelphia Athletics, pitching innings and giving up one earned run in a 7–3 win. For his rookie season, Larsen finished with a 7–12 record, 4.16 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 38 games, 22 of them starts. He finished first on the team in innings pitched () and complete games (7) and second on the team in strikeouts. Larsen also allowed the most hits with 202, and earned runs (89) on the squad. He led the major leagues in losses and finished third in the league in earned runs allowed (98). His other victory was against the Chicago White Sox on May 30. The Yankees’ “Big Three” pitching staff of the late 1940s and early 1950s, Vic Raschi, Ed Lopat and Allie Reynolds, were in their late thirties, and wearing down. However, Weiss and Yankees manager Casey Stengel thought that Larsen had the most potential out of the two, having been impressed with Larsen's performance against the Yankees and demanded that he be included in the trade. He was quickly demoted to the Denver Bears, and Larsen, visibly upset, decided to "take my sweet time" reporting to the Bears. During the 1955 season, Larsen participated in nineteen games, starting 13 of them. He had a 9–2 record with a 3.07 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 97 innings pitched.
1956 season
In 1956 Larsen achieved an 11–5 record, with a career best 107 strikeouts and a 3.26 ERA. He gradually improved and by the beginning of August, Larsen lowered his ERA below 4.00. He finished the season with a 7–3 victory against the Boston Red Sox on September 28.
1956 World Series
right|thumb|upright|The "everlasting image" of [[Yogi Berra leaping into Larsen's arms upon the completion of the perfect game]]
Larsen's most notable accomplishment was pitching the only perfect game in World Series history; it is one of only 24 perfect games in MLB history. He was pitching for the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers on October 8, 1956. His perfect game remained the only no-hitter of any type pitched in postseason play until Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on October 6, 2010, in Game 1 of the National League Division Series and the only World Series no-hitter until the combined no-hitter in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series thrown by the Houston Astros against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Stengel selected Larsen to start Game 2 of the Series. Despite being given a 6–0 lead by the Yankee batters, he lasted only innings in a 13–8 loss. He gave up only one hit, a single by Gil Hodges. He walked four batters and allowed four runs in the process but, because of an error by first baseman Joe Collins, none of the runs were earned.
Larsen started Game 5 for the Yankees. His opponent in the game was Brooklyn's Sal Maglie. Larsen needed just 97 pitches to complete the perfect game, and only one Dodger batter (Pee Wee Reese in the first inning) was able to get a three-ball count. In 1998, Larsen recalled, "I had great control. I never had that kind of control in my life." Brooklyn's Maglie gave up only two runs on five hits. Mickey Mantle's fourth-inning home run broke the scoreless tie. The Yankees added an insurance run in the sixth. After Roy Campanella grounded out to Billy Martin for the second out of the 9th inning, Larsen faced pinch hitter Dale Mitchell, a .312 career hitter. Throwing fastballs, Larsen got ahead in the count at 1–2. On his 97th pitch, a called third strike by home plate umpire Babe Pinelli, Larsen caught Mitchell looking for the 27th and last out. After the pitch, catcher Yogi Berra leaped into Larsen's arms in celebration, setting up the "everlasting image". Larsen's unparalleled game earned him the World Series Most Valuable Player Award and Babe Ruth Award.
When the World Series ended, Larsen did a round of endorsements and promotional work around the United States, but he stopped soon after because it was "disrupting his routine".
1957–1960
In 1957, Larsen had a 10–4 record with 3.74 ERA in 27 games, 20 of them starts. On May 26, Larsen gave up four earned runs in less than one inning in a start against the Washington Senators. He started another game two days later against the Red Sox and by the end of the month his ERA was over 6. He improved by the end of the season, hurling a 3-hit shutout against the Kansas City Athletics on September 15. He started the seventh game of the Series, lasting innings in a 5–0 loss as the Braves won the Series.
Larsen won the third game in the 1958 World Series. Like the 1957 World Series, it went to a seventh game, and Larsen was New York's starting pitcher. He lasted just innings, taking a no-decision. Both the Yankees' and Don Larsen's fortunes would dip in 1959. New York slipped to third place and Don Larsen dropped below .500 for the first time in his Yankee career, going 6–7. In July 1960, the Athletics sent Larsen back to the minors.
Chicago White Sox (1961)
In 1961, Larsen went 8–2 while playing for both the Athletics and the Chicago White Sox, to whom he was traded in June 1961 with Andy Carey, Ray Herbert and Al Pilarcik for Wes Covington, Stan Johnson, Bob Shaw and Gerry Staley. During his time with the Giants, Larsen earned the nickname of "Froggy" due to his hobby of hunting frogs and serving marinated frog legs to his Giants teammates.
Houston Colt .45's / Astros (1964–1965)
In 1964, the Giants sold Larsen to the Houston Colt .45s, who pressed Larsen back into a starting role. He responded with a 4–8 record and a 2.27 ERA. He was regarded well enough by his managers that he was used as a pinch hitter 66 times.
Pitching style
In his prime, Larsen was an athletically built (6'4", 215 lb), right-handed overhand power pitcher, who admitted to having poorer control than most pitchers in his era, but he trusted the framing by Yogi Berra to set him to aim low and outside batters, and mostly across the body. He was also known to have no windup or leg kick, a technique usually used by modern pitchers when there are runners on base. Because his action was so compact and he did not throw many changeups or breaking balls, runners could not easily steal on him.
Life after playing
thumb|right|[[Roy Halladay and Don Larsen, the only two pitchers to throw solo postseason no-hitters in MLB history]]
After retiring from baseball, Larsen attempted to work in the front office of a major league organization (it is not known which one), and as a liquor salesman; neither career worked out.
Larsen, with writer Mark Shaw, released an autobiography, The Perfect Yankee: The Incredible Story of the Greatest Miracle in Baseball History that was published in 1996.
Larsen was also at David Cone's perfect game in 1999. Cone's game took place on Yogi Berra Day; Larsen threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Berra before the game. Larsen said it was the first game he had seen in person from start to finish since his retirement.
Personal life and death
thumb|right|Larsen at age 84.
Larsen married his first wife, Vivian, in 1955, out of a sense of duty after she became pregnant with his child. The day of his perfect game, they were estranged, and she was in court, obtaining a show-cause order demanding that MLB Commissioner Ford Frick withhold her husband's World Series share and apply it to $420 owed her in support payments. They were divorced in 1957. Larsen and his second wife, Corrine, were married for over 60 years. They lived in Hayden Lake, Idaho. It was reported in 2012 that he put up for auction the uniform he had worn to pitch his perfect game to pay for expenses of his grandchildren's college education.
Larsen died on January 1, 2020, from esophageal cancer at the age of 90 in Hayden Lake, Idaho.
Personality
Larsen was known for his personality and his enjoyment of the nightlife, especially in New York City. When he broke into the Majors with the St. Louis Browns, Larsen started violating a time-limit curfew that was set by managers Marty Marion and then Jimmy Dykes. He was nicknamed "Gooneybird" for his antics.