History in the Palm of his Hand

Everyone knows Armando Galarraga threw a perfect game, regardless of what MLB says, so let’s pretend it was official and look at how it compares to every other perfect game. This exercise is not meant to rub salt in the wound; it is meant to give genuine praise to an excellent performance from Galarraga. Galarraga’s perfect game is the 21st in MLB history, it also made 2010 the first year ever to have 3 perfect games, a record it now shares with 2012. Galarraga completed his perfect game in just 83 pitches. It is the 2nd least amount of pitches needed for a perfect game, only trailing Addie Joss’s 74 all the way back in 1908. David Cone is the only other pitcher to throw a perfect game in less than 90 pitches. Galarraga had just 3 strikeouts, it is the least amount of Ks in a perfect game ever, tied with 1908 Addie Joss. While Cleveland wasn’t a good team, they did have some really good hitters like Shin-Soo Choo (who got MVP votes), Travis Hafner and Russell Branyan, all of whom had an OPS above .800 and an OPS+ above 125. Galarraga basically threw a dead-ball era perfect game in 2010 against a few really good hitters. Wild.