Father's Day, June 21, 1964. Shea Stadium, first game of a doubleheader. Phillies right-hander Jim Bunning — a father of seven — took the mound against the Mets and proceeded to retire every single batter he faced. Twenty-seven up. Twenty-seven down. 90 pitches. Ten strikeouts, six of them in the final three innings, when most pitchers tighten up - Bunning went the other way and stepped on the gas. By the late innings he wasn't tiptoeing around the no-no superstition at all; he was reportedly telling teammates in the dugout exactly what was on the line. It was the first perfect game in modern National League history and the first regular-season perfecto since Charlie Robertson in 1922 — a 42-year gap, with only Don Larsen's 1956 World Series gem in between. Bunning's wife Mary and daughter Barbara were in the Shea stands to watch dad do the impossible. He'd later throw a no-hitter in the American League too, becoming one of the few pitchers to no-hit both leagues. Then he swapped the rubber for a different kind of pressure - Hall of Famer and a two-term U.S. Senator from Kentucky. Of every perfect game ever thrown, exactly one was tossed on Father's Day by an actual father of seven. Happy Father's Day RateGame!
Replies:
More Like This