Larsen, who threw only perfect World Series game, dies at 90
Don Larsen, the journeyman pitcher who reached the heights of baseball glory in 1956 for the New York Yankees when he threw a perfect game and the only no-hitter in World Series history, died Wednesday night. He was 90.
Larsen’s agent, Andrew Levy, said the former pitcher died of esophageal cancer in Hayden, Idaho. Levy said Larsen’s son, Scott, confirmed the death.
Larsen was the unlikeliest of characters to attain what so many Hall of Famers couldn’t pull off in the fall classic. He was 81-91 lifetime, never won more than 11 games in a season and finished an unsightly 3-21 with Baltimore in 1954, the year before he was dealt to the Yankees as part of an 18-player trade.
In the 1956 World Series, won in seven games by the Yankees, he was knocked out in the second inning of Game 2 by the Brooklyn Dodgers and didn’t think he would have another opportunity to pitch. But when he reached Yankee Stadium on the morning of Oct. 8, he found a baseball in his shoe, the signal from manager Casey Stengel that he would start Game 5.
The lanky right-hander struck out seven, needed just 97 pitches to tame the Dodgers and only once went to three balls on a batter. Larsen was named MVP of the 1956 series.
Larsen retired in 1967 with an 81-91 record for 14 major league seasons. He later worked as a liquor salesman and paper company executive. When the Yankees’ David
Cone pitched a perfect game during the 1999 season, Larsen was in attendance, having thrown out the first ball.
No other pitcher has thrown a perfect game in the postseason, but in 2010 the Phillies’ Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds during the National League Division Series. “They can never break my record,” Larsen would say of his game. “The best they can do is tie it. October 8, 1956, was a mystical trip through fantasyland. Sometimes I still wonder whether it really all happened.”
College football
JONES, GILMAN FOREGO FINAL YEARS AT NOTRE DAME » Running back Tony Jones Jr. became the second player for No. 14 Notre Dame to forego his final year of eligibility to enter the NFL draft.
On Monday, senior safety Alohi Gilman declared for the draft, which is April 23-25. Jones finished his Notre Dame career with 1,481 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns along with 27 receptions for 273 yards and two scores.
The 5-foot-10½, 202-pound Gilman finished his second season as a starter with 74 tackles, one
interception, one fumble recovery and three fumbles caused.
Pro basketball
MAGIC FORWARD ISSAC HYPEREXTENDS LEFT KNEE » Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac hyperextended his left knee early in the first quarter against the Washington Wizards.
Isaac collided with Washington’s Bradley Beal with 9:57 left in the first quarter and was taken off the court on a stretcher. The Magic say Isaac will have an MRI in Orlando on Thursday.
Issac entered the game averaging 12.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.52 blocks.