Larsen pitches perfect stripes
DON LARSEN IS giving up his perfect pinstripes and they can be all yours — provided your bank account can handle it.
The 82-year-old righty was at Gallagher’s Steakhouse i n Manhattan on Thursday to announce that he would be auctioning off the uniform he wore when he pitched the only perfect game in World Series history, against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956.
“I think about it every day. I can’t help it,” Larsen said. “It’s the best thing to ever happen to me.”
His wife, Corrine, and Bob Wolff, who called the game, joined Larsen along with representatives of Steiner Sports Memorabilia, the company running the auction.
Larsen is back in New York, making his annual trip from Idaho for Old Timers’ Day, which is Sunday. It also gave him a chance to meet with his old friend Wolff and reminisce about the historic moment that will bind them forever. “My memories of it are very vivid,” Wolff said. “It’s sort of part of my being now. I’ve broadcast thousands of games, but as you go through life, you only get remembered for one or two.”
Larsen has decided to sell the uniform in order to pay for the college education of his two grandsons, Cody and Justin.
“If there’s anything left, maybe I’ll take the family on a little vacation,” Larsen said. “Maybe even buy a little round of (hot) toddies.”
The auction will start on Oct. 8 — 56 years to the day Larsen pitched the gem — and will conclude on Dec.5. The uniform is expected to fetch a hefty sum. Yogi Berra’s jersey from the same game sold for more than $500,000 in 2010, but this Yankee great has a specific number in mind. “A million,” Larsen said. “Why go cheap?”
Steiner Executive VP Brett Schissler estimated that Larsen’s uniform could sell for as high as $2 million and added that the company had already received several seven-figure offers.
The uniform had been at the San Diego Hall of Champions since the 1960s. Larsen, who attended Point Loma High School in San Diego decided last spring to sell the uniform, said that he will be sad to see it go.
“Oh, yes,” Larsen said. “But it’s still mine. I’m still inside it.”
‘I think about it every day. I can’t help it. It’s the best thing to ever happen to me.’
— Don Larsen, on his perfect game