Cy Young's perfect game
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Date | May 5, 1904 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Venue | Huntington Avenue Grounds | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
City | Boston, Massachusetts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Managers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Umpires | Frank Dwyer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 10,267[1] |
After Athletics' pitcher Rube Waddell defeated Young on April 25 and one-hit Boston on May 2, Waddell taunted Young to face him so that he could repeat his performance against Boston's ace. Three days later, Young pitched a perfect game against Waddell and the Athletics. The third perfect game in Major League Baseball history, Young's perfect game was the first in baseball's modern era and in American League history.[2]
Background
Before Young, only two pitchers had thrown perfect games. Both occurred in 1880, when Lee Richmond and John Ward pitched perfect games within five days of each other, although under different rules from modern ones: the front edge of the pitcher's box was only 45 feet (14 m) from home plate (the modern release point is about 10 feet (3.0 m) farther away); walks required eight balls; and pitchers were obliged to throw side-armed. Young's perfect game was the first under the modern rules established in 1893.[3]
Over 10,000 fans attended the May 5 game, as the
During the game, Waddell allowed at least one hit to every Boston batter, except for Young. Meanwhile, Boston's fielders, including Chick Stahl, Patsy Dougherty, and Buck Freeman, made excellent defensive plays behind Young.[4] By the sixth inning, teammates began to avoid Young in between innings, following a long-standing tradition in baseball not to talk to a pitcher who was in the midst of pitching a no-hitter.[4] The crowd cheered loudly in the ninth inning, as Young completed the perfect game by retiring Monte Cross, Ossee Schreckengost, and finally Waddell. After retiring Waddell, Young shouted, "How do you like that, you hayseed?"[5] The game ended in one hour and 23 minutes.[4]
Young had a streak of 45 scoreless
One year later, on July 4, 1905, Waddell beat Young and the Americans, 4–2, in a 20-inning contest. Young pitched 13 consecutive scoreless innings before he gave up a pair of unearned runs in the final inning. Young did not walk a batter and was later quoted as saying: "For my part, I think it was the greatest game of ball I ever took part in."[3]
Game statistics
- May 5, Huntington Avenue Grounds, Boston, Massachusetts[2]
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Philadelphia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Boston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | 3 | 10 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
WP: Cy Young (2–2) LP: Rube Waddell (4–1) |
Box score
Philadelphia Athletics | AB | R | H | RBI | Boston Americans | AB | R | H | RBI |
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LF
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | LF
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4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Danny Hoffman, CF (PH) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3B
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4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Ollie Pickering, CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Chick Stahl, CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
1B
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3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | RF
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4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
3B
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3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Freddy Parent, SS | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
RF
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3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1B
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3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
2B
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3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2B
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3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Monte Cross, SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Lou Criger, C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Ossee Schreckengost, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Cy Young, P | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Rube Waddell, P | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Totals | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Totals | 32 | 3 | 10 | 2 |
Philadelphia | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | Boston | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
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Rube Waddell | 8 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | Cy Young | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Totals | 8 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | Totals | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
References
- Bibliography
- Browning, Reed (2003). Cy Young: A Baseball Life. ISBN 1558493980. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
- In-line citations
- ProQuest 536837611.
- ^ a b "Cy Young Perfect Game Box Score". Retrieved April 26, 2012.
- ^ a b "Waddell vs Young". By Daniel O'Brien. philadelphiaathletics.org. Archived from the original on June 26, 2007. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
- ^ a b c d Browning, p. 143
- ^ "Bill Plaschke: Clayton Kershaw's actions were Cy Young-worthy - latimes.com". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. September 15, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
- ^ Browning, pp. 141-142
- ^ a b Browning, p. 142
- ^ "Clarifying Some of the Records*". Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011.
- ^ Peticca, Mike (July 27, 2011). "No-hitters: Did you ever attend a record-book type major league game? Tell us your memories". The Plain Dealer. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012.