Over the 151 years of Major League Baseball history, and over 243,700 games played, there have been 24 official perfect games by the current definition. No pitcher has thrown more than one. The perfect game thrown by Don Larsen in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series is the only postseason perfect game in major league history and one of only three postseason no-hitters. The first two major league perfect games, and the only two of the premodern era, were thrown in 1880, five days apart. The frequency of perfect games has significantly increased since 1981. Fifteen perfect games were thrown in the 44 seasons from 1980 through 2023, while only nine were thrown in the 100-plus prior seasons. There were three perfect games in 2012; the only other year of the modern era in which as many as two were thrown was 2010. By contrast, there have been spans of 23 and 33 consecutive seasons in which no perfect game was thrown. Though two perfect-game bids have gone into extra innings, no extra-inning game has been completed to perfection.

History The first two perfect games occurred under rules that differed in many important respects from those of today's game: in 1880, for example, only underhand pitching—from a flat, marked-out box 45 feet from home plate—was allowed, it took eight balls to draw a walk, and a batter was not awarded first base if hit by a pitch.Nemec (2007), pp. 21–22, 85, 123. Lee Richmond, a left-handed pitcher for the Worcester Ruby Legs, threw the first perfect game. He played professional baseball for six years and pitched full-time for only three, finishing with a losing record. The second perfect game was thrown by John Montgomery Ward for the Providence Grays. Ward, a decent pitcher who became an excellent position player, went on to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Though convention has it that the modern era of Major League Baseball begins in 1900, the essential rules of the modern game were in place by the 1893 season. That year the pitching distance was moved back to 60 feet, 6 inches, where it remains, and the pitcher's box was replaced by a rubber slab against which the pitcher was required to place his rear foot. Two other changes in crucial rules had been made in years shortly before that: In 1887, the rule awarding a hit batsman first base was instituted in the National League (this had been the rule in the American Association since 1884: first by the umpire's judgment of the impact; as of the following year, virtually automatically)Dickson (2009), p. 415 and in 1889, the number of balls required for a walk was reduced to four. Thus, from 1893 on, perfect games occurred under fundamental rules identical to today, with four significant exceptions: counting a foul ball as a first or second strike, enforced by the National League as of 1901 and by the American League two years later; the use of the designated hitter in American League games (and interleague games played with the American League team as the home team) since the 1973 season and National League games starting with the 2022 season; the tiebreaker rule of a runner on second starting with the tenth inning in 2020; and the use of the pitch clock and batter clock starting in 2023.

Pitchers During baseball's modern era, 22 pitchers have thrown perfect games. Most were accomplished major leaguers. Seven have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame: Cy Young, Addie Joss, Jim Bunning, Sandy Koufax, Catfish Hunter, Randy Johnson, and Roy Halladay.

David Cone won the Cy Young Award once, pitched a 19-strikeout game, was part of five World Series winning teams, and was named to five All-Star teams. Félix Hernández is likewise a one-time Cy Young winner, as well as a six-time All-Star. Four other perfect-game throwers, Dennis Martínez, Kenny Rogers, David Wells and Mark Buehrle, each won over 200 major league games.

Others include Matt Cain, a three-time All-Star, who pitched well in the postseason for two World Series–winning Giants teams. Mike Witt was a two-time All-Star who finished 3rd for the 1986 Cy Young Award, going 117–116. Tom Browning was a one-time All-Star with a career record of 123–90, and pitched for the 1990 World Series winning Cincinnati Reds.

Don Larsen, Charlie Robertson, and Len Barker were journeyman pitchers—each finished his major-league career with a losing record; Barker made one All-Star team, Larsen none (Robertson played his entire career before the establishment of the MLB All-Star Game).

Dallas Braden retired with a 26–36 record after five seasons due to a shoulder injury. Philip Humber's perfect game was the only complete game he recorded, and his major league career, in which he went 16–23, ended the year after he threw it. Domingo German threw his perfect game following a start in which he allowed 10 runs in 3 and one-third innings.

Major League Baseball perfect games

In what follows, the number before the letter K denotes the number of strikeouts in the game. RHP and LHP stand for right-handed pitcher and left-handed pitcher, respectively, and the number following that designation is the age of the pitcher at the time of the game.

19th century

The pitching rules in effect in 1880 were very different from those of the modern game. Only underhand pitching was permitted, and the batter had the right to call for the ball high, low, or "middle" (belt-high). There was no strike zone; whether a pitch was "good" or "unfair" was left to the umpire's sole discretion, and foul balls were not counted as strikes. The pitching distance was 45 feet (that however was the front edge of the 6-foot-deep pitcher's box, not the push-off point represented by the modern pitching rubber).   Pitcher Date Game Details1 Lee Richmond (WOR)   LHP, 23    5 K June 12, 1880 Cleveland Blues, 0 at Worcester Worcesters, 1 Venue: Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds Attendance: 700 Time: 1:26 Caught by: Charlie Bennett Umpired by: Foghorn Bradley Box score2 John Montgomery Ward (PRO)   RHP, 20    5 K June 17, 1880 Providence Grays, 5 vs. Buffalo Bisons, 0 Venue: Messer Street Grounds Attendance: 1800 Time: n.a. Caught by: Emil Gross Umpired by: Charles F. Daniels Box score

Lee Richmond

Richmond was pitching in his first full season in the big leagues after appearing in one game in 1879. He was apparently considered a good hitter, as he batted second in the lineup. His perfect game featured an unusual 9–3 putout, with Worcester right fielder Lon Knight throwing out Cleveland's Bill Phillips at first. The play came on one of three balls Cleveland hit out of the infield.Hanlon (1968). Three outs were recorded on "foul bounds": balls caught after bouncing once in foul territory (the foul bound rule was eliminated three years later). In the seventh inning, the game was delayed for seven minutes due to rain; Richmond dried the ball off with sawdust when he returned to the mound. A monument marks the site of the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds where the game took place, located on the campus of the now-closed Becker College. The feat was recognized as unusual: a newspaper report described it as "the most wonderful game on record".Egan (2008), pp. 100, 295 n. 6, quotes the line within a longer passage quoted from the Cleveland Leader, June 14, 1880. Buckley (2002), p. 14, credits the Chicago Tribune with the line. Deutsch (1975), p. 14, presents a clipping from the New York Herald with the line.Okrent and Wulf (1989), pp. 14–15, describe a story that later emerged that Richmond hurled his historic perfecto after staying up all night following a pre-graduation dinner at Brown University, pitching in an early morning class game, and taking a train to Worcester just in time to perform his professional duties. The BaseballLibrary.com entry on Richmond claims that a similar sequence of events preceded not his perfect game, but a game he pitched against the Chicago White Stockings on June 16. Egan (2008), p. 101, debunks the tale.

John Montgomery Ward

Monte Ward threw his perfect game at the Grays' park in Providence, but Buffalo, by virtue of a coin toss, which was the custom under the rules at that time, was officially the "home" team, batting in the bottom of each inning. At the age of 20 years, 105 days, Ward is the youngest pitcher to throw a perfect game. He batted sixth in the lineup. Beginning in 1881, the year after his perfect game, Ward spent more time as a position player than a pitcher; in 1885, following an arm injury, he became a full-time infielder.Buckley (2002), p. 27. The five days between Ward's game and Richmond's is the shortest amount of time between major-league perfect games.

Modern era (1901–present)

  Pitcher Date Game Details3 Cy Young (BOS)   RHP, 37    8 K May 5, 1904 Philadelphia Athletics, 0 at Boston Americans, 3 Venue: Huntington Avenue Grounds, day game Attendance: 10,267 Time: 1:25 Caught by: Lou Criger Umpired by: Frank Dwyer Box score4 Addie Joss (CLE)   RHP, 28    74 pitches, 3 K October 2, 1908 Chicago White Sox, 0 at Cleveland Naps, 1 Venue: League Park, day game Attendance: 10,598 Time: 1:32 Caught by: Nig Clarke Umpired by: Tommy Connolly Box score5 Charlie Robertson (CWS)   RHP, 26    90 pitches, 6 K April 30, 1922 Chicago White Sox, 2 at Detroit Tigers, 0 Venue: Navin Field, day game Attendance: 25,000 Time: 1:55 Caught by: Ray Schalk Umpires: HP: Dick Nallin 2B: Billy Evans Box score6 Don Larsen (NYY)   RHP, 27    97 pitches, 7 K October 8, 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers, 0 at New York Yankees, 2 Venue: Yankee Stadium, day game (Game 5 of the World Series) Attendance: 64,519 Time: 2:06 Caught by: Yogi Berra Umpires: HP: Babe Pinelli 1B: Hank Soar 2B: Dusty Boggess 3B: Larry Napp LF: Tom Gorman RF: Ed Runge Box score and play-by-play7 Jim Bunning (PHI)   RHP, 32    90 pitches, 10 K June 21, 1964 Philadelphia Phillies, 6 at New York Mets, 0 Venue: Shea Stadium, day game (first game of doubleheader) Attendance: 32,026 Time: 2:19 Caught by: Gus Triandos Umpires: HP: Ed Sudol 1B: Paul Pryor 2B: Frank Secory 3B: Ken Burkhart Box score and play-by-play8 Sandy Koufax (LAD)   LHP, 29    113 pitches, 14 K September 9, 1965Chicago Cubs, 0 at Los Angeles Dodgers, 1 Venue: Dodger Stadium, night game Attendance: 29,139 Time: 1:43 Caught by: Jeff Torborg Umpires: HP: Ed Vargo 1B: Chris Pelekoudas 2B: Bill Jackowski 3B: Paul Pryor Box score and play-by-play9 Catfish Hunter (OAK)   RHP, 22    107 pitches, 11 K May 8, 1968 Minnesota Twins, 0 at Oakland Athletics, 4 Venue: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, night game Attendance: 6,298 Time: 2:28 Caught by: Jim Pagliaroni Umpires: HP: Jerry Neudecker 1B: Larry Napp 2B: Al Salerno 3B: Bill Haller Box score and play-by-play10 Len Barker (CLE)   RHP, 25    103 pitches, 11 K May 15, 1981 Toronto Blue Jays, 0 at Cleveland Indians, 3 Venue: Cleveland Stadium, night game Attendance: 7,290 Time: 2:09 Caught by: Ron Hassey (1) Umpires: HP: Rich Garcia 1B: Greg Kosc (1) 2B: Don Denkinger (1) 3B: Jim McKean Box score and play-by-play11 Mike Witt (CAL)   RHP, 24    94 pitches, 10 K September 30, 1984 California Angels, 1 at Texas Rangers, 0 Venue: Arlington Stadium, day game Attendance: 8,375 Time: 1:49 Caught by: Bob Boone Umpires: HP: Greg Kosc (2) 1B: Ted Hendry 2B: Drew Coble 3B: Jim Evans Box score and play-by-play12 Tom Browning (CIN)   LHP, 28    100 pitches, 7 K September 16, 1988Los Angeles Dodgers, 0 at Cincinnati Reds, 1 Venue: Riverfront Stadium, night game Attendance: 16,591 Time: 1:51 Caught by: Jeff Reed Umpires: HP: Jim Quick 1B: Mark Hirschbeck 2B: John Kibler 3B: Eric Gregg Box score and play-by-play13 Dennis Martínez (MON)   RHP, 36    95 pitches, 5 K July 28, 1991 Montreal Expos, 2 at Los Angeles Dodgers, 0 Venue: Dodger Stadium, day game Attendance: 45,560 Time: 2:14 Caught by: Ron Hassey (2) Umpires: HP: Larry Poncino (1) 1B: Bruce Froemming 2B: Dana DeMuth 3B: Greg Bonin Box score and play-by-play14 Kenny Rogers (TEX)   LHP, 29    98 pitches, 8 K July 28, 1994 California Angels, 0 at Texas Rangers, 4