In Major League Baseball, a perfect game is achieved by a pitcher who throws a complete game of at least nine innings without allowing a single baserunner. This means:
Below is a list of each perfect game pitched in the history of Major League Baseball.
Pre-modern era
Modern era
Date | Pitcher | Score | Notes |
April 30, 1922 | Charlie Robertson | Chicago White Sox 2 at Detroit Tigers 0 | 90 pitches 6 K |
October 8, 1956 | Don Larsen | Brooklyn Dodgers 0 at New York Yankees 2 Game 5 of the 1956 World Series | 97 pitches 7 K |
June 21, 1964 | Jim Bunning | Philadelphia Phillies 6 at New York Mets 0 | 90 pitches 10 K |
September 9, 1965 | Sandy Koufax | Chicago Cubs 0 at Los Angeles Dodgers 1 | 113 pitches 14 K |
May 8, 1968 | Jim "Catfish" Hunter | Minnesota Twins 0 at Oakland Athletics 4 | 107 pitches 11 K |
May 15, 1981 | Len Barker | Toronto Blue Jays 0 at Cleveland Indians 3 | 103 pitches 11 K |
September 30, 1984 | Mike Witt | California Angels 1 at Texas Rangers 0 | 94 pitches 10 K |
September 16, 1988 | Tom Browning | Los Angeles Dodgers 0 at Cincinnati Reds 1 | 100 pitches 7 K |
July 28, 1991 | Dennis Martínez | Montreal Expos 2 at Los Angeles Dodgers 0 | 95 pitches 5 K |
July 28, 1994 | Kenny Rogers | California Angels 0 at Texas Rangers 4 | 98 pitches 8 K |
May 17, 1998 | David Wells | Minnesota Twins 0 at New York Yankees 4 | 120 pitches 11 K |
July 18, 1999 | David Cone | Montreal Expos 0 at New York Yankees 6 | 88 pitches 10 K |
May 18, 2004 | Randy Johnson | Arizona Diamondbacks 2 at Atlanta Braves 0 | 117 pitches 13 K |
July 23, 2009 | Mark Buehrle | Tampa Bay Rays 0 at Chicago White Sox 5 | 116 pitches 6 K |
May 9, 2010 | Dallas Braden | Tampa Bay Rays 0 at Oakland Athletics 4 | 109 pitches 6 K |
May 29, 2010 | Roy Halladay | Philadelphia Phillies 1 at Florida Marlins 0 | 115 pitches 11 K |
April 21, 2012 | Philip Humber | Chicago White Sox 4 at Seattle Mariners 0 | 96 pitches 9 K |
June 13, 2012 | Matt Cain | Houston Astros 0 at San Francisco Giants 10 | 125 pitches 14 K |
August 15, 2012 | Félix Hernández | Tampa Bay Rays 0 at Seattle Mariners 1 | 113 pitches 12 K |
June 28, 2023 | Domingo Germán | New York Yankees 10 at Oakland Athletics 0 | 99 pitches 9 K |
The following near-misses don't count as official perfect games, for the reasons explicated below:
Date | Pitcher | Final score | Circumstances |
June 23, 1917 | Ernie Shore | Boston Red Sox 5 at Washington Senators 0 | Babe Ruth, when he was still a pitcher, started the game for Boston and walked the first batter. He was then ejected for arguing with the plate umpire. Shore came on in relief. On his first pitch, the runner on first was caught stealing second, after which Shore retired the next 26 batters in order. This was for a time considered a perfect game until MLB revised its rules in 1991 to make the criteria more stringent, after which, a few games like this one were ruled not to be perfect games. |
May 26, 1959 | Harvey Haddix | Pittsburgh Pirates 0 at Milwaukee Braves 1 | Haddix pitched nine perfect innings but his Pirates teammates couldn't score any runs to back him. The game went into extra innings tied at zero. Haddix pitched three further perfect innings before finally allowing a baserunner (who reached base on an error) in the thirteenth inning. A sacrifice bunt, a walk and a double followed that and the Pirates lost 1-0. |
June 3, 1995 | Pedro Martínez | Montreal Expos 1 at San Diego Padres 0 | Martínez pitched nine perfect innings but, like Haddix, was provided with no run support. The game went into extra innings tied at zero. The Expos scored a run in the top of the tenth inning. Martínez gave up a lead-off double in the tenth inning before being relieved. He pitched a full nine perfect innings and was the winning pitcher, but isn't credited with a perfect game because this wasn't a complete game. |
June 2, 2010 | Armando Galarraga | Cleveland Indians 0 at Detroit Tigers 3 | Galarraga threw a mere 83 pitches to the first 26 batters, which were retired in order. The 27th batter grounded to first base. Galarraga rushed over to first to cover it as the first baseman threw him the ball for the putout. He had the ball and touched the base before the runner reached it, but first base umpire Jim Joyce called the runner safe because the throw to Galarraga was soft and Joyce didn't hear the ball hit the glove. Galarraga then retired the 28th batter for the final out. After the game, Joyce watched replays of the disputed call and admitted that he got it wrong. He personally apologized to Galarraga. Despite widespread media attention, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig declined to reverse the errant call, leaving Galarraga with a one-hit shutout. This game is informally known as the "28-out perfect game" in baseball lore, and it paved the way for the use of instant replay in Major League Baseball, which debuted at the start of the 2014 season. |
May 5, 2021 | John Means | Baltimore Orioles 6 at Seattle Mariners 0 | Means came about as close as one can to pitching a perfect game without actually doing so—he managed 9.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB for the no hitter, but in the third inning, when facing Seattle's Sam Haggerty, Means struck out Haggerty with a wild pitch, allowing Haggerty to reach first base. This is believed to be the first instance of a perfect game being lost on a dropped third strike. |