David Wells' perfect game

On Sunday, May 17, 1998, David Wells of the New York Yankees pitched the 15th perfect game in Major League Baseball history and the second in team history. Pitching against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx in front of 49,820 fans in attendance, Wells retired all 27 batters he faced.[1] The game took 2 hours and 40 minutes to complete, from 1:36 PM ET to 4:16 PM ET. Wells claimed in a 2001 interview with Bryant Gumbel on HBO's Real Sports that he threw the perfect game while being hung over, calling it a "raging, skull-rattling" hangover.[2][3] Jimmy Fallon claimed in a 2018 interview with Seth Meyers that he and Wells had attended a Saturday Night Live after-party until 5:30 A.M. the morning of the game.[4] In an interview, Wells also mentioned having partied with Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers the night before.[5] However, there was no new episode of Saturday Night Live the previous night, as the season finale had aired the week prior.[6]

David Wells' perfect game
Wells' perfect game was only the second in New York Yankees history.
123456789RHE
Minnesota Twins000000000000
New York Yankees01010020X460
DateMay 17, 1998
VenueYankee Stadium
CityNew York City, New York
Managers
TelevisionMSG Network (Yankees)
MSC (Twins)
TV announcersJim Kaat (play-by-play)
Ken Singleton (color commentary)
Dick Bremer, Bert Blyleven and Ryan Lefebvre

Wells' perfect game was the 245th no-hitter in MLB history and the tenth no-hitter in Yankees history. It was the first regular-season perfect game pitched by a Yankee; the franchise's previous perfect game was thrown by Don Larsen during the 1956 World Series. By coincidence, Wells graduated from the same high school as Larsen - Point Loma High School in San Diego, California.[7] The previous perfect game in MLB history was nearly four years prior, when Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers pitched a perfect game against the California Angels at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on July 28, 1994.

Wells' perfect game was the first Yankee no-hitter since Dwight Gooden's against the Seattle Mariners in May 1996. Wells' performance tied the record for franchises with most perfect games. At the time, the Cleveland Indians were the only other team to have two perfect games; David Cone added a third perfect game to Yankees history, breaking the record in July 1999.

Three months later, on September 1, Wells took a perfect game into the seventh inning in a game against the Oakland Athletics, but he gave up a two-out single to Jason Giambi to end his bid for an unprecedented second perfect game. Wells ended up with a two-hit shutout as the Yankees won the game, 7-0.[8]

Game statistics
May 17, Yankee Stadium, New York, New York[9]
Team123456789RHE
Minnesota Twins (18–24)000000000000
New York Yankees (28–9)01010020X460
WP: David Wells (5–1)   LP: LaTroy Hawkins (2–4)
Home runs:
MIN: None
NYY: Bernie Williams (3)

Box score

Other info
  • WP: Wells (5).
  • Pitches-strikes: Hawkins 123-84; Naulty 7-3; Swindell 12-8; Wells 120-79.
  • Groundouts-flyouts: Hawkins 5-11; Naulty 0-1; Swindell 0-1; Wells 6-10.
  • Batters faced: Hawkins 27; Naulty 2; Swindell 2; Wells 27.
  • Umpires: HP: Tim McClelland; 1B: John Hirschbeck; 2B: Rich Garcia; 3B: Mike Reilly.
  • Weather: 59 °F (15 °C), cloudy.
  • Wind: 8 mph, left to right.
  • Time: 2:40.
  • Attendance: 49,820.
  • Venue: Yankee Stadium.

See also

References
  1. Jaffe, Jay (May 17, 2013). "15 years ago today: David Wells' perfect game". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  2. Susan Slusser (May 7, 2020). "Dallas Braden comes clean: A's starter was hung over for 2010 perfect game". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  3. Mushnick, Phil (June 24, 2001). "Now Appearing on HBO Real Sports Real Smut". New York Post. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
  4. Fallon, Jimmy; Meyers, Seth (April 26, 2018). Jimmy Fallon Reminisces on Pitching an SNL Sketch to Mick Jagger (YouTube). New York City: Late Night with Seth Meyers.
  5. YESNetwork, David Wells remembers the night before his Perfect Game, retrieved 2019-01-22
  6. List of Saturday Night Live episodes (seasons 1–30)#Season 23 (1997–98)
  7. "David Wells Field in Point Loma gets renovated". ABC 10 News. July 1, 2014. Archived from the original on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  8. "Oakland Athletics versus New York Yankees". Baseball-Reference.com. September 1, 1998. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA199805170.shtml
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