Mike Witt

Prior to his major league career, Witt played baseball at Servite High School, and was an All-County basketball player as well. He was drafted out of high school in the fourth round of the 1978 Major League Baseball draft.

At 20 years of age, Witt made his major league debut with the California Angels in 1981. Standing 6 feet, 7 inches tall and possessing a great curveball as well as a good fastball, Witt's breakout season came in 1984, when he went 15–11 for the Angels. On July 23 of that year, he struck out 16 Seattle Mariners during a complete game five-hitter; but the highlight of the year came on the final day of the season, September 30,[1] when he pitched the 11th perfect game in baseball history against the Texas Rangers at Arlington Stadium. He struck out 10 and needed just 94 pitches to complete the gem. Witt's perfect game is, to date, one of five no-hitters pitched on the final day of a Major League Baseball regular season.

From 1984 to 1987, Witt led the Angels every year in wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, and complete games. His best season was 1986, when he was named team Most Valuable Player after compiling 18 wins and a 2.84 earned run average, finishing third behind Roger Clemens and Teddy Higuera for the American League Cy Young Award, and guiding the Angels to within one strike of the World Series.

In the middle of the 1987 season, however, Witt suddenly lost his overpowering stuff and saw his strikeout numbers decline significantly. He did manage to combine with starter Mark Langston to pitch a no-hitter on April 11, 1990, against Seattle,[2] pitching the last two innings. Combined with his perfect game this makes him the only pitcher to throw a complete game no-hitter and also appear in relief for a combined no-hitter. Witt was traded to the New York Yankees on May 11, 1990, for Dave Winfield,[1] never winning more than five games during his three years there before retiring in 1993.

• Pitchers who have thrown a perfect game

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet, or Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)