Don Larsen, who is known for pitching the only perfect game in World Series history, died on Wednesday at the age of 90.
Larsen’s representative Andrew Levy shared the news of the former pitcher’s passing via Twitter.
According to ESPN, Levy said Larsen died of esophageal cancer in hospice care in Hayden, Idaho.
Larsen went 81-91 over his 14-year MLB career and pitched for seven teams. He is best known for his five-year stint with the New York Yankees from 1955-1959. In the 1956 World Series, Larsen, who was knocked out of Game 2 early, got the start in Game 5 with the series tied at two between his Yankees and the Dodgers. He pitched a perfect game as the Yankees prevailed 2-0 to take a 3-2 series lead and eventually won it all in seven. Larsen was named World Series MVP.
Larsen pitched in five World Series overall — four in a row with the Yankees — winning two.
Larsen has actually said he didn’t know he had thrown a perfect game until after the fact. He said he knew it was a no-hitter, but he didn’t know what a perfect game was.
Here is a video from MLB Network in which Larsen and Yogi Berra talk about the perfect game, with the pitcher sharing his admission.
Here are some other tweets about Larsen.
Here is Vin Scully’s call of the final out from Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series:
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