How many perfect games in MLB history have been pitched?

Robert Mayer/Sun Sentinel/MCT/Sipa USA

How many perfect games were pitched in Major League Baseball history?

By Joe Smeltzer | Last updated 7/23/19

A perfect game — a pitcher throwing a complete game and retiring all batters in order — is one of the more difficult achievements in professional sports. Only 23 perfect games have been pitched in Major League Baseball history, dating to the late 19^th century. The first recorded perfect game was thrown by Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs in 1880. The first perfect game in the modern era was tossed in 1904 by Cy Young of the Boston Americans. The most recent perfect game was pitched Aug.15, 2012, by Seattle's Felix Hernandez against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Who pitched a perfect game in MLB postseason?

Only one perfect game has been thrown during MLB playoffs. New York Yankees starter Don Larson retired all 27 Brooklyn Dodgers he faced in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. Larson did not have a great MLB career, but his perfect game made him a household name among baseball fans.

Has any MLB pitcher thrown more than one perfect game?

No MLB pitcher has thrown more than one perfect game, further evidence of the difficulty of the feat. Thirty-five pitchers have thrown more than one no-hitter, according MLB.com. In his rookie season in 1938, Johnny Vander Meer of the Cincinnati Reds threw no-hitters in consecutive starts, the only time that feat has been accomplished in Major League Baseball history.

Joe Smeltzer has more than a decade of journalistic experience, starting when he was a sophomore in high school with his blog, Smeltzer on Sports. Since then, he’s earned a degree in communication (with an emphasis on journalism) from Waynesburg University, where he worked on the student newspaper for all four years, eventually becoming sports web editor. Joe began contributing for Yardbarker in the summer of 2019, the same year he became a stringer for the Observer-Reporter in Washington, Pennsylvania, where he still contributes to local high school sports coverage. He is also a Penn State athletics beat reporter for Nittany Sports Now, under the Pittsburgh Sports Now umbrella. In two and a half years on the Penn State beat, Joe’s mainly covered football, wrestling and men’s basketball and covered prime events such as the 2023 Rose Bowl and 2024 U.S. Olympic wrestling trials.

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