Don Larsen's Perfect Game: A World Series Masterpiece

Welcome to Daily Sports History.

I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge.

And today's trivia question is, how many perfect games have been pitched in MLB history? So to start the story, who was Don Larson? Well, he was born in Indiana in a lower middle class family and actually excelled more at basketball than he did baseball as he made the all-metro team in high school and got several college scholarship offers to play basketball.

But a scout for the St. Louis Browns actually saw potential in Don Larson and signed him to a minor league deal in 1947 out of high school, signing a $850 signing bonus, roughly about $12,000 today, to play baseball over going to college to play basketball.

But it was a struggle through the minor leagues.

As each year in the minor leagues, he'd bounce around from team to team.

And he actually got drafted during this time by the Army to be part of the Korean War and spent 1951 to 1953 in the U.S. Army.

But upon being discharged, he actually was able to make the Major League roster for the first time for the St. Louis Browns.

And when he made his debut appearance on April 17, 1953, pitching five innings, giving up three runs, striking out three, in a no decision, but the Browns did win that first game.

In his rookie season, he finished with a record of 7-12 with a 4.16 ERA and 96 strikeouts, starting 22 games of the 38 he appeared in, and finished first on the team in innings pitched and complete games, and second in strikeouts.

But he also had success hitting as he batted 284 with three home runs and 81 at-bats and had a seven-game hit streak at one point.

Now the next season, the Browns actually moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Orioles.

And again, Larson struggled.

He went 3-for-21 that season with a 4.37 ERA in 29 games.

It was the fewest wins by a pitcher with at least 20 losses since 1916, and he still holds that record to this day.

He led the majors in losses and finished third in the highest ERA.

As the Orioles were a rough team, they only won 54 games that season, but two of his wins happened against the New York Yankees.

who were shaking up their team the next year, trading for Don Larson as part of a 17-player trade.

As in those two wins against the Yankees, they saw some potential.

But Larson quickly got some shoulder issues and had to be sent down to the minors, but would work his way back up to the team.

And in the 1956 season, he would actually have a record of 11-5 with an ERA of 3.26, helping lead the Yankees to the World Series versus the Brooklyn Dodgers.