Donald James "Don" Larsen ( born Donald James Larsen , August 7, 1929 , , Indiana ) is an American baseball player and reliever who has played for MLB for fifteen seasons. Two-time World Series winner for the New York Yankees . The most valuable player in the 1956 World Series , winner of the Babe Root Award of the same season. The author of the sixth perfect game in the history of MLB and the only perfect game in the World Series. The author of one of two know-hitters in MLB playoff history.
| Don Larsen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: August 7, 1929 (90 years old) , Indiana , USA | |
| Beats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Professional debut | |
| April 18, 1953 for the St. Louis Browns | |
| Selected Statistics | |
| Wins / losses | 81/91 |
| ERA | 3.78 |
| Strikeouts | 849 |
| Teams | |
| |
| Awards and Achievements | |
| |
Content
Biography
The early years
Born in Michigan City, Indiana, in the family of Charlotte and James Larsen. In 1944, he moved to California with his family. His mother worked as a housekeeper, and his father was a seller in a department store. He studied at Point Loma High School in San Diego . He played for the school basketball team and was part of the symbolic team of the conference. He played for the baseball team as a pitcher, but the coach told Don that he had more prospects as a batter. Nevertheless, the young man sought to become just a pitcher and, at the same time, played for the local . There he was spotted by the St. Louis Browns scout Art Schwartz [1] .
After leaving school, in 1947, Larsen signed a contract to play for one of the Browns subsidiary teams in the junior leagues. At that time, he also had several offers from colleges that offered him to play basketball for them, but Don refused, saying that he was not interested in studying [2] .
Minor Leagues
A few weeks later, Larsen made his professional baseball debut with the of South Dakota. [3] In the 1947 championship, he spent 16 matches, winning 4 wins with 3 defeats. In 1948, Larsen played in 34 games with an ERA of 3.75 [4] .
In 1949, he moved to , who played in the league a level higher. There he received a hand injury and for two seasons thereafter was unable to show a high-quality game [5] .
In 1951 he was drafted into the army. At that time, the War in Korea began , but Larsen did not get to the front. During the service, he played for the army team in Hawaii . After demobilization in 1953, he immediately fell into the main structure of the “St. Louis Browns” [6] [5] .
Career start at MLB
In the Major League Baseball, Larsen made his debut on April 18, 1953 in a match against the Detroit Tigers . By the end of the year, he secured the status of one of the most promising players on the team. The Browns also appreciated his ability to hit and from time to time he went on the field as a pinch hitter [6] . Larsen finished his first season with 7 wins with 12 defeats and an ERA of 4.16. He also noted three home runs [7] .
Before the start of the 1954 championship, the Browns moved from St. Louis to Baltimore and changed their name to Orioles. For Larsen, this season was a failure. He won only 3 victories and suffered 21 defeats - most of all in the League [7] . At the same time, the team that lost a hundred matches of the regular season also performed very poorly [5] . Two of the three victories came in matches against the New York Yankees [8] .
On November 18, 1954, Larsen, along with teammate was traded to the Yankees. New York general manager named both players the fastest right-handed pitchers in the League. [8] In 1954, the Yankees won 103 championship matches, but remained second after the Cleveland Indians . One of the reasons for this was the recession in the game of the “Big Three” pitchers of the New York team, shining in the 1940-1950s - , and . All of them left the team at the end of the season [9] . Larsen was included in the deal with Orioles at the insistence of Yankees coach , who was impressed by the pitcher's play against his team [10] .
New York Yankees
During the pre-season games before the start of the 1955 championship, Larsen told the club that he had injured his shoulder and could not play at full strength. After that, he was sent to the [11] . He played for bears during the first four months of the championship. For the "Yankees" in 1955, Larsen spent 19 matches with an average transmittance of 3.07 [7] . The team reached the World Series , in which in seven matches they lost to the Brooklyn Dodgers . Larsen came out as the starting pitcher for the fourth game of the series, missed five points and was replaced in the fifth inning [12] [13] .
Another talent of Larsen was his ability to please people. After matches, he often visited clubs. His teammate Mickey Mantle said that Larsen was the greatest drunkard he knew. In the spring of 1956, during pre-season training in St. Petersburg, he returned from the club and fell asleep at the wheel, only miraculously avoiding serious injuries [14] .
Despite the problems with the regime, the 1956 season was for Larsen the best in his career [5] . During the regular season, Stengel used the pitcher’s versatility, releasing it both in the starting lineup and as a replacement. Over the season, he played 38 games with a good ERA of 3.26 [15] . "Yankees" took first place in the League and in the World Series again had to meet with the "Dodgers" [16] .
Larsen entered the field in the second game of the series, which was a failure for him [5] . He made four base-on-ball and missed four points, after which he was replaced. The Dodgers won the match with a score of 13: 8 and led in the series 2: 0 [17] .
He thought that he would no longer enter the field in the games of the series, but the Yankees won the next two matches of the series in their field and equalized. Larsen was to play in the fifth match [5] . On October 8, 1956, on the Yankee Stadium field, in the presence of 61,519 spectators, Don Larsen played a perfect game and made the first-ever hit-hit in matches of the World Series [18] .
As the match progressed, Larsen outsourced 27 Dodgers, including future members of the Hall of Fame - Roy Campanella , Pee Vee Reese , Jackie Robinson and . In the second inning, Robinson was close to making a hit. His groundball bounced off the glove of the third Yankees baseman , but flew off to team shortstop , who had time to transfer to first base. In the fourth inning of the home run, Mantle led the New York team ahead. In the next inning, sent the ball to the left side of the outfield , where Mantle caught it. At the current Yankees Stadium, this hit would have been a home run. Larsen's last opponent was , who received a strike out . The decisive pitch was the 97th in a row in the match [18] . At the end of the season, Larsen received prizes for the Most Valuable Player in the World Series and the Babe Ruth Award , awarded to the best playoff player [7] . Another noteworthy achievement of Larsen in 1956 was the grand slam home run made in the game against the Boston Red Sox on April 22 [19] .
The 1957 regular season Larsen also held confidently - 10 wins with 4 defeats and an ERA of 3.74. The Yankees again reached the World Series , in which they lost to the Milwaukee Braves in seven matches. In the decisive game of the series, Larsen came out as a starting pitcher, missed three points and was replaced [20] . A month after the end of the season, Don divorced his wife Vivian, with whom he had been married since 1955. In December, he married Corinne Bruce [5] .
In 1958, Larsen won the World Series for the second time. The rivals for the decisive matches again became the Braves. In the third game of the series, he played seven innings without missing points and chalked up his victory [21] . Larsen came out at the start and the seventh match, which determined the champion. In the first inning, he missed house, after which the Braves were . In the third inning on the pitcher slide, Larsen was succeeded by Bob Turley. The Yankees brought the match to victory with a score of 6: 2 [22] [5] .
1959 was the last year for Larsen in the New York Yankees. He played 25 matches for the club, won 6 victories and suffered 7 defeats. On December 11, he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics . [5]
Sunset Career
In July 1960, Athletics sent Larsen to the farm club [23] . On June 10, 1961, he was exchanged at the Chicago White Sox . Having played in 25 matches, he won 7 victories [7] . After the end of the championship, along with Don was exchanged at the San Francisco Giants . In the new team, he served as a reliever , making 11 saves . The Giants won the National League . In the World Series , the Yankees became the rival of his team. Larsen won the fourth game of the series, but the victory after seven matches was celebrated by the New Yorkers [5] .
In 1964, Larsen was sold to Houston Colts 45 , and in the same year he was elected to . [24] A year later, as a result of the exchange, he ended up at the Baltimore Orioles . Larsen’s career ended with three matches for the Chicago Cubs in 1967 [5] .
After Baseball
After retiring from sports, Larsen worked for a paper company in San Jose for twenty-four years. Then he moved to Coeur d'Alene , Idaho [5] .
Notes
- ↑ Paper, 2009 , p. eleven.
- ↑ Paper, 2009 , p. 11-12.
- ↑ Paper, 2009 , p. 12.
- ↑ Don Larsen . baseball-reference.com . Date of treatment February 6, 2018. Archived on September 22, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Acocella, Nick. Larsen had one perfect day . espn.com . Date of treatment February 6, 2018. Archived on July 8, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 Paper, 2009 , p. 13.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Don Larsen baseball-reference.com . Date of treatment February 6, 2018. Archived February 10, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 Paper, 2009 , p. 14.
- ↑ Golenbock, 2010 , p. 291-292.
- ↑ Golenbock, 2010 , p. 292.
- ↑ Golenbock, 2010 , p. 303.
- ↑ Brooklyn Dodgers 8, New York Yankees 5 . retrosheet.org . Date of treatment February 8, 2018.
- ↑ Golenbock, 2010 , p. 293.
- ↑ Golenbock, 2010 , p. 293-294.
- ↑ Golenbock, 2010 , p. 294.
- ↑ 1956 MLB Standings . baseball-reference.com . Date of treatment February 8, 2018. Archived on November 4, 2017.
- ↑ 1956 World Series Game 2, Yankees at Dodgers, October 5 . Date of treatment February 8, 2018. Archived January 19, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 Don Larsen is perfect in World Series . Date of treatment February 8, 2018. Archived on September 27, 2017.
- ↑ Pitchers Hitting Grand Slams . Date of treatment February 9, 2018. Archived March 4, 2016.
- ↑ 1957 World Series Game 7, Braves at Yankees, October 10 . Date of treatment February 9, 2018. Archived December 14, 2016.
- ↑ 1958 World Series Game 3, Braves at Yankees, October 4 . Date of treatment February 9, 2018. Archived January 19, 2018.
- ↑ 1958 World Series Game 7, Yankees at Braves, October 9 . Date of treatment February 9, 2018. Archived on May 31, 2016.
- ↑ Don Larsen goes back to minors , Hopkinsville Kentucky New Era (July 9, 1960). Date of treatment February 9, 2018.
- ↑ Don Larsen . Date of treatment February 10, 2018. Archived March 16, 2012.
Literature
- Paper, Lewis J. Perfect: Don Larsen's Miraculous World Series Game and The Men Who Made It Happen. - New York: New American Library, 2009 .-- 432 p. - ISBN 978-0-451-22819-2 .
- Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. - New York: Dover Publications, 2010 .-- 664 p. - ISBN 978-0-486-47736-7 .