On this day in history | 1998
Photo courtesy of the NY Daily News.
15 years ago today, David Wells achieved baseball immortality. He threw the second perfect game in Yankees history, and the 15th in MLB history. David Cone would join him as the third 14 months later.
Starting against the Twins on a cool Sunday in the Bronx, Wells was untouchable as the Yankees won by a score of 4-0; the game only took two hours and 40 minutes. He threw 120 pitches; 79 of them strikes, 41 balls.
New York only registered six hits, with three of them coming from Bernie Williams who also drove in a run. The game ended with a pop-up to Paul O'Neill in right field. Wells was carried off the field, doffing his cap to the 49,820 in attendance.
In Wells' autobiography, Perfect I'm Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches, and Baseball, he claims to have been "half-drunk" when he tossed the perfecto. Wells had gone out to a Saturday Night Live cast party the night before, which ended in the early hours of Sunday morning - the day he pitched.
To add to the legend, Wells attended the same high school as Don Larsen: Point Loma High in San Diego, Calif. Larsen of course, threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. To this day, it is the only perfect game thrown in the playoffs.