New York Yankee pitcher Don Larsen stood on the mound at Yankee Stadium, legs wobbling, sweating, short of breath and all alone in a stadium packed to the rafters. Some 791 miles west of the Bronx, a Chicago taxi cab driver listening on his radio pulled his vehicle into a no-parking zone at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, exited and peered through a television showroom window at Larsen on one of the 26 Zenith screens showing the game. Larsen was three outs away from pitching the first no-hitter in World Series history.
Voices: Dr. Doug Feldmann
Dr. Doug Feldmann, author of Gibson’s Last Stand: The Rise, Fall, and Near Misses of the St. Louis Cardinals, remembers the first and only time he saw Bob Gibson pitch. It was 1974. Gibson was 38 years old, Feldmann was four.
“This Gibson guy is horrible,” Feldmann remembers telling father on the car ride home after the game.
Voices: Dan Paisner
Time magazine called the moment “the most iconic play in sports” for 2010. Veteran Major League Baseball umpire Jim Joyce has no explanation. “I can’t even explain the feeling, because there are no words,” he told ESPN.com. Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galaragga, on the other hand, calls it a perfect game — still.













