David Wells' perfect game

{{Short description|1998 baseball event}}

{{more citations needed|date=December 2011}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox baseball game

|game = David Wells' perfect game

|image = File:David_Wells_on_July_16,_2007.jpg

|caption = Wells in 2007

|visitor = Minnesota Twins

|top1 = 0

|top2 = 0

|top3 = 0

|top4 = 0

|top5 = 0

|top6 = 0

|top7 = 0

|top8 = 0

|top9 = 0

|visitor_r = 0

|visitor_h = 0

|visitor_e = 0

|visitor_total = 0

|home = New York Yankees

|bot1 = 0

|bot2 = 1

|bot3 = 0

|bot4 = 1

|bot5 = 0

|bot6 = 0

|bot7 = 2

|bot8 = 0

|bot9 = X

|home_r = 4

|home_h = 6

|home_e = 0

|home_total = 4

|date = May 17, 1998

|venue = Yankee Stadium

|city = New York City, New York

|manager_visitor = Tom Kelly

|manager_home = Joe Torre

|umpires =

|MVP_team =

|MVP =

|attendance =

|first_pitch =

|television = MSG Network

|tv_announcers = Jim Kaat (play-by-play)
Ken Singleton (color commentary)

|radio =WABC

|radio_announcers =John Sterling (play-by-play)

Michael Kay (color commentary)

}}

On May 17, 1998, David Wells of the New York Yankees pitched the 15th perfect game in Major League Baseball history and the second in team history. Pitching against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx in front of 49,820 fans in attendance, Wells retired all 27 batters he faced.{{cite news|last=Jaffe|first=Jay|title=15 years ago today: David Wells' perfect game|url=https://www.si.com/mlb/strike-zone/2013/05/17/david-wells-perfect-game-anniversary-yankees|magazine=Sports Illustrated|date=May 17, 2013|access-date=April 24, 2018}} The game took 2 hours and 40 minutes to complete, from 1:36 PM ET to 4:16 PM ET. Wells claimed in a 2001 interview with Bryant Gumbel on HBO's Real Sports that he threw the perfect game while being hung over, calling it a "raging, skull-rattling" hangover.{{cite web |url= https://www.sfchronicle.com/athletics/article/Dallas-Braden-comes-clean-A-s-starter-was-hung-15251241.php |title=Dallas Braden comes clean: A's starter was hung over for 2010 perfect game |author=Susan Slusser |date=May 7, 2020 |work=San Francisco Chronicle|access-date=May 13, 2020}}{{cite news|last=Mushnick|first=Phil|title=Now Appearing on HBO Real Sports Real Smut|url=https://nypost.com/2001/06/24/now-appearing-on-hbo-real-sports-real-smut/|newspaper=New York Post|date=June 24, 2001|access-date=October 26, 2017}}{{Failed verification|date=July 2018|reason=Source confirms interview occured, but not statements made during interview}} Jimmy Fallon claimed in a 2018 interview with Seth Meyers that he and Wells had attended a Saturday Night Live after-party until 5:30 A.M. the morning of the game.{{cite AV media|people=Fallon, Jimmy; Meyers, Seth|date=April 26, 2018|title=Jimmy Fallon Reminisces on Pitching an SNL Sketch to Mick Jagger|medium=YouTube|language=en|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztD_ojIVQjQ|location=New York City|publisher=Late Night with Seth Meyers}} In an interview, Wells also mentioned having partied with Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers the night before.{{Citation|last=YESNetwork|title=David Wells remembers the night before his Perfect Game|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0PZ38hPN4Q|access-date=2019-01-22}} However, there was no new episode of Saturday Night Live the previous night, as the season finale had aired the week prior;List of Saturday Night Live episodes (seasons 1–30)#Season 23 (1997–98){{Circular reference|date=July 2019}} additionally, Fallon wouldn't join the cast of Saturday Night Live until that fall while Meyers wouldn't join until 2001.

Wells' perfect game was the 245th no-hitter in MLB history and the tenth no-hitter in Yankees history. It was the first regular-season perfect game pitched by a Yankee; the franchise's previous perfect game was thrown by Don Larsen during the 1956 World Series. By coincidence, Wells graduated from the same high school as Larsen - Point Loma High School in San Diego, California.{{cite news|url=http://www.10news.com/sports/david-wells-field-gets-renovated |title=David Wells Field in Point Loma gets renovated |date=July 1, 2014 |work=ABC 10 News |access-date=21 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723214420/http://www.10news.com/sports/david-wells-field-gets-renovated |archive-date=23 July 2014 }} The previous perfect game in MLB history was nearly four years prior, when Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers pitched a perfect game against the California Angels at The Ballpark In Arlington on July 28, 1994.

Wells' perfect game was the first Yankee no-hitter since Dwight Gooden's against the Seattle Mariners in May 1996. Wells' performance tied the record for franchises with most perfect games. At the time, the Cleveland Indians were the only other team to have two perfect games; David Cone added a third perfect game to Yankees history, breaking the record in July 1999.

Three months later, on September 1, Wells took a perfect game into the seventh inning in a game against the Oakland Athletics, but he gave up a two-out single to Jason Giambi to end his bid for an unprecedented second perfect game. Wells ended up with a two-hit shutout as the Yankees won the game, 7-0.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA199809010.shtml|title=Oakland Athletics versus New York Yankees|website=Baseball-Reference.com |date=September 1, 1998 |access-date=March 16, 2017}}