Memorial Halladay

Pretty much everyone on the planet knows that Roy Halladay threw a perfect game yesterday but not many know how rare what he did was. A perfect game is a rare sporting event where both a pitcher and his fielders have to be flawless. A perfect game can have no hits, no walks and no errors. There have been 265 no-hitters but only 20 perfect games. Below are some stats about perfect games.


20 perfect games in MLB history
18 perfect games in the modern era (since 1900)
17 no-hitters since 2000 (not including a combined no-hitter by the Astros in 2003)
16 no-hitters have been broken up in the 9th or in extra-innings
14 strikeouts by Sandy Koufax (9-9-65), the most in a perfect game
13 seasons in the league for Halladay before he threw a no-hitter or perfect game
12 perfect games thrown by AL pitchers
11 thousand - perfect games occur once in about every 11,000 MLB games
10 months - span of time in which 3 perfect games have been thrown (Buehrle, Braden, Halladay)
9 perfect games since 1985
8 perfect games thrown by National League pitchers
7 times Halladay had a 3-ball count on batters
6 prefect games decided by a 1-0 score (Phillies beat the Marlins 1-0)
5 CY young winners have thrown perfect games (including Halladay)
4th perfect game of the decade
3 no-hitters have been throw before June for the 3rd time in MLB history (1917, 1969, 2010)
2nd time in MLB history that 2 perfect games have been thrown in the same season (and it's only May!)
1st time in MLB history that 3 perfect games have been thrown within a year of each other

You might begin to question the rarity of the perfect game considering 3 have been thrown in the past 10 months and only 17 were thrown in 129 years before that. Fear not. The perfect game is a unique blend of rarity and pressure on the pitcher that no other sports feat can match. The baseball gods are spoiling us right now, letting us witness 2 perfect games in the past 3 weeks, and we should be grateful for that.

Some other rare accomplishments in sports (and how many times they have been accomplished):
Perfect QB rating (NFL) - 35
Unassisted triple play (MLB) - 15
Double hat trick (NHL) - 7
2,000 yard rushers (NFL) - 6
Career grand slam (PGA) - 6
Career grand slam (Men's tennis) - 6
Quadruple double (NBA) - 4