Perfect: Don Larsen's Miraculous World Series Game and the Men Who Made It Happen

by Lew Paper

"If you want to live inside the most famous statistical afternoon in baseball history, Perfect is...well, let's just say 'ideal'."
-Chuck Closterman, Esquire

On October 8, 1956, New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen took the mound for game five of the World Series against the rival Brooklyn Dodgers. In an improbable performance that the New York Times called "the greatest moment in the history of the Fall Classic," Larsen, an otherwise mediocre journeyman pitcher, retired twenty-seven straight Dodger batters to clinch a perfect game and, to date, the only postseason no-hitter ever witnessed in major league baseball. Here, Lew Paper delivers a masterful pitch-by-pitch account of that fateful day and the extraordinary lives of the players on the field- seven of whom would later be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Meticulously researched and relying on dozens of interviews, Paper's gripping narrative recreates Larsen's feat in a pitching duel that featured legendary figures such as Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, and Roy Campanella.

More than just the story of a single game, Perfect is a window into baseball's glorious past.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Biography, History

432 pages, Hardcover

First published August 29, 2009

About the author

Lew Paper, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is the author of six previous books, including In the Cauldron: Terror, Tension, and the American Ambassador’s Struggle to Avoid Pearl Harbor, and Perfect: Don Larsen’s Miraculous World Series Game and the Men Who Made It Happen. His articles and book reviews have appeared in numerous periodicals, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The American Scholar.

Reviews

[Josh Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this in-depth look at the only perfect game thrown in a world series. The author goes through the whole game but also delves into each player that was on both teams. Giving bios and short stories on how they got to that point. It also includes a final chapter telling you what happened to everybody afterward. Though it's basically that they all got old, sick, and died, it was a downer of a chapter.

Highly recommended was a fascinating game and can't get more in-depth than this book.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know how when a book has captured your attention so much you don't want to go to work; you just want to squirrel away and read, read, read? Well, baseball fans everywhere...RUN, DON'T WALK to get this book.

We all know the story, more or less, about Don Larsen and the only perfect game ever thrown in a World Series. But, ingeniously, Lew Paper breaks the book into 19 chapters, one for each half inning and the nineteenth for Dale Mitchell's at-bat. In telling the story of the game inning by inning and pitch by pitch, Paper also tells biographies of the 19 players who played in that game. Such great characters and stories, all faithfully told.

As for the game itself....I felt I was there!

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's difficult, I think, to write a baseball book about the 1956 Dodgers and Yankees because so many of their names and histories are familiar: Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Pee Wee Reese, Yogi Berra and more. Lew Paper manages it by framing biographies of the players within Don Larsen's perfect game, the first perfect game thrown in a World Series. Along the way, he manages to emphasize the roles of expert fielding and Sal Maglie's pitching in the drama of that game. By looking at all the players, Paper reestablishes both the teamwork which was characteristic of 1950s baseball and the skills, talents and hard work of all 18 players. A very good baseball book.

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN · Rating 5 out of 5]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “NINETEEN MINI-BIOGRAPHIES WRAPPED IN A 1956 WORLD SERIES PERFECT GAME”
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The fifth game of the 1956 World Series on October 8, 1956 between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium was truly a game for the ages. Pitching for the Yankees that day was Don Larsen who when his entire career was complete… his statistics could not be considered much more than mediocre. In fact his lifetime stats show that he lost MORE games than he won. But… for this one game… he presented a master piece that had never been done before or since! Up until that day in 1956 no pitcher in the history of baseball had ever pitched a *NO-HITTER* in the World Series. Larsen not only pitched a *NO-HITTER*… but he also pitched a *PERFECT-GAME*. As of todays date 2009… another fifty-three-years-later… and this epic game still resides alone on the highest pedestal of World Series pitching magnificence. The story of this game has been told before… but never in the manner presented here by this author. What the author has so marvelously created is an inning by inning narrative that effortlessly flows by chapter into a mini-biography of each of the NINETEEN PLAYERS (including Larsen) involved in this game that became an instant classic.

I am a lifetime baseball fanatic who came from New York when it was almost a rite of passage that the Yankees and Dodgers would meet in the Fall Classic. These two neighboring teams met in the 1941… 1947… 1949… 1952… 1953… 1955… and 1956 World Series… so all the names here are familiar to me and yet I learned many new interesting facts about the players personal lives as well as their accomplishments… and disappointments on the field. For a potential reader who didn’t benefit from the same exposure as I did… you would probably have to read ten to twenty separate baseball books to accrue the knowledge that this author has melded together in this crowning achievement of 1940’s and 1950’s baseball.

The chapters are broken down into the following players:
1. Don Larsen
2. Sal Maglie
3. Jackie Robinson and Gil McDougald
4. Sandy Amoros
5. Carl Furillo
6. Roy Campanella
7. Billy Martin
8. Duke Snider
9. Mickey Mantle
10. Pee Wee Reese
11. Yogi Berra
12. Andy Carey
13. Jim Gilliam
14. Enos Slaughter
15. Gil Hodges
16. Joe Collins
17. Hank Bauer
18. Dale Mitchell

If that isn’t enough… after these eighteen exhilarating chapters… there is a nineteenth chapter entitled “AFTERMATH”… and this chapter is almost like getting a truck load of extra XMAS presents the day after XMAS! The author having probably read my mind… and any real baseball loving fans mind… then details where life on and off the field took every one of these nineteen ballplayers subsequent to the 1956 World Series. One of the many super interesting points brought up is the fact that every player on the field that day… other than Larsen and his catcher Yogi Berra… and I mean everyone *INCLUDING* Larsen’s other seven teammates on the field at the time… agree that the last pitch of the game to Brooklyn’s pinch hitter Dale Mitchell that was called a strike and ended the game… was a ball! Mickey Mantle said: “I HAD A CLEAR VIEW FROM CENTER FIELD, AND IF I WAS UNDER OATH, I’D HAVE TO SAY THE PITCH LOOKED LIKE IT WAS OUTSIDE.” “ANDY CAREY, WHO HAD AN EVEN BETTER VIEW FROM THIRD BASE (BECAUSE MITCHELL WAS A LEFT-HANDED BATTER), LIKEWISE AGREED THAT THE LAST PITCH TO DALE MITCHELL WAS HIGH.” GIL MCDOUGALD FROM SHORTSTOP SAID: “IT WASN’T EVEN CLOSE, IT WAS HIGH. EVEN ENOS SLAUGHTER, SURVEYING THE SCENE FROM LEFT FIELD, SIMILARLY TOLD A MEMBER OF THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME STAFF THAT THE PITCH WAS HIGH.” “Years later the Dodgers appeared to get some vindication from the home-plate umpire himself.” “BABE PINELLI TOLD ME LATER, SAID DUKE SNIDER, THAT HE WANTED TO GO OUT ON A NO-HITTER IN A WORLD SERIES. THAT WAS THE LAST GAME HE WAS GOING TO UMPIRE. SO ANYTHING CLOSE WAS A STRIKE.”

I recommend this book highly for every baseball fan… but it’s more than a recommendation… it’s a necessity… for any fan who wants to relive the highlights of the 1940’s and 1950’s… *WHEN BASEBALL WAS STILL A GAME!*

[Jason M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfectly (pardon the pun) serviceable book about Don Larsen's perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. Author Lew Paper takes us nearly pitch-by-pitch as the New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0 for a 3-2 lead in the Series (spoiler alert... for a 69-year old contest that ranks as one of the most famous World Series games in baseball history). There's one chapter for each half-inning (except for the fateful top of the 9th, which merits two chapters), most of which is a mini-biography of one key player from that inning, followed by a page or two summarizing the action that October afternoon. Of course, there's not much action, just out after out after out, from both Larsen, and his mound opponent Sal "The Barber" Maglie), so the heart of the book is the player bios.

Paper does good research. The extensive endnotes quote to multiple archival interviews with the players involved in the game, and there are also new interviews with several of the surviving players as the book was written (the copyright date is 2009, 53 years after the event, when many of the principals were still alive who are not anymore in 2025). For players who were already deceased as the book was being researched, Paper interviews surviving spouses and children, or later players who knew them (such as Jerry Koosman and Ron Swoboda weighing in on future Miracle Mets' manager Gil Hodges). Because Paper does rely on player interviews, a lot of tall tales enter the narrative; for example, just about any story told by Joe Collins won't be found in historical records. There are a couple of blatant factual errors, but not enough to spoil the flow. The writing is crisp and the stories are entertaining. A final chapter brings us up to date on all the players profiled; there's a lot of deaths, each one of which is retold sensitively or touchingly. For fans of 1950s New York baseball, add half a star.

[Don · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry, but I hated this book. The title says Don Larsen. Unfortunately it is about everybody BUT Don Larsen. It seemed to be a bunch of Wiki-type short vignettes on the big names playing in the famous game. Not saying Yogi Berra, Sal Maglie, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, et al. aren't interesting. But they all have books of their own that do a far better job telling their story. In general, if I buy a book about Don Larsen, I kind of expect more about Don Larsen--the main man who made it happen, who seems to get screwed over by this author.

[Adam Carman · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Yankees fan, lover of baseball and history, this book appealed to me on many levels. If any of these labels apply to you, you will also enjoy it. The one detraction for me is the stream of consciousness retelling that alternates between present tense (when describing the game itself) and past tense (when filling in the details on individual players) that moves back and forth so much I felt like I was getting whiplash! Still it is an engaging and detailed retelling of two amazing teams and one amazing moment in history where a normally average pitcher rose to baseball immortality.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected a biography of Don Larsen. Instead I got mini-biographies of the 19 players who played in the World Series game where Don Larson pitched his perfect game. Interspersed with the player bios was a play by play of the perfect game which made for good organization.

[Rich Larson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Interesting format how the background of the players in the game were given in the order of game appearance. I was hoping to learn more about Don Larsen himself, but I still enjoyed reading it.

[Jeff Szymanski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique approach to telling the story and history of one of the most amazing baseball games ever played. I couldn't put it down.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In those long-ago days I was much more of a baseball fan than I am now. Although there wasn't a major league team within 1500 miles, we had the home town Salinas Packers, who played in the California League. The stadium was across a bean field from my house, and the roars of the crowd were easily audible from home. I listened on the radio when I couldn't go to the game. I was never lucky enough to date any of the players, although some of my friends were.

One Monday in October of my junior year in high school, I stayed home with a cold or some other minor malady. (I wasn't faking. I liked school and never played hooky.) I turned on the TV, and saw the World Series was on, Yankees v. Dodgers. I settled down to watch. Don Larsen was pitching for the Yankees. Yup. I saw the Perfect Game live. I had nobody to share the excitement with, but I was holding my breath along with the sportscasters and was utterly thrilled to have seen every moment of the historic game.

This is a simple book. It's a play-by-play, interspersed with biographies of the 19 men who played that day and anecdotes about many of them: Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, and so on.

That's enough to tell you whether you want to read it. Either you'll be enthralled, or you'll be totally uninterested. You know who you are.

[Tom Gase · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book three stars, but to someone reading their first baseball book I might see this as a higher rating. It wasn't bad, but I felt the problem with this book is it often strayed too far from the main topic--Don Larsen's perfect game. It seemed the bulk of the book wasn't about Larsen, Berra or the actual game, but it went back in time to tell stories about Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Gil Hodges etc.

For someone reading their first baseball book, the stories on Mantle growing up in Oklahoma, Robinson breaking the color barrier, and Gil Hodges struggling in the World Series besides 55, this book is great. But as an avid baseball reader, I've read a ton of other books on the rich histories of the Yankees and Dodgers and I've heard these stories way too many times already. I bought this book to hear about Larsen, since I didn't know much about the player, person or even the game. I felt I didn't get much knowledge on that.

So in summary, if you haven't read many baseball books, this is a great read. If you have, probably skip it. Lew Paper, however, does do a great job of research, but he should do like Mark Frost does in his book "Sixth Game" and not go away from the main story for more than a page.

[Andrew Rothstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

The great Brooklyn-Yankee rivalry of the 1950s is the backdrop for the story of Don Larson's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Paper takes us through the game and provides mini-biographies of each of the players.

Some of the stories are quite familiar to fans of those teams, but there is plenty of history about each player that will be unknown to most. It helps to appreciate this book if you happen to be an older baseball fan from the New York area.

This is a nice choice during baseball season.

[Brent Soderstrum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it wasn't what I thought it was when I bought it. It really isn't about Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. It is a mini-biography of each of the participants in the game. There is a limited play by play of the game itself but there isn't any background to it.

My favorite part of the book was the Aftermath chapter which discussed the lives of the particpants from 1957 till many of them passed away. It made it more real. We tend to make the baseball heroes we have mythical. Nice to be reminded they each had their problems they had to deal with just like us.

[Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure how interesting a book about one baseball game would be, but it turned out great. Mr. Paper structured the book into chapters that recounted each inning, and included profiles of ball players that were on the field that day. I recommend it for fans of classic baseball, but beware: the language is a little "colorful" here and there.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating account, more of the men involved in Don Larsen's perfect game than the game itself. The book does a great job showing how baseball players in the 1950s made their way to the majors and survived once they got there.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting approach to telling the story of this game but it got a little repetitive after a while. The game description segments were not very engaging and felt like it was targeted at non-baseball literate readers - who probably wouldn't be reading this book in the first place.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. I liked how he wrote on the players. I think a play by play would have been boring. Putting the game in between the stories of the players was a great idea.

[Glenn M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yankees/Dodgers. Goes through the lineup with bios of each team. Great Read.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good baseball book that takes you through the and the players for each team. If you like baseball you will like this book.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Kept me engaged from start to finish.

[Daniel Campbell]

I thought this was a great book. It shows many of the things that Don Larsen went through. Lew Paper {author} has explained this moment in Dons life excellently.

[Jim Blessing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding book that not only discusses this game, but very interesting minor biographies of the players who participated in the game.

[Chris Scheer]

Enjoyable! basically a collection of mini-biographies of the 19 people who played in that game.