This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/12/2013.
To view the detailed high resolution image of the full scorecard please click here In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been just 23 perfect games. With the most memorable performance in Yankee Stadium history, Don Larsen and his battery mate Yogi Berra combined for the only one ever in a World Series. The setting was Game 5 of the 1956 Fall Classic, a rematch of the ’55 Series between the New York Yankees and the hated Brooklyn Dodgers. With the series knotted at two games apiece and the Yanks hungry to reclaim the title they had lost to the Dodgers the year before, Larsen pitched the game of his life. Though the game did include defensive heroics—like Mantle’s fifth inning snare in Yankee Stadium’s “Death Valley” left-centerfield gap—Larsen’s sometimes shaky control would not desert him on this day. It took him just 97 pitches to attain perfection, reaching a three-ball count just once in the first inning. After the 27th consecutive out, an exuberant Berra charged the mound and lept into Larsen’s arms, creating the “everlasting image” that has been permanently etched in the minds of every Yankee fan since that day. This Game 5 official scorecard originates from the son of Gus Steiger, prominent sportswriter and one of three official scorers selected by the Commissioner’s Office prior to the ‘56 World Series. The scorecard is filled out in Steiger’s hand and displays Larsen’s box score of nine innings pitched, 27 batters faced with zero hits, zero runs, zero walks, and seven strikeouts. Larsen has also signed the scorecard in black ink with the signature rating a 9. A 4-½” tear on the right side of the scorecard has been professionally repaired by a paper restorer. Steiger, along with the other two official scorers have signed the lower left-hand corner of the scorecard. We were told by our consignor that this is one of three scorecards from Larsen’s perfect Game 5 of the ‘56 World Series with the other two currently being housed at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The scorecard measures roughly 24” x 9” and is in EX condition with the aforementioned repair. Accompanied by a LOA from Gus Steiger’s son Joel. Further accompanied by a LOA from JSA. A true piece of history.