The Worst Perfect Game Pitchers
In 144 seasons of Major League Baseball there have been over 218,000 games played. Out of those 218,000+ games there have been only 23 official “perfect” games, 21 since 1900.
A perfect game is one in which a single pitcher pitches the entire game without letting anyone get on base, either by hit, walk, hit batter, or error. No one reaches first in a perfect game, as apposed to a “no hitter,” which is a game in which a at least one player reaches first on either a walk, hit batter, or error.
Perfect games are so rare that at one point there was a 32 year drought (1923–1955).
Some of baseball’s greatest pitchers have thrown perfect games. Pitchers like Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, and Randy Johnson. This makes sense, because a perfect game is the most difficult pitching feat.
However, some of baseball’s 23 perfect games have been thrown by far less accomplished pitchers. Pitchers who, without the glory of a perfect game, might have long been forgotten. Here are the 5 Worst Perfect Game Pitchers, listed in descending order:
5. Don Larsen (18.4 career WAR)
Don Larsen didn’t just pitch a perfect game, he pitched a perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series for the New York Yankees. Getting traded to the Yankees was a boon for Larsen, who went an abysmal 3–21 with a 4.37 ERA in 1954 for the St. Louis Browns before being traded to the Bronx Bombers prior to 1955. In his 5 seasons with the Yankees Larsen experienced success, winning 45 games with a 3.50 ERA, 2 World Series championships, and the 1956 World Series MVP Award
Unfortunately he didn’t experience the same success with the other 6 teams he pitched for, going 36–67 in 9 other seasons, including 1–10 with a 5.38 ERA for Kansas City in 1960. He was a solid pitcher, who retired with a 3.78 ERA, but he never won more than 11 games in a season, and never made an All-Star team.
On a side note, he was a surprisingly good hitter over his career, batting .242 with 144 hits. In 1958 he hit .306 with 4 HR and 13 RBI in 49 at-bats, which would work out to 49 HR and 159 RBI in a 600 at-bat season.
Don Larsen was the “best” worst perfect game pitcher.
4. Len Barker (12.6 career WAR)
Len Barker wasn’t a bad pitcher; he won more than 15 games twice (including 19 in 1980), led the league in strikeouts twice, and was an All-Star in 1981 for the Cleveland Indians. However, he lost more games than he won and finished his 11 year career with a 4.34 ERA. He had a solid career, but it’s definitely a surprise that he threw a perfect game.
3. Charlie Robertson (6.4 career WAR)
If Charlie Robertson hadn’t experienced arm trouble after his perfect game, he might have not made this list. After a brief cup of coffee in 1919 with the infamous Black Sox, he had two good seasons with the White Sox in 1922 and 1923 winning 27 games with a 3.72 ERA and 7.7 WAR. However, arm troubles haunted him the rest of his career, and he went 22–46 with a 5.22 ERA over the next 5 seasons.
After his perfect game in 1922 no one else would throw one until Don Larsen in 1956. He also has the distinction of being the longest living 1919 Black Sox player, he died in 1984 at the age of 88.
2. Dallas Braden (5.0 career WAR)
The first of two more recent pitchers, Dallas Braden’s arm trouble stopped his career short at age 27, so we don’t know how good he really could have been. From 2009 until he got hurt in 2011 he went 20–24 with a 3.63 ERA and 5.8 WAR. After multiple surgeries he retired in 2014, saying that his arm was a “shredded mess.” Although he never made an All-Star team and started only 79 games, he’ll always be remembered for his 2010 perfect game, pitched on Mother’s Day.
- Philip Humber (0.9 career WAR)
Humber was drafted with the 3rd overall pick in the 2004 MLB draft, right after Justin Verlander and a few picks ahead of Jered Weaver. After first seeing action in 2006, he didn’t win a single game until 2010, going 0–0 with a 6.07 ERA in 18 appearances with the Mets and Twins from 2006–2009. In 2011 with the White Sox Humber had a good year, going 9–9 with a 3.75 ERA, but he faded significantly in the second half of the season.
After putting on 20 pounds, he started the 2012 season by throwing a perfect game in only his second start of the season after throwing 5.1 innings of 1 run ball in his first start. However, the rest of the season was a disaster for Humber, as he went 4–5 with a 7.39 ERA. The next year, his last in Major League Baseball, he went 0–8 with a 7.90 ERA for the lowly Astros.
He went overseas to pitch in the Korean Baseball Organization the next year but was released before the end of the season with a 6.75 ERA.
Philip Humber retired in 2016 with a 5.31 ERA in 97 big league games. He is, without a doubt, baseball’s worst perfect game pitcher.
