As with most pitchers, Don Larsen likes to talk about his hitting prowess. And that was no exception last week as Larsen talked on the telephone from his home near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, even though there was a much more memorable subject to discuss.
Larsen, though, preferred to reflect back on the 1955 season when he played for the Denver Bears.
“I hit 10 home runs when I was in Denver, and I wasn’t there for the whole season,” Larsen said. “The ball carries a lot farther in the light air. You have to learn how to pitch up there.”
In the World Series a year later, Larsen showed how much he had learned about pitching. With the Series tied 2-2 between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers, Larsen hurled his way into baseball immortality by pitching the only perfect game in World Series history. The Yankees beat the Dodgers 2-0 in Game 5 and went on to win the World Series.
The memories of that game were brought back into even sharper focus than usual for Larsen when Arvada West graduate Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter for the Phila- delphia Phillies in their National League playoff opener this year.
It was baseball’s second no-hitter in postseason history.
“I think about that game myself every day,” Larsen said of his perfect game, which he threw when he was 27. “I can still visualize everything that happened.”
Larsen came to Yankee Stadium on Oct. 8, 1956, not knowing if he was going to pitch. Yankees manager Casey Stengel hadn’t announced who would start.
“I had started Game 2 and not done very well,” Larsen said. “I was hoping for a second chance and was glad (Stengel) gave it to me.”
The game was filled with drama right up to the final out when pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell was called out on strikes. Larsen’s account begins with Dodgers star Jackie Robinson starting the second inning by hitting a liner toward the hole between third and shortstop.
“Andy Carey knocked the ball down, and Gil McDougald was able to pick it up and throw out Robinson at first,” Larsen said.
Later in the game, the Dodgers’ Gil Hodges sent a drive deep into the left-center power alley.
“Mickey Mantle could run like a deer, and he ran the ball down,” Larsen said. “That would have been a home run in any park today.”
Larsen takes a modest view of his game of a lifetime.
“I figured I couldn’t have done it without Yogi Berra,” Larsen said of his Hall of Fame catcher. “I never did have good control, but he kept me throwing where he called for the ball. The defense took care of the rest.”
Larsen, 81, had a reputation for being one of baseball’s characters, which back then meant carousing.
“I was single,” he said, “and what was I going to do in New York all day? Sit in my room?”
His sometimes gruff manner is belied by a soft spot in his heart.
“I don’t see many people from those days anymore,” Larsen said. “Every time I go to one of the old- timers gatherings, they announce who has passed away. It’s a little depressing for me. I miss those people. I miss Hank Bauer a lot. He was a great clubhouse guy.”
But Larsen relishes the seclusion of life in rural Idaho.
Many friends are gone, and so too is old Yankee Stadium, the site of his World Series masterpiece.
“I hated to see it go,” Larsen said of the legendary ballpark. “I’ve been to the new one. It looked like a shopping mall.”
As for his name getting mentioned again, in the aftermath of Halladay’s postseason no-hitter, Larsen was OK with that.
“I came back to life,” he said. “I was in the news again.”
Larsen bio
Born: Aug. 7, 1929, in Michigan City, Ind.
High school: Point Loma in San Diego
College: Signed with the St. Louis Browns out of high school.
Family: Wife Corrine, son Scott
Hobby: Fishing
Plans: Stay busy, and stay out of the rocking chair.
