The Perfect Yankee: The Incredible Story of the Greatest Miracle in Baseball History

by Don Larsen, Mark Shaw, Yogi Berra (Foreword by)

Overview

It was one perfect moment, one singular feat unparalleled in the half a century of baseball that followed. It was Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. In an age when nobody spat in anyone’s face, strikes were called only on the field, and New York was baseball’s battlefield, Don Larsen pitched the only no-hitter ever recorded in the World Series. Joe DiMaggio called it the best-pitched game he ever saw as a player or spectator. Yogi Berra said he felt like a kid on Christmas morning. And Mickey Mantle said, “For one day, Don Larsen was the greatest pitcher in baseball history.” 
Now readers can relive that moment of greatness in The Perfect Yankee. With a deft pen and an announcer’s enthusiasm, Larsen walks readers through each inning of that miraculous game. A must-read for any baseball fan. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613212455
Publisher:	Sports Publishing LLC
Publication date:	04/01/2012
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Mark Shaw, the author of more than twenty books, was a criminal defense attorney before becoming a television legal analyst for Good Morning America. He went on to correctly predict the outcomes of both the Mike Tyson and O. J. Simpson trials for, among others, CNN, ABC, and ESPN. He wrote several columns analyzing the Tyson case for USA Today. In 2004, he analyzed the Kobe Bryant case for ESPN and USAToday.com. He lives in Superior, Colorado.

What People are Saying About This

Michael Anderson

Forty years later, Don Larsen's achievement remains unequaled, unchallenged- in a word, perfect. The passage of time has only emphasized the magnitude of Mr. Larsen's feat: retiring 27 consecutive Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. In The Perfect Yankee, Mr. Larsen, with Mark Shaw, whose previous books include Down for the Count and Forever Flying, recounts his great game inning by inning, batter by batter. His asides on his fellow Yankees, the opposing Dodgers, even the umpires working the game are informative and entertaining. But the suspense builds with each description of the 97 pitches he threw that fateful day; and when the umpire Babe Pinelli calls strike three on the pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell, the reader can only endorse what the Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully said at the time: "It's the greatest game ever pitched in baseball history."
&#; The New York Times Book Review

Robin Miller

Don Larsen's description of his 15 years in the major leagues was just like the afternoon that etched him into baseball history: short and sweet. "I wasn't anything special," was Larsen's matter-of-fact self-analysis. his 81-91 lifetime record would support that statement.

But 40 years ago this fall, the New York Yankees pitcher visited a place that nobody, before or since, has ventured. He reached perfection on Oct. 8, 1956 in Game 5 of the World Series.

In no-hitting mighty Brooklyn and retiring 27 consecutive Dodgers on only 97 pitches, Larsen threw himself into immortality with arguably the greatest game ever pitched.

"Everybody is entitled to a few good days," said Larsen, speaking from his summer home in Idaho. "My memory is pretty well shot, but I do remember that was a pretty good day."

It was an achievement so miraculous and timeless it put Larsen forever in our consciousness. It also prompted Indiana author Mark Shaw to write a book celebrating the performance.

The Perfect Yankee is 242 pages of the characters, plays and dramas leading up to and documentingthat nine-inning masterpiece.

"It's pretty hard to write a book about one game, but I guess there are exceptions," said Larsen.
— The Indianapolis Star