On Wednesday, May 8, 1968, Jim "Catfish" Hunter of the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

pitched the ninth perfect game in Major League Baseball history, defeating the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

4-0 at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. The game was not televised. Hunter struck out 11 batters, including the last two batters he faced: Bruce Look and pinch-hitter Rich Reese. He also struck out Harmon Killebrew all three times the two future Hall-of-Famers faced each other. Only two batters got to a three-ball count: Tony Oliva in the second inning, who reached a 3–0 count before striking out, and pinch hitter Rich Reese, who fouled off five consecutive 3–2 pitches before striking out to end the game. Hunter relied mostly on his fastball during the game, only disagreeing with catcher Jim Pagliaroni's pitch-calling decisions twice. As a measure of his appreciation for his catcher's contribution to the perfect game, Hunter rewarded Pagliaroni with a gold watch that he had inscribed on back. Only 6,298 fans showed up for the evening contest, which is the smallest attendance to watch any MLB perfect game. The perfect game was the American League's first regular season perfect game since Charlie Robertson's perfect game in 1922, as well as the first

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

in the Athletics'

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

history, which was in only its 25th game after the franchise had moved from

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, its home from 1955 to 1967.

Bill McCahan William Glenn McCahan (June 7, 1921 – July 3, 1986) was an American professional baseball baseball, player and right-handed pitcher in the Major League Baseball, Major Leagues with the History of the Philadelphia Athletics, Philadelphia Athleti ...

had pitched the Athletics' last no-hitter in 1947; the franchise was then based in Philadelphia. One of the best hitting pitchers of his time, Hunter also helped his own cause by batting in three of the four Oakland runs. In the bottom of the seventh inning, his bunt single scored Rick Monday to break a scoreless tie. One inning later, with the Athletics leading 2–0, he singled to score Pagliaroni and Monday. As of 2017, Hunter is the youngest pitcher to pitch a modern-era perfect game, at 22 years, 30 days old.

Boxscore

References

External links

Boxscore of Catfish Hunter's perfect game
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Catfish perfect game 1968 Major League Baseball season Oakland Athletics 20th century in Oakland, California 1968 in sports in California Major League Baseball perfect games May 1968 sports events in the United States Sports competitions in Oakland, California