Don Larsen

Ironically, I didn’t know who Don Larsen was until the end of his career, which happened to be a cup of coffee with the Cubs in 1967.  I was four-and-two-months when Larsen pitched his perfect game for the Yankees against the Dodgers in the 1956 World Series and a not-yet baseball fan when Larsen spent a half-season with the White Sox in 1961.  But as a 14-year old, I was impressed to read about this North Side reliever who’d once achieved perfection.

All ballplayers from the 1950s and earlier look the same to me, which is to say neither young nor old.  Larsen was 27 when he went into the record books.  Any photos of me at that age show someone so much younger.  Maybe it was the booze that Larsen was said to drink too much of, or black-and-white film vs. color. 

Or maybe ballplayers achieve a patina of immortality or timelessness once enough years and decades go by.  Our descendants may feel the same seeing pictures of long-ago 27-year olds.