David Wells Perfect Game

Lore & Background

Wells claimed in a 2001 interview with Bryant Gumbel on HBO's Real Sports that he threw the perfect game while being hung over, calling it a 'raging, skull-rattling' hangover. Jimmy Fallon claimed in a 2018 interview with Seth Meyers that he and Wells had attended a Saturday Night Live after-party until 5:30 A.M. the morning of the game. In an interview, Wells also mentioned having partied with Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers the night before. However, there was no new episode of Saturday Night Live the previous night, as the season finale had aired the week prior; additionally, Fallon wouldn't join the cast of Saturday Night Live until that fall while Meyers wouldn't join until 2001.

In Their Own Story

The sun beat down on the Bronx grass, casting long shadows across the diamond as David Wells wiped his brow with a towel. The crowd was silent, holding its breath after the third out of the eighth inning. He nodded to catcher Joe Girardi, gripped the ball, and unleashed a fastball that shattered the bat of the final Twins batter. As the runner scrambled for first, the umpire's fist went up—out. Wells didn't smile immediately; he just stared at the mound, finally exhaling as his teammates rushed him, turning a quiet afternoon into an eternal roar.

Reader's Guide

Wells's perfect game was the 245th no-hitter in MLB history and the tenth no-hitter in Yankees history. It was the first regular-season perfect game pitched by a Yankee; the franchise's previous perfect game was thrown by Don Larsen during the 1956 World Series. By coincidence, Wells graduated from the same high school as Larsen - Point Loma High School in San Diego, California. The previous perfect game in MLB history was nearly four years prior, when Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers pitched a perfect game against the California Angels at The Ballpark In Arlington on July 28, 1994. Wells's perfect game was the first Yankee no-hitter since Dwight Gooden's against the Seattle Mariners in May 1996. Wells's performance tied the record for franchises with most perfect games. At the time, the Cleveland Indians were the only other team to have two perfect games; David Cone added a third perfect game to Yankees history, breaking the record in July 1999. In 2023, Domingo Germán hurled the fourth in franchise history. Three months later, on September 1, Wells took a perfect game into the seventh inning in a game against the Oakland Athletics, but he gave up a two-out single to Jason Giambi to end his bid for an unprecedented second perfect game. Wells ended up with a two-hit shutout as the Yankees won the game, 7-0.

Did You Know?

• David Wells is the first left-handed pitcher to throw a perfect game for the Yankees.
• Wells graduated from the same high school as Don Larsen — Point Loma High School in San Diego, California.
• The perfect game was the first regular-season perfect game in Yankees history; the franchise's previous perfect game was thrown by Don Larsen during the 1956 World Series.