The greatest game ever played

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - What a shame! Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates took a perfect game against the Milwaukee Braves into the 13th inning on this date in 1959 - no runs, no hits, no walks, no hit-by-pitch, no nothin'. Haddix retired every single batter, until the 13th. Before the inning was over he lost the perfect game, the no-hitter and the game, 1-0. Talk about records that may never be broken, Haddix pitched a perfect game for 12 innings! No one had ever done more than 9.

Haddix lost the perfect game when his 3rd baseman Don Hoak committed an error. He lost the no-hitter when Braves' first baseman Joe Adcock doubled. He lost the game when Felix Mantilla scored from second on Adcock's double, and the run wasn't even earned.

The game went 13 innings, but only took 2 hours and 54 minutes. Of course there wasn't a whole lot of scoring and there were no pitching changes. Did you know that the Pirates had 12 hits that night, including one by Haddix himself, but they couldn't muster a single run for the guy on the mound?

There was another interesting thing that happened that night, Braves slugger Eddie Matthews laid down a sacrifice bunt in the 13th inning to get Mantilla to second. When's the last time you saw a slugger (he hit over 500 home runs in his career) lay down a sacrifice bunt - successfully at that!

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
May 26, 1959 Box score
The Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 27, 1959

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