The no-hit game is, of course, now recognized as a remarkable feat. But, in the early days of professional baseball, it didn't attract much attention, although a no-hitter was a rare accomplishment even when the ball was dead and the pitcher's rubber was closer to home plate than it is now.
In fact, the first recorded use of the phrase "no hit game" was in the Sporting Life of September 2, 1905. Oddly enough, there were two no-hitters thrown in the American League within 25 days after the phrase first appeared.
On September 4, 1991, major league baseball's Committee on Historical Accuracy re-defined a no-hitter as a game that goes 9 innings or more and ends with a team not getting a hit.
That decision removed a number of games from the record books: Those that lasted less than 9 innings, and those in which a team went hitless for the first 9 innings but then got a hit in extra innings.
The list below follows the official list, based on the committee's definition. However, I have included two non-official perfect games in the following section, because they are so well-known that it seemed foolish to omit them.
A couple of special notes: Johnny Vander Meer's two no-hitters in 1938 came in consecutive starts, the only time that's been accomplished. Bumpus Jones's 1892 no-hitter came in his first major-league game, and Bobo Holliman pitched a no-hitter in his first major-league start in 1953 (he had appeared in relief earlier in the season).
Another very interesting but often overlooked oddity is that in 1968 there were back-to-back no-hitters involving the same two teams, San Francisco and St. Louis, in San Francisco's Candlestick Park. Gaylord Perry of San Francisco threw the first on Sept. 17 and Ray Washburn of St. Louis returned the favor to the Giants the following day.
The perfect game, retiring all 27 hitters over 9 innings, is the rarest feat in baseball. Officially, it's been done only 15 times in major league history, though 17 perfect games are listed below.
It's a shame that Harvey Haddix's 1959 performance isn't officially recognized, because he pitched a record 12 perfect innings. In the 13th, however, the leadoff hitter reached on an error and was sacrificed to second. After an intentional walk to Henry Aaron, Joe Adcock hit the ball out of the park. Adcock then was called out for passing Aaron on the basepaths, so he was credited only with a one-run double.
The other unofficial perfect game shown here is the one by Ernie Shore in 1922, which was officially listed for many years. Babe Ruth, Boston's starting pitcher, walked the first hitter and was ejected for slugging the plate umpire during an argument about the call on ball four.
Shore then entered the game. The runner was retired on an attempted steal and Shore set down the 26 hitters he faced.
There's one other type of "perfect" game that's not acknowledged at all: When a pitcher would have retired all 27 hitters with flawless defensive play. That's happened 14 times. Those games are shown below, under "near misses."
Two pitchers, Lew Burdette in 1960 and Hooks Wiltse in 1908, lost perfect games through hit batsmen. Wiltse's was a real heart-breaker. He had an 0-2 count on the 27th hitter, the opposing pitcher, but hit him with the third pitch, then retired the next batter to end the game.
