MLBbro.com Introduces Dan McClellan…The Last MLBbro To Pitch A Perfect Game

This week on Monday August 15th marks a very historical landmark in Major League Baseball history. Back in 2012, the Seattle Mariners defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 with a magical 27-up-and-27-down performance by Felix Hernandez for the 23rd and last perfect game in MLB history.

 

 

Coincidentally the day before on Sunday afternoon, the Rays’ came extremely close to being on the other side of history. Starting pitcher Drew Rasmussen had a perfect game going through eight innings, mowing down all 24 Baltimore Orioles batters on record with only three outs needed in the final inning for his place in history.

Then with a Jorge Mateo double down the left field line not only was the perfect game gone, but the no hitter and eventually the shutout as the Rays settled with a 4-1 win.  

Over the last 30 years, there have been ten perfect games out of those 23 in the MLB record books.

 

When the next perfect game happens is now anyone’s guess. The fact that it’s been a decade since anyone has thrown a perfect game is no real surprise. There was a 13-year odyssey between perfect games between 1968 to 1981 but in 2010 there were two in the span of three weeks.

With ten other close calls similar to Sunday from 2013-2021, most fans just hold their collective breaths and see what happens.  

Well, there was a MLBbro icon who pitched a perfect game back in 1903. In fact, he is the only MLBbro on record to accomplish the feat in the professional game period. His name is Dan McClellan.

Before the Negro Leagues was established, McClellan pitched the first perfect game on record in black baseball with the Cuban X-Giants leading them to a victory over the Penn Park Athletic Club, 5-0. He was easily during the first decade of the 20th century one of the best African American pitchers in the game. His prime years were spent with two teams, the aforementioned Cuban X-Giants from 1900-1903 before moving on to the Philadelphia Giants in the 1904 season and played on to 1910.

He’s not only was a great pitcher, but the MLBbro great showed his all-around ability on the diamond by playing in the outfield and being a contributor on offense with a bat in his hand.

While Satchel Paige used power to overpower hitters with much success over his long career…

 

 

McClellan used off speed pitches and curve balls to keep the hitters off-balance. He was often described as an intelligent pitcher who outsmarted many that tried to challenge his pitching. It was no coincidence that his teams were championship level when he was on the roster. The year after pitching the perfect game with Cuban-X, the Philadelphia Giants had a championship three-peat starting in 1904.  

The MLBbro icon went on to manage late in his career the reorganized Philadelphia Giants roster in 1923 taking the team on tours in New England and Canada before moving on to manage numerous semi-pro teams.