Don Larsen Welcomes Roy Halladay Into His Exclusive Club

Don Larsen Welcomes Roy Halladay Into His Exclusive ClubOn Wednesday night, millions of people around the world witnessed history in the making when Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds.  That performance was just the second no-hitter in MLB postseason history, and has changed Halladay’s life forever.  He joins Don Larsen as the only other pitcher to do so, but Larsen’s feat is more impressive because he pitched a perfect game during the World Series.He tossed the perfect game while pitching for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in game 5 of the ’56 World Series.  Larsen now lives in Idaho and wasn’t aware that Halladay joined his exclusive club until he turned on the news later that night.  One would think that Larsen would be a little upset by Halladay pitching a no-hitter, but he was happy for him and wanted to congratulate him.

The anniversary of his perfect game is today and it’s clearly the date ofhismostmemorableachievement.Halladay still has a chance to make history again if he throws another nohitter the next time he gets back on the mound.  The 1938 pitching feat of Johnny Vander Meer, when he pitched consecutive no-hitters, probably won’t ever be topped, but if Halladay threw two in a row during the playoffs that might qualify.  Halladay is a better pitcher than Larsen ever was, but Larsen can be rest assured that he is still the only pitcher to throw a perfect game in the playoffs.Don Larsen joined 97.5 the Fanatic in Philly to talk about whether he saw Roy Halladay pitch the no-hitter, the notion that he didn’t know he was going to pitch in game 5 of the World Series until he showed up to the ballpark because of his lousy start in game 2, and whether it bothers him that Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter.

Whether he saw Roy Halladay pitch the no-hitter:

“No, I did not.  I heard about it later on when I put on the news, I saw the replay, yes.”

Whether he ever thought there would be another no-hitter during the postseason:

“Records were made to be broken, of course we didn’t have any playoffs games to play, so they have a few more games for the opportunitites today, in the past years you knew it was coming.”

On the notion that he didn’t know he was going to pitch in game 5 of the World Series until he showed up to the ballpark because of his lousy start in game 2:

“Well, game 2 was lousy and I didn’t even think I would start again because they hadn’t used Turley or Kucks yet.  I knew that I would be in the bullpen but I didn’t know that I was going to pitch until I came to the ballpark and Frank would say, put the ball in my shoe, so that meant I was starting the game.”

When he realized during game 5 that he was throwing a perfect game:

“A pitcher knows when a hit happens.  He knows it is going to happen anyway, but I figured I had a shot at it in the seventh inning.  Things were going pretty good and I felt good, a beautiful out.  I thought it was available.”

Whether any of his teammates talked to him between innings when they realized something special was happening:

“No, after the 7th inning it was like a morgue.  I sat in the same spot.  They didn’t want to talk to me.  I guess they believe in jinxes, which I do not.  I believe if it is going to happen then it is going to happen and that’s it.”

Whether it bothers him that Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter:

“No, I congratulate him.  You work hard and hopefully someday you will have something special happen to him like it did to me.”

Whether he shook off Yogi Berra a lot during the game:

“I didn’t have to.  Why screw up a good thing?”