Without that Monday in October, Don Larsen is an 81-91 pitcher with 14 big league seasons to his credit. But on October 8, 1956, Larsen carved his name into the American sports landscape by pitching the first and to this day, only perfect game in postseason history. In Game 2 against the Brooklyn Dodgers just three days earlier, the New York Yankees right-hander was knocked out in the second inning in a 13-8 loss. To that point in his postseason career, Larsen had appeared in two World Series games, lasting a total of 5 2/3 innings in those two starts.

In Game 5, however, Larsen authored a 97-pitch masterpiece. He went to a three-ball count on just one batter and effortlessly zipped through a Dodgers lineup that featured future Hall of Famers Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson (who hit cleanup that day) and Roy Campanella. A fourth-inning solo home run by Mickey Mantle gave Larsen all the runs he would need, but the Yankees tacked on another run in the sixth off Dodgers starter Sal Maglie, who allowed just five hits in his eight innings of work. In the top of the ninth, Larsen retired Carl Furillo on a fly ball to right and got Campanella to ground out to second. Dodgers manager Walter Alston then sent up pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell to bat for Maglie. Incredibly, Larsen fanned Mitchell -- his only strikeout in 29 career World Series at-bats.

After retiring Mitchell, Larsen walked off the mound and into the arms of catcher Yogi Berra, who joyfully jumped in the air to meet the Game 5 winner. The Yankees went on to win the World Series in seven games, capturing their seventh title in 10 seasons. Larsen pitched 10 more seasons, never winning more than 10 games in a year but posting three more World Series victories. This 1956 World Series program is a fantastic memento of the most famous game in World Series history and scored in pencil from that historic perfect game. Adding to this already impressive program is the blue marker signatures of Don Larsen, Hall of Famer Yogi Berra and Gil McDougald. All three signed their names on the top portion, below the red “Yankees” word mark and on the image of Yankee Stadium. This comes with a LOA from JSA for the signatures.

Auction Notepad