# Len Barker's perfect game

On May 15, 1981, Len Barker of the Cleveland Indians threw a perfect game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Cleveland Stadium, the 10th perfect game in Major League Baseball history. The Indians defeated the Blue Jays 3–0, as Barker did not allow a baserunner. Barker never once reached ball three against any Blue Jay hitter. He struck out 11 Blue Jays hitters (all of them swinging) including seven of the last 11 batters.
Barker's perfect game is the most recent no-hitter thrown by a Cleveland pitcher. "I run into people almost every day who want to talk about it," Barker said in 2006. "Everyone says, 'You're probably tired of talking about it.' I say, 'No, it's something to be proud of.' It's a special thing." The Cleveland Guardians have the longest active no-hitter drought in MLB.
Barker was the first perfect game pitcher who did not come to bat during the entire game, with the American League having adopted the designated hitter in 1973.
Ron Hassey, Barker's catcher, would catch Dennis Martínez's perfect game in 1991, thus becoming the only catcher, to date, to catch two perfect games and the only one to catch a perfect game in both leagues.
Danny Ainge, who would play 14 seasons in the NBA, was on the losing end of this game. He grounded out and struck out in his two at-bats; in the ninth inning, he was pinch-hit for by Alvis Woods, who struck out.

## Statistics

Statistics taken from Baseball-Reference.com

### Linescore

| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Toronto Blue Jays (10–22) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Cleveland Indians (16–8) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| WP: Len Barker (3–1) LP: Luis Leal (2–4) Home runs: TOR: None CLE: Jorge Orta (2) |||||||||||||

### Box score

| Toronto | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
| Alfredo Griffin, SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .203 |
| Lloyd Moseby, RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .231 |
| George Bell, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .269 |
| John Mayberry, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .261 |
| Willie Upshaw, DH | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .196 |
| Dámaso García, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .216 |
| Rick Bosetti, CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .323 |
| Danny Ainge, 3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .183 |
| Alvis Woods, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .213 |
| Buck Martinez, C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .182 |
| Ernie Whitt, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .186 |
| Totals | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | .000 |
| Toronto | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Luis Leal (L, 2-4) | 8 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3.43 |
| Totals | 8 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1.12 |
| Cleveland | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
| Rick Manning, CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .164 |
| Jorge Orta, RF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .280 |
| Mike Hargrove, 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .215 |
| Andre Thornton, DH | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .226 |
| Ron Hassey, C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .208 |
| Toby Harrah, 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .233 |
| Joe Charboneau, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .216 |
| Duane Kuiper, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .320 |
| Tom Veryzer, SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .308 |
| Totals | 32 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 5 | .219 |
| Cleveland | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Len Barker (W, 3-1) | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1.31 |
| Totals | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0.00 |