July 18, 1999, 25 years ago: It wasn't quite a perfect day at the original Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York City. After all, it was brutally hot: 92 degrees at first pitch, and it felt even hotter. Other than that, it was about as close to perfect as you can get, as 2 of baseball's most memorable characters combined for a truly historic day.
In 1985, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner fired team legend Yogi Berra as manager. But he sent front-office official Clyde King to tell him. Being fired wasn't the problem for Yogi: It had happened before, as Yankee manager after the 1964 season, and as New York Mets manager during the 1975 season. He knew: As the old saying goes, "That's baseball."
The problem was that, this time, George didn't tell him face-to-face, man-to-man. So Yogi said he would never return to Yankee Stadium as long as George owned the team. George knew that, even if the managerial change was the right thing to do -- and, competitively speaking, it was, as, under Billy Martin in his 4th run as manager, the Yankees got a lot better, and nearly won the American League Eastern Division -- it was a public-relations nightmare. Nobody ever won a popularity contest with Yogi Berra.
George tried to lure Yogi back. He invited him to every Old-Timers Day. He never came. He dedicated a plaque in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park for Yogi in 1988, and also for Yogi's predecessor and catching mentor, Bill Dickey. Dickey, 80 years old, in a wheelchair, and living far away in Arkansas, came. Yogi, 63, in good health, and living nearby in Montclair, New Jersey, didn't come.
George even tried to give Old-Timers Days themes that involved Yogi. The 1991 edition was a tribute to Joe DiMaggio on the 50th Anniversary of his hitting streak. Yogi didn't go back that far, but George was sure he would turn up to honor the Yankee Clipper. He didn't. The 1996 edition was a tribute to Don Larsen on the 40th Anniversary of his World Series perfect game, still the only single-pitcher no-hitter ever pitched in the World Series, and Yogi was the catcher. Yogi didn't come. Later that year, when the Monument to Mickey Mantle, who'd died the year before, was to be unveiled, Whitey Ford came, but he unveiled the Monument alone, as Yogi didn't come.
In 1997, Interleague Play came into Major League Baseball. The Yankees played the Mets at Yankee Stadium. Yogi is the only man to manage both teams to Pennants: The Yankees in the American League in 1964, the Mets in the National League in 1973. George invited Yogi. He didn't come.
In 1998, the "Subway Series" (a misnomer: Only a World Series can truly be a Subway Series) was held at Shea Stadium for the 1st time. The Mets invited Yogi to throw out a ceremonial first ball. Not only did he accept, but he wore a Mets cap for the occasion -- and got a nice hand from Met fans, many of whom still blaming him for starting Tom Seaver in Game 6 of the 1973 World Series, instead of saving him for Game 7, and losing the Series. But the Mets reached out, Yogi accepted, and the Met fans reacted. That must have really ticked George off.
On March 8, 1999, DiMaggio died. A few days earlier, in the hospital, George visited him. Joe gave George a last request: Patch things up with Yogi. A few days later, at Spring Training, George was approached by Yankee broadcaster Suzyn Waldman, who said, "I'd like to talk to you about Yogi." With Joe's death still on his mind, George got concerned, and said, "Why? What's wrong?"
At that, Suzyn knew that there was a chance. George told her he was ready to apologize to Yogi. Suzyn told Yogi this. A meeting was set up at the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center, on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, New Jersey, not far from Yogi's house. George came, and apologized. Yogi, whose many odd sayings included "It ain't over 'til it's over," had the perfect thing to say: "It's over."
George invited Yogi to throw out the ceremonial first ball on Opening Day, and he did. George invited Yogi to the dedication for the new Monument for DiMaggio -- as with Mantle, the former plaque was replaced with a monument upon the player's death -- and he came. George invited Yogi to Old-Timers Day, and this was the big deal, the thing everybody wanted: Yogi now had grandchildren who had never seen him wear a Yankee uniform. Now, they had seen it.
And Yogi Berra Day was set for July 18. It was a very hot day, and the country was still in something of a daze because of the disappearance of John F. Kennedy Jr., whose plane had not yet been found, and many were hanging onto a thin hope that he and his passengers, his wife and her sister, would be found alive. (They were found, but dead.) So it didn't feel like a great day at first.
But Yogi received all kinds of gifts, including the copy of his plaque that had waited 11 years. When he gave a speech, there were no "Yogi-isms," just a heartfelt message of thanks: To his family, to his surviving teammates, to the current Yankees for making him feel welcome, and to George. To finish the ceremony, Yogi caught a first ball, pitched by Larsen.
Yogi Berra (left) and Don Larsen, July 18, 1999
A year earlier, David Wells had pitched a perfect game for the Yankees against the Minnesota Twins. Larsen wasn't there, but someone realized that Wells and Larsen, the only 2 men to pitch a perfect game for the Yankees to that point, had both gone to Point Loma High School in San Diego, and a phone call was set up between them.
The Yankees then played their game, with Yogi's Number 8 written in chalk on each foul line. It was an Interleague game, against the Montreal Expos, and the Yankees' starting pitcher was David Cone. The Kansas City native had reached the major leagues with the Mets in 1987, too late to be a part of their recent World Series winners. He helped them win the NL Eastern Division in 1988, and had struck out 19 batters in the 1991 season finale, tying what was then the major league record. But there was a wedge between him and Mets management, and he was let go.
In 1992, he helped the Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series. In 1993, he went to his hometown Kansas City Royals, and won a Cy Young Award with them in 1994. The Yankees traded for him in 1995, and he missed most of the 1996 season with a shoulder injury. In his 1st game back, he pitched 7 innings of no-hit ball, but, worried about his recovery, manager Joe Torre took him out. The bullpen did not keep the no-hitter. Nevertheless, Cone helped the Yankees win the World Series in 1996 and 1998.
Now, in 1999, he was pitching as well as ever, coming into the game with a 9-4 record, sometimes seeming to make pitches up on the spot. And he toyed with the Expos. Despite having future Hall-of-Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr., All-Stars José Vidro and Rondell White, and Vlad's brother Wilton Guerrero, who was a decent hitter, none of them could reach base. None of them could even get to a 3-ball count on him.
People began to realize what was happening. Cone was doing this with Don Larsen and his catcher, Yogi Berra, in the house. Wells had been put in the trade package for Roger Clemens before the season, so he wasn't there. But Larsen was.
The pressure on Cone to make history was palpable. Unlike Larsen, however, whose team only beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0, the pressure to win the game wasn't. The Yankees gave him 5 runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning, including home runs by Ricky Ledée and Derek Jeter, and an RBI double by his catcher, Joe Girardi. By this point, Jorge Posada had replaced Girardi as the starting catcher, and had caught Wells' perfecto, but Cone preferred catching Girardi, who had also caught Dwight Gooden's no-hitter in 1996.
After 8 innings, the Yankees still had the 5-0 lead. But they got 3 straight hits to start off the bottom of the 8th: A double by Paul O'Neill, an RBI single by Bernie Williams, and a single by Tino Martinez. It was now 6-0, but the extra run seemed totally unnecessary. Suddenly, a big question arose: Would Cone still go out for the 9th inning? Pitchers don't like to wait long between innings, and it was very hot. But Chili Davis grounded into a double play, and Ledée grounded out. Torre sent Cone back out for the 9th.
The 1st batter was Chris Widger. Cone struck him out on 3 pitches. He hadn't stiffened up. The 2nd batter was Ryan McGuire, and he hit a sinking drive into left field. It looked like it would drop for a hit, and ruin the story. But Ledée came on and made a shoestring catch. Just as one of "the unwritten rules of baseball" is that you do not say the word "no-hitter" while one is in progress, for fear of jinxing it, another unwritten rule is that every no-hitter has at least one great defensive play, the kind that makes a fan say, "If he wasn't gonna lose it on that play, then he's gonna get it."
That left Orlando Cabrera, the Expo shortstop. In 2004, the Colombian would have a great moment on that field with the Boston Red Sox. But on this day, on a 1-1 count, Cone got him to pop up along the 3rd-base line. Scott Brosius got under it. He had a little trouble with the Sun. But he made the catch.
Cone had his 1st career no-hitter, and it was a perfect game. He dropped to his knees, and hugged Girardi, toppling him over. A crowd of 41,930 had braved the nasty heat, knowing that Yogi would be honored, but not knowing he would be honored like this, and gave Cone a standing ovation.
And the scoreboard operator put one of Yogi's familiar quotations on the board: "It's déjà vu all over again."
In all, Cone threw 88 pitches -- a pair of 8s, to match the 8s on each foul line, in honor of Yogi. Cliché Alert: You can't make this stuff up. For comparison's sake: In his perfect game on October 8, 1956, Larsen threw 97 pitches; in his, on May 17, 1998, Wells threw 120. For all 3, it was 27 men up, 27 men down.
There is a theory that Cone used himself up to pitch that perfecto. To that point, he was 10-4 on the season, but only went 2-5 the rest of the way. And 2000 was an awful season for him, as he went 4-14 with a 6.91 ERA. But he still helped the Yankees win the World Series both times. He pitched for the Boston Red Sox in 2001, retired, then came out of retirement to sign back with the Mets in 2003, and retired again.
Before the perfect game, he went 178-93. After it, he went 16-29. Overall, he was 194-126, with a 3.46 ERA, a 1.256 WHIP, and 2,668 career strikeouts. He went 8-3 in postseason play, including 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA in World Series play. He was named to 5 All-Star Games, and is one of the few players who remains popular with fans of both New York baseball teams: He was 81-51 as a Met, 64-40 as a Yankee, and 145-91 overall in New York. He is not yet in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but many pitchers who have achieved less are. Since 2004, he has been a broadcaster for the Yankees Entertainment & Sports (YES) Network.
On September 21, 2008, the last game was played at the old Yankee Stadium. One of the photos taken was on the mound, with the Stadium's 3 perfect game pitchers and their catchers: Larsen and Berra, Wells and Posada, Cone and Girardi (who was, at that point, the Yankees' manager). Berra died in 2015, Larsen in 2020.
On June 28, 2023, Domingo Germán pitched a perfect game for the Yankees, against the Tampa Bay Rays, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, as the Yankees won, 11-0. This time, the Yankees did not go on to win the World Series, or even to make the Playoffs, and Germán, who had a troubled tenure with the team, was waived after the season.
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