 Mike Witt in 1987 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | September 30, 1984 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Arlington Stadium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Arlington, Texas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attendance | 8,375 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On September 30, 1984, Mike Witt of the California Angels threw a perfect game against the Texas Rangers at Arlington Stadium. It was the 11th perfect game in Major League Baseball (MLB) history. Witt threw 94 pitches, struck out 10 of the 27 batters he faced, and had a game score of 97.
Witt's perfect game occurred on the final day of the 1984 MLB season. Both the Angels and Rangers had already been eliminated from playoff contention, and as a result, a small crowd of 8,375 people attended the game. The opposing pitcher was Charlie Hough, who threw a complete game and allowed one unearned run. Of the 27 batters Witt faced, only a few threatened to reach base. Larry Parrish hit a ground ball that forced third baseman Doug DeCinces to make a barehanded throw in the fifth inning. Parrish also hit a long fly out in the eighth inning that Witt initially assumed was going to be a home run.
After the game, Rangers manager Doug Rader said that Rangers batters had a hard time seeing pitches due to glare from the sun, and some Rangers players complained that umpire Greg Kosc gave Witt too large of a strike zone. As the perfect game occurred on the final game of the season between two teams who were not going to make the playoffs, and simultaneously with a Dallas Cowboys game, there was little publicity, and many people within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex were unaware of what had happened. Witt finished his career as a two-time All-Star with a win-loss record of 117–116.