Indians Lookback: 39 Years Ago Today Barker is Perfect Against Blue Jays

Len Barker pitched his way into perfection 39 years ago today when he faced off against the Blue Jays in front of a small crowd of 7,290 at old Cleveland Stadium. It was the last perfect game and no-hitter for the Indians. It was the first perfect game in the Majors at the time in 13 years.

It’s a game that lives in Cleveland Indians history to this day, a night in which one of their best made baseball history by being perfect.

That player was Len Barker, a right-handed pitcher who worked his way into history with a 3-0 perfect game 39 years ago today, May 15 1981 against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The game was witnessed by just 7,290, on a cold damp night at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, but if you ask you’ll probably find 100,000 Indians fans who claim they were there.

The pitcher had his curve ball on like never before, as Jays players flailed away at Barker’s best pitch, striking out 11 times in the perfect effort.

All strikeouts were via swinging, most via the curve ball, and it was a beautiful thing remembers the person who caught the game for the Tribe, Ron Hassey.

“Lenny wasn’t the type of pitcher with control,” Hassey said.

“Going into a game, you’d expect him to walk a few hitters, (but) his curve ball was the best I’d ever seen him throw.

“There were times in other games that he’d try to throw breaking balls and they would end up bouncing in front of home plate.“

There was none of that on this night, as the breaking pitch seemed to get better as the misty cold night went along.

Barker’s perfect effort was done in just two hours and nine minutes, throwing a total of 109 pitches, 84 of which were strikes.

He never got to three balls on any Toronto player, striking out 11 of the final 17 Toronto batters he faced.

The righty has said he estimated he threw somewhere around 65 curve balls that night, and the rotation on the pitch was tight to the point of it being unhittable.

"I had total command. I could throw anything anywhere I wanted," Barker said.