CLEVELAND, Ohio - I recently had the chance to sit down with Lenny Barker and talk about his perfect game from May 15, 1981 for my book "Cleveland's Finest". We relived Eric Wilson Jersey the inning by inning drama. Here below is an excerpt from that book. Lenny Barker took the mound on the night of May 15th in front of a crowd of 7,290 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Their opponents for the game were the struggling Toronto Blue Jays led by manager, Bobby Mattick. Taking the mound for the Jays was Luis Leal, who at that point in the season was a modest 2-3. Barker had come into the contest with a record of 2-1. The balmy 49 degree Cleveland spring weather was perfect for a pitchers duel. Behind the plate calling the balls and strikes was Rich Garcia with Greg Kosc, Don Denkinger and Jim McKean handling the calls on the base paths. Pitchers and umpires dont really mix, but Barker knew Rich Garcia and was familiar with is strike zone as Len discloses, I knew Richie before that game, he was a good umpire who called a good game. Over time, you get to know the umpires and you can tell their strike zones. Most of them keep the same strike zones and some dont. Being a pitcher, you dont become friendly with umpires but you know who they are and remain cordial with them. There are a lot of good umpires but there are also a lot of bad ones. The fans in the stands, who just wanted to kick back and watch some baseball, had no idea what a special moment they were in store for. Little did anyone know that Lenny Barker was about to catch the attention of not only the fans in the stadium, but also baseball fans nationwide. The battery mate for Barker that evening Devonta Smith T Shirts was Ron Ha sey, who went on to catch another perfect game later in his career with pitcher, Dennis Martinez, in 1991. Len looks back at working with Ron Ha sey, I felt really comfortable with Ron Ha sey. He was a guy who was an all American third baseman out of Arizona. He was able to make a succe sful transition from third base to catcher. It was amazing to see how he progre sed. He actually was a pretty darn good catcher, who did a good job and called a great game. He worked hard back there and was the only catcher to catch two perfect games, so he must have done something right. We also had Bo Diaz, who was an All Star in 1981. He was a pretty good catcher who caught for me down in Venezuela numerous times. I was used to both and they were both excellent catchers. Sometimes you get a relationship with a certain guy and who you feel comfortable with. The manager can tell when you get in a groove with a certain guy and they will keep that tandem working together. All eyes were on Barker from the first pitch. As Barker wound up to throw his first pitch, the seal of history was about to be broken in epic fashion. Barker managed to get each of the first two batters to ground out to shortstop, Tom Veryzer. The third out came when George Bell grounded out to first baseman, Mike Hargrove. A rather routine trip through the top of the order became a common occurrence as the night went on. Len walks (no pun intended) us through what he felt during the early part of the game, It started off feeling like a normal game and I was throwing nothing but fastballs early. The guys behind me made a couple of incredible plays in the first inning. As we got later in the game, I started striking out batters at a good pace. In the bottom of the first inning, a lead off single by Rick Manning got the Tribe off to a good start. After second baseman, Jorge Orta, popped out to the shortstop, Mike Hargrove reached first base on an error by first baseman, Mayberry. Andre Thornton wasted no time hitting a sacrifice fly deep enough to score Manning from third, giving the Indians an early 1-0 lead. Moments later, Ron Ha sey singled and the lead grew to 2-0. Harrah ended the inning with a called third strike from Leal. Facing Barker to lead off the top of the second was cleanup hitter and the person Rodney McLeod Jersey responsible for the first inning error, John Mayberry. His fly ball to center field started the inning off for the Indians right hander. After Upshaw grounded out to second base, Garcia flew out to center field, which ended the second inning the same as the first, perfect for Barker. After a bottom of the second that saw the Indians fail to add to their lead, Barker took the mound to face the bottom of the Blue Jays order. Back-to-back ground outs by Bosettie and Ainge set the table for a fly out by Martinez that ended the inning. Barker had made it through the Blue Jays lineup once without allowing a single hit or base runner. At the top of the fourth after the Indians failed to score again, Barker began his warm up to ses to prepare to face the top of the Blue Jays order for a second time. Griffin managed to hit the ball out of Philadelphia Eagles Sleepwear Underwear the infield this time, but right into the glove of left fielder, Joe Charboneau. Barker recorded his first strikeout of the game by getting Moseby to swing and mi s. It was quickly followed by another strikeout by Bell. Twelve Toronto batters had come to the plate and each failed to reach base. Scroll to Continue A quick bottom of the fourth didnt give Barker too much time to rest between innings, but it also kept him from getting cold. Leading off the top of the fifth was cleanup hitter, John Mayberry. He became yet another strikeout victim, the third in a row and all swinging. After an Upshaw foul ball fly- out to third base, and another strikeout this time by Garcia to close out the top half of the inning, Barker was more than half way through the perfecto. During the bottom of the fifth, Orta hit a two out single, only to get thrown out at second trying to steal with Hargrove at bat. Bosetti led off the top of the sixth by grounding out to second baseman, Duane Kuiper. Danny Ainge and Buck Martinez followed with back-to-back strike outs. They both went down swinging; Barker had earned every one of his strikeouts that same way. His pitching arsenal was appearing to be more unhittable by the inning. The Indians continued to make things interesting by trying to add to their lead in the bottom NFL Philadelphia Eagles Jersey of the sixth. They had hits by both Hargrove and Harrah. Leal managed to strand both runners on base by forcing fly-outs from Thornton and Ha sey. He followed that with a groundout from Charboneau that closed out the inning and kept Cleveland still ahead 2-0. With 18 outs down and only 9 to go, the chance of a perfect game arrived in everyones minds, even Barkers. He discloses when he felt that he could be pitching a perfect game, After the seventh inning, and then truly in the ninth inning. When I went out there in the ninth I knew my pitches were working, I still had great command of them and they couldnt hit them. The once unlikely feat was now suddenly po sible, even close enough to hope for. Barker wasted
