How it unfolded
Larsen finished his career 81–91 and had been knocked out after 1.2 innings in Game 2. In Game 5 he used a no-windup delivery against a Dodgers lineup of Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. In ninety-seven pitches he faced twenty-seven batters and allowed none to reach — no hit, walk, hit-by-pitch or error, seven strikeouts. Two close calls: Robinson's smash caromed off the third baseman and the shortstop threw him out; in the fifth Mantle ran down Hodges's deep drive to left-centre. Mantle had homered earlier off Sal Maglie; New York scored only twice. Dale Mitchell looked at strike three to end it, and Yogi Berra leapt into Larsen's arms. Home-plate umpire Babe Pinelli was working his last game behind the plate.
Why it still matters
Still the only perfect game among MLB's twenty-four to come in the postseason, and nearly seventy years later still the only World Series no-hitter. An ordinary pitcher reaching perfection on the biggest stage remains baseball's purest version of its own story — that it can happen to anyone on any day.