By BRIAN COSTELLO
April 20, 2008
As both New York baseball stadiums prepare to close, The Post looks back at the 25 most memorable moments in the history of Yankee Stadium. This week, No. 23.
May 17, 1998
In one of the most unlikely events ever at Yankee Stadium, David Wells threw the 15th perfect game in major-league history. The portly pitcher was playing for his fifth team and had not shown signs he was capable of perfection.
On this Sunday afternoon, though, before 49,820 fans who were there mostly for the Beanie Baby giveaway, Wells was perfect. He was three days shy of his 35th birthday and later would write in his book that he was "half drunk" when he took the mound.
Yankees pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said after the game that you could see Wells had something extra that day as early as his warmup pitches in the bullpen. He mowed through the Minnesota Twins lineup. The tension mounted as the game wore on. The crowd began to roar after every inning, and Wells' teammates avoided him in the dugout, except for David Cone.
"It's time to break out the knuckleball," Cone said in the seventh inning to get a laugh out of Wells.
The Yankees led 4-0 when he came out for the ninth inning. Wells could not feel his fingers and he was shaking as he got Jon Shave to fly out to right field. Then he struck out Javier Valentin, his 11th strikeout of the day. Finally, Pat Meares hit a fly ball to right field where Paul O'Neill clutched it for the final out.
Wells pumped his fist twice then was mobbed by teammates. Bernie Williams and Darryl Strawberry carried Wells off the field as he pumped his fist at the fans.
It was the first perfect game at Yankee Stadium since Don Larsen's in the 1956 World Series. Larsen called Wells to congratulate him and confirmed the two attended the same high school, Point Loma in San Diego.
"Right now, I'm the happiest man on Earth," Wells said.
