Perfect: Don Larsen's Miraculous World Series Game and the Men Who Made It Happen »

Lew Paper is the author of four previous books, including John F. Kennedy: The Promise and the Performance and Empire: William S. Paley and the Making of CBS.

"If you want to live inside the most famous statistical afternoon in baseball history, Perfect is...well, let's just say 'ideal'."
-Chuck Closterman, Esquire

On October 8, 1956, New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen took the mound for game five of the World Series against the rival Brooklyn Dodgers. In an improbable performance that the New York Times called "the greatest moment in the history of the Fall Classic," Larsen, an otherwise mediocre journeyman pitcher, retired twenty-seven straight Dodger batters to clinch a perfect game and, to date, the only postseason no-hitter ever witnessed in major league baseball. Here, Lew Paper delivers a masterful pitch-by-pitch account of that fateful day and the extraordinary lives of the players on the field- seven of whom would later be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Meticulously researched and relying on dozens of interviews, Paper's gripping narrative recreates Larsen's feat in a pitching duel that featured legendary figures such as Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, and Roy Campanella.

More than just the story of a single game, Perfect is a window into baseball's glorious past.

The Washington Post - Dave Sheinin

The story of Larsen and his legendary afternoon was hanging out there, like a juicy curve ball, for somebody to smash out of the park, and Lew Paper…has done exactly that with Perfect. Just because you know of Larsen's perfect game doesn't mean you know it, as Paper demonstrates…Paper stays true to the book's title, producing a fitting testament both to a singular performance and its cast of characters.