On Sunday, April 30, 1922, in a game between the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

and

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

Charlie Robertson Charles Culbertson Robertson (January 31, 1896 – August 23, 1984) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a pitcher, and is best remembered for throwing a perfect game in 1922. He was the last surviv ...

pitched the fifth

perfect game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New York ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

history. Robertson, pitching for the White Sox, retired all 27 batters he faced.

The game

Robertson was the White Sox's starting pitcher for their game against the Tigers in Detroit on Sunday, April 30, 1922. The 26-year-old Robertson, who had played for the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

the previous season, was making his fourth start in Major League Baseball.Coffey, Michael (2004). ''27 Men Out''. Atria Books. pp. 36-51. He faced a Detroit team that ended the season with a .306 batting average. Robertson started off the game by striking out

Lu Blue Luzerne Atwell "Lu" Blue (March 5, 1897 – July 28, 1958) was an American professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox, and Brooklyn Dodgers between 19 ...

. In the second inning, Chicago's

Harry Hooper Harry Bartholomew Hooper (August 24, 1887 – December 18, 1974) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). Hooper batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Hooper was born in Bell Station, Ca ...

and

Johnny Mostil John Anthony Mostil (June 1, 1896 – December 10, 1970) was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox (1918, 1921–29). Born in Chicago, Illinois, he had a career batting average ...

scored on a Whitey Sheely single for the only runs. A spectacular diving catch by

on a liner to left by

Bobby Veach Robert Hayes Veach (June 29, 1888 – August 7, 1945) was an American baseball player from 1910 to 1930 including 14 seasons in the major leagues. He was the starting left fielder for the Detroit Tigers from 1912 to 1923 and also played for the B ...

in the second inning preserved the historic feat. Throughout the game, Tigers manager

Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the las ...

complained to the umpires that Robertson was doctoring the ball. Robertson's uniform was checked, and Detroit kept several game balls, but nothing was ever found. In the ninth inning, Robertson retired pinch hitter

Johnny Bassler John Landis Bassler (June 3, 1895 – June 29, 1979) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in professional baseball for 26 seasons between 1911 and 1937, including nine seasons in Major League Baseball with ...

for the final out. The game lasted one hour and 55 minutes."Box score"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved January 21, 2014. It was 34 years before anyone else pitched a perfect game in the majors. For White Sox catcher

Ray Schalk Raymond William Schalk (August 12, 1892 – May 19, 1970) was an American professional baseball player, coach, manager and scout. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox for the majority of his career. Known f ...

, it was one of four

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

s he caught in his career. During the 1922 season, Robertson had a 14–15 win–loss record and a 3.64 earned run average. He finished his career with a win–loss record of 49–80 and a 4.44 ERA, and according to one writer, "Hands down, Robertson is the least-accomplished pitcher to have thrown the most accomplished of games." He appeared on the game show ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

'' on October 14, 1956, six days after

Don Larsen's perfect game On October 8, 1956, in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, pitcher Don Larsen of the New York Yankees threw a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. It was the only no-hitter in World Series history until the 2022 Houston A ...

Game statistics

;April 30, Navin Field

Box score

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Charlie 1922 Major League Baseball season Major League Baseball perfect games Chicago White Sox Detroit Tigers April 1922 sports events 1922 in sports in Michigan 1922 in Detroit Sports competitions in Detroit