On Thursday, July 28, 1994,

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted m ...

of the Texas Rangers pitched the 14th perfect game in

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, blanking the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

4–0 at

The Ballpark at Arlington Choctaw Stadium, formerly Globe Life Park, is an American multi-purpose stadium in Arlington, Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth. Originally built as a baseball stadium, it was home to the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball and the Tex ...

. Needing 98 pitches to complete his masterpiece, Rogers struck out eight batters. He also survived three-ball counts to seven Angel hitters. The perfect game is, as of 2022, the most recent

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 w ...

in Ranger history. Rogers said he did not think about the perfect game until the ninth inning—and the bid was almost broken up one batter in. Rookie center fielder

Rusty Greer Thurman Clyde "Rusty" Greer III (born January 21, 1969) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder for the Texas Rangers. He most recently worked for Texas Wesleyan University serving as the Assistant Head Coach under former teammate ...

preserved the bid by making a diving catch of

Rex Hudler Rex Allen Hudler (born September 2, 1960) is an American former Major League Baseball utility player and color commentator for the Kansas City Royals. He played a total of 14 seasons after being a first round draft pick of the New York Yankees in ...

's sinking line drive to right-center leading off the inning. Greer also caught

Gary DiSarcina Gary Thomas DiSarcina (born November 19, 1967) is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third base coach for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played his entire career for the California / Anaheim Ange ...

's fly ball for the game's final out. Offensively for the Rangers,

Jose Canseco José Canseco Capas Jr. (born July 2, 1964), nicknamed Parkway Jose, Mr. 40-40 and El Cañonero Cubano (The Cuban Cannon), is a Cuban-American former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder and designated hitter. During his time with the Oaklan ...

hit two home runs. One of them came in the third inning and was on the front end of back-to-back homers with

Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 27, 1971), nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Puerto Rican former Major League Baseball catcher. He played for the Texas Rangers (in two separate stints, comprising the majority of his career), Florida ...

, Rogers' catcher. The perfect game came three years to the day after

Dennis Martínez's perfect game On Sunday, July 28, 1991, Dennis Martínez of the Montreal Expos pitched the 13th perfect game in Major League Baseball history, blanking the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 at Dodger Stadium. A native of Granada, Nicaragua, Martínez became the fir ...

, the last perfect game prior to this one, and made Rogers the third left-hander to pitch a perfect game, joining

Sandy Koufax Sanford Koufax (; born Sanford Braun; December 30, 1935) is an American former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played his entire career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. He has been hailed as one of t ...

in 1965 and

Tom Browning Thomas Leo Browning (April 28, 1960 – December 19, 2022) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1984 to 1995, spending almost his entire career with the Cincinnati Reds. In his rookie season in 1985, Br ...

in 1988. It also came 10 years after the Angels'

Mike Witt Michael Atwater Witt (born July 20, 1960) is a former American professional baseball pitcher. He played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball between 1981 and 1993, and threw the 11th perfect game in MLB history in 1984. Amateur career Prior to ...

pitched his perfect game against the Rangers, that game taking place in The Ballpark's predecessor,

Arlington Stadium Arlington Stadium was a baseball stadium located in Arlington, Texas, United States, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. It served as the home for the Texas Rangers ( MLB) from 1972 until 1993, after which the team moved into The B ...

. As of 2022, the Angels and Rangers are the only two teams to record perfect games against each other. The home plate umpire was minor league fill-in Ed Bean, who was working in his 29th Major League game and seventh as home plate umpire. Bean worked only seven more Major League games.http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1994/IUbeane9010001994.htm The 1994 AL Regular Season Umpiring Log for Ed Bean

Boxscore

References

External links

Boxscore of Kenny Rogers' perfect game
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Kenny perfect game 1994 Major League Baseball season Major League Baseball perfect games Texas Rangers (baseball) California Angels Baseball competitions in Arlington, Texas July 1994 sports events in the United States 1994 in sports in Texas 20th century in Arlington, Texas