On July 28, 1994,

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...

of the Texas Rangers pitched the 14th perfect game in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

history, blanking the

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

4–0 at The Ballpark at Arlington. 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 2024, the most recent

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

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 professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball for the Texas Rangers from 1994 to 2002. He is currently the Head Baseball Coach for Fort Worth C ...

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

Jose Canseco José Canseco Capas Jr. (born July 2, 1964) is a Cuban-American former professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). During his time with the Oakland Athletics, he established hims ...

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 professional baseball catcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Ran ...

, Rogers' catcher. The perfect game came three years to the day after Dennis Martínez's perfect game, 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 (; né Braun; born December 30, 1935), nicknamed "the Left Arm of God", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 195 ...

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, ...

in 1988. It also came 10 years after the Angels' Mike Witt 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 of the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1972 until 1993, after which the ...

. 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.

Boxscore

References

External links

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