Josh Staumont and Mike Mayers made a run Monday night at something unprecedented in Kansas City Royals history, a perfect game.
Staumont delivered a perfect first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, then Mayers took over and extended the perfect performance through six more innings. Not until Nolan Arenado singled to open the eighth did the Cardinals get a baserunner in a game Kansas City eventually won 7-0.
Such a feat would have been historic on two levels. Not only would it have been the first combined perfect games in MLB history, but it would have been the first in the history of the Royals franchise, which stretches back more than 8,500 games to 1969.
Royals fans aren’t alone, though, in never having witnessed a perfect games. In fact, fans of 16 of the 30 current MLB franchises have never seen one. There have been 23 official perfect games in history, but two were completed by players representing franchises that no longer exist, while five franchises — the Yankees, Athletics, White Sox, Phillies, and Indians/Guardians — have seen more than one.
The Yankees and White Sox lead in that department, each with three perfect games to their historical credit. That includes Don Larsen’s 1956 World Series perfect game.
The White Sox are the only franchise with three regular season perfect games, by Charley Robertson in 1922, Mark Buehrle in 2009 and Philip Humber in 2010.