Charlie Robertson Throws a Perfect Game

Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox threw a perfect game against the Detroit Tigers on April 30, 1922, retiring all 27 batters he faced in a 2-0 victory at Navin Field in Detroit. It was Robertson's third career start.

The Tigers were furious. Ty Cobb, Detroit's player-manager, accused Robertson of doctoring the baseball and demanded that umpires inspect it repeatedly throughout the game. They found nothing. Cobb's protests grew louder as the perfect game took shape, but Robertson kept setting down batters.

Robertson was 26 years old and had won just two games before that afternoon. The perfect game would prove to be the peak of an unremarkable career. He finished with a lifetime record of 49-80 and was out of the majors by 1928. But for one afternoon in Detroit, he was untouchable.

It was only the fifth perfect game in major league history. The previous one had been thrown by Addie Joss in 1908, fourteen years earlier. The next wouldn't come until Don Larsen's famous World Series perfecto in 1956.