German goes from zero to hero
Fred Jeter | 7/6/2023, 6 p.m.
The New York Yankees’ Domingo German was a somewhat ordinary big league pitcher until June 28, when ordinary turned into extraordinary.
A Black man of Dominican and Haitian ancestry, German became just the 24th pitcher in history – and first since 2012 – to throw a perfect game, meaning 27 up, 27 down.
Wearing No. 0, he struck out nine while throwing a total of 99 pitches in an 11-0 victory over the Oakland A’s in Oakland.
For his career, German is just 31-26 with a fat 4.40 earned run average. Even with the “perfecto,” he is just 5-5 with a 4.55 ERA this season.
No African-American has ever tossed a perfect game in the Major Leagues. The only other non-whites were Nicaraguan Dennis Martinez in 1991 and Venezuelan Felix Hernandez in 2012.
There isn’t an extremely long list of star Black pitchers with the Yankees, but Richmond can claim a connection with one.
In 1961, Al Downing became the Yankees’ first African-American hurler. The left-hander from Trenton, N.J., played parts of the ’62 and ’63 seasons with the Richmond Virginians, then the Yanks’ AAA farm club.
Downing went on to become an American League All-Star in ’67 and led the AL in strikeouts in ’64.
