The best Father’s Day gift ever

Jim Bunning strikes out John Stephenson to complete his perfect game

With his wife and one of his daughters in the stands at Shea Stadium, the Philadelphia Phillies’ Jim Bunning pitches a perfect game 60 years ago today in beating the New York Mets 6-0 in the first game of a 1964 Father’s Day doubleheader before a crowd of 32,026.

The 32-year-old Bunning throws only 90 pitches and strikes out 10, including pinch-hitter John Stephenson to end the game.

Bunning also drives in two runs with a sixth-inning double on his way to becoming the first pitcher to throw no-hitters in both the National and American leagues.

Gus Triandos, Bunning’s catcher, 60 years ago today also becomes the first to catch a no-hitter in each league.

In the second game of the doubleheader, an 18-year-old rookie pitcher by the name of Rick Wise wins his first game in the majors, working the first six innings of an 8-2 victory over the last-place Mets.

Wise goes on to win another 187 games, including a no-hitter of his own in 1971, before pitching his last game in 1982.

“I was nervous,” Wise tells the Reading Eagle shortly after he retires, “but sitting in the clubhouse watching on television, I was really engrossed in Bunning’s game.

“Finally, when the game was over, I realized I had to go out and warm up, and I couldn’t find a ball because of the mob of reporters that came in, and the players jumping all over the place. I was trying to find the bullpen catcher.”