No, there has never been a 27-strikeout baseball game that has gone down in history. The all-time record for strikeouts in a 9-inning game is 20, but the closest anyone has come to this feat was when a Pirates minor league player, just 19 years old, struck out 27 batters without giving up any hits in a nine-inning regulation game. This is the only time it has been done on a professional level. Three relief pitchers have won the MVP award and the Cy Young award in a single season: Fingers in 1981, Willie Hernández in 1984 and Eckersley in 1992. But none of them have ever achieved the feat of striking out 27 batters in one game.
In fact, the only time it has ever been done was by Nebraska, wearing uniform number 18, Don Larsen's number. He managed to strike out all 27 batters in three pitches each, making it a super perfect game of 81 pitches. Several pitching performances popularly considered perfect games do not qualify as official under the current definition, including climate-shortened games in which a team did not act as a base and games in which a team reached first base only in extra innings. That year, the throwing distance was moved back to 60 feet and 6 inches, where it remains, and the thrower's area, which allowed for a short run, was replaced by a rubber slab against which the thrower had to hold his back foot.
Branch Rickey, who had seen many baseball pitchers during his time in baseball, paid Necciai the highest praise. Necciai may have only won one major league game, but one night in May 1952 he was the best pitcher in baseball when he struck out 27 batters. In For Love of the Game (Universal Pictures), 1999, the hero Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) presents a perfect game at Yankee Stadium. Also note that more than one online poll erroneously lists the game released by Bill Singer of Los Angeles against the Phillies on July 20, 1970 as perfect, aside from two shooting errors by Singer; in fact, he also beat hitter Oscar Gamble in the first inning. The Pirates had twenty pitchers who pitched during the 1952 season and none of them had a winning record in their 42-112 record. Therefore, for any pitcher to achieve such an incredible feat is remarkable.
Major League Baseball's current official definition of a perfect game requires that a pitcher does not allow bases over the course of a full game that lasts at least nine innings, and that the pitcher throws a complete victory in the game. There have only been two young pitchers who I was sure were destined for greatness simply because they had the worst fastball a hitter can face. According to reports, Welch's batsmen were making ball flags in the last few innings, but somehow they still lacked pitches. He had gotten so involved in so many counts and all I could think about was doing the job and getting my pitcher through the game. Necciai was pitching for the Bristol Twins, an Appalachian League agricultural team affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates, against the Welch Miners. Since the pitcher cannot control whether his teammates make a mistake or not, the pitcher must have the support of a solid field to launch a perfect game.
Therefore, for any pitcher to achieve such an incredible feat as striking out all 27 batters without giving up any hits is remarkable. The pitcher cannot allow any hit, point guard, batter or any opposing player to reach base safely for any other reason - it's 27 up and 27 down.
