Happy birthday, David Cone

Old Timer’s Day — David Cone by Mark Rosal licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0Happy 53rd birthday to David Cone, a New York Mets fan favorite who threw a perfect game for the crosstown Yankees in 1999.

On Sunday, July 18, 1999, in an interleague game in the Bronx, Cone shut down the Montreal Expos lineup for a 6-0 win, retiring every Expos batter he faced. It was “Yogi Berra Day” at Yankee Stadium, and Don Larsen threw the ceremonial first pitch to Berra before Cone took the mound.

Larsen and Berra, of course, teamed for a Yankees perfecto in Game 5 of the the 1956 World Series. Behind the plate for Cone’s perfecto was current Yankees manager Joe Girardi.