The Front Row with BILL BULEY October 8, 2010

Fifty-four years ago today, Art Brill saw something he's never forgotten:

Perfection.

"You don't get to see perfection in life," he said. "For at least a few hours, this guy was perfect."

Brill, whose daughters Laura Little and Linda Rohlinger both live in the Coeur d'Alene area, was in Yankee Stadium on Oct. 8, 1956, when Don Larsen pitched a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

It left a lasting mark on the man who today resides in Annandale, Va.

"I think about the game all the time," he said in a phone interview on Thursday.

ON THE morning of Game 5 of that World Series, Brill was 20 years old, a junior attending Iona College, a Catholic all-male school in New Rochelle, N.Y., and working part time for an insurance company. He and a few friends decided, that morning, to hop the subway and catch the game on a beautiful, blue-skied sunny afternoon.

They waited in line and paid "about a buck or so" for each ticket. By the time they settled into their seats in the left field bleachers, it was the bottom of the first.

The Yankees' starting pitcher, Larsen, was just 27, "a few years older than we were," Brill said.

Brill said Larsen's no-windup delivery and sharp control had the Dodgers going down in order.

The tension, he said, rose with each inning. There were a few close calls. Center fielder Mickey Mantle ran down a drive by Gil Hodges. A blast by Sandy Amoros just went foul. A shot by Jackie Robinson off third baseman Andy Carey bounced to shortstop Gil McDougald, who threw Robinson out at first.

Superstition was, don't talk about the no-hitter or you'll jinx it, and none did.

"We weren't talking about it as the game went on, but there was a buzz. It was pretty obvious there were a lot of zeroes on that Dodger scoreboard. We all knew there was a no-hitter."

A moment that still stands out for Brill came in the bottom of the eighth. The shadows stretched across the field, the tension was impossible, and Larsen came to the plate to bat.

It was then, he said, that everyone stood and cheered wildly. Brill said he never saw or heard about it on TV or radio, but when it happened, it was chilling. One of those, “you have to be there moments.”

“The entire stadium just rose to their feet, most in awe of what they were experiencing,” Brill said.

Brill, a Red Sox fan at heart, stood with them.

“When he got up to bat, we were all Don Larsen fans. You’re kind of cheering him for what’s happened so far. You’re hoping he gets three more outs. You really wanted him to get it.”

When pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell took a called strike three on a 1-2 count with two outs in the top of the ninth, there was, Brill said, “bedlam.”

“Everybody went nuts,” he said.

Back then, fans were allowed to walk on the outfield grass after the game, even during the World Series. Brill recalls everyone grinning and celebrating and shouting joyously. There were celebrities mingling with the common folks, all sharing in the magic of a perfect game.

“It was just great to be a part of it,” he said.

Brill has seen his share of baseball’s memorable moments. He was at Yankee Stadium for Game 6 of the 1947 World Series with his father when Al Gionfriddo made his famous one-handed catch at the left-field fence to rob Joe DiMaggio of a home run. He was at Shea Stadium in New York when Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner misplayed the grounder in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, and the Mets rallied to win.

“It broke my heart,” Brill said.

But nothing matched Larsen’s perfect game.

“The impact he made on all of us, I’ve never forgotten it,” he said.

One of Brill’s longtime goals was to meet Larsen, who lives in Hayden Lake, and on Aug. 6, he did.

“I had goosebumps thinking about meeting this guy,” he said.

The two met for an hour over coffee in Coeur d’Alene, and talked, what else, about baseball and that game 54 years ago.

The 74-year-old Brill said Larsen, 81, was courteous, with a wonderful smile and blue eyes.

“He answered every question I asked him. To shoot the bull about that game, about his career, that was just a thrill.”

Larsen, he said, told him none of his teammates would speak to him in the dugout, especially in the later innings. They stayed away.

“He said he was just glad to get out on the mound. The only time he felt free was when he was out on the mound.”

As a gift, Larsen gave Brill an autographed picture. It shows him throwing the last pitch to Mitchell, the 2-0 score on the scoreboard, the string of zeroes for Brooklyn.

Brill, a retired Lt. Col., said the picture hangs on a wall in his home, where he lives with his wife Julie and their two Yorkies, Fenway and Whitney. It is one of his most prized possessions, a reminder of a day when a 20-year-old and some friends hopped the subway, went to the World Series and saw a game they’ll never forgot.

“None of us are perfect,” Brill said. “But for one afternoon, in a very difficult sport, in a very difficult time, in a World Series game, he was perfect.”

Bill Buley is city editor of the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, or bbuley@cdapress.com.