True story. I kid you not.

Just twenty-four hours before Felix Hernandez finished his perfect game against the perfecto-prone Tampa Bay Rays, I had pulled a whole bunch of perfect-game related data for a visual I had been meaning to put together ever since Philip Humber threw his gem.

I thought to myself, "What's the rush? I'll just do this when I have time. Who knows when there will be a perfect game again? It could be fourteen years from now."

I seriously thought that. Twenty-four hours later, I was scrambling to finish my data collection. The visual above shows the best lineups ever to fall victim to a perfect game. I used Baseball-Reference's WAR batting runs for the starters in the lineup for the season in which the perfect game was thrown (so, the totals for the three [three!] 2012 perfect games are incomplete).

Observations:

• Mark Buehrle's perfect game stands out above the rest, by far.
• Seems fitting that the World Series perfect game would rank highly.
• King Felix threw the most impressive perfecto so far in 2012.
• Lee Richmond batted second while throwing a perfect game.
• Baseball-Almanac.com actually has box scores for the Richmond and Ward perfect games. They are from 1880, for crying out loud.
• Len Barker faced just one hitter with a positive Rbat. That was John Mayberry.

Here's my data. Let me know if you see something interesting!

Felix Hernandez vs. Tampa Bay Rays (2012): +22 runs

Matt Cain vs. Houston Astros (2012): –12 runs (–18 including pitcher)

Philip Humber vs. Seattle Mariners (2012): –59 runs

Roy Halladay vs. Florida Marlins (2010): +32 runs (+19 including pitcher)

Dallas Braden vs. Tampa Bay Rays (2010): +45 runs

Mark Buehrle vs. Tampa Bay Rays (2009): +114 runs

Randy Johnson vs. Atlanta Braves (2004): +53 runs (+47 including pitcher)

David Cone vs. Montreal Expos (1999): +22 runs

David Wells vs. Minnesota Twins (1998): –63 runs

Kenny Rogers vs. California Angels (1994): –9 runs

Dennis Martinez vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (1991): +42 runs (+28 including pitcher)

Tom Browning vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (1988): +28 runs (+20 including pitcher)

Mike Witt vs. Texas Rangers (1984): –41 runs

Len Barker vs. Toronto Blue Jays (1981): –77 runs

Catfish Hunter vs. Minnesota Twins (1968): +50 runs (+48 including pitcher)

Sandy Koufax vs. Chicago Cubs (1965): +23 runs

Jim Bunning vs. New York Mets (1964): +23 runs (+17 including pitcher)

Don Larsen vs. Brooklyn Dodgers (1956): +79 runs (+66 including pitcher)

Charlie Robertson vs. Detroit Tigers (1922): +68 runs (+54 including pitcher)

Addie Joss vs. Chicago White Sox (1908): +12 runs (+4 including pitcher)

Cy Young vs. Philadelphia Athletics (1904): +26 runs (+10 including pitcher)

John Montgomery Ward vs. Buffalo Bisons (1880): +2 runs (–10 including pitcher)

Lee Richmond vs. Cleveland Blues (1880): +9 runs (+7 including pitcher)