Baseball | Don Larsen spends time at Sea-Tac during less-than-perfect trip

It was supposed to be a routine journey for Don Larsen, a trip from his home in Idaho to New York and back two days later. Larsen traveled east about two weeks ago to tape an interview for the MLB Network about pitching a perfect game for the New York Yankees in the 1956 World Series.

An excursion Larsen figured would take 60 hours turned into a six-day odyssey because of brutal weather on both coasts. Larsen waited in line for 11 hours at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, cursed a borrowed cellphone after it died and wondered if he would make it home for Christmas.

"I've never had problems like that before," Larsen said. "The storms came in and, all of a sudden, I was stuck. I don't like to be stuck anywhere."

But Larsen was stranded with countless other travelers whose plans were scuttled in mid-December. Four days into Larsen's jaunt, Andrew Levy, the sports-marketing agent who helped plan the trip, went almost 24 hours without hearing from him. So he called police in Washington and asked if an incident report had been filed on a 79-year old male. None had been.

The Dec. 19 interview, which aired for the first time Thursday, took place in Secaucus, N.J., and was the seamless part of the trip. Snow blanketed the area as Larsen was reminiscing about the only perfect game in World Series history, so he never trekked to Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey for his scheduled flight to Sea-Tac.

Larsen took a limousine to Newark the next day and waited for several hours. Two more flights were canceled before Larsen took off Dec. 21.

Once Larsen landed at Sea-Tac, he tried to call his wife, Corrine.

Larsen, who grudgingly borrowed her cellphone for the trip, was frustrated when it died after about a minute.

From Sea-Tac, all Larsen needed to do was take a flight to Spokane, where he had left his car, and make the drive to his home in Hayden Lake, Idaho. He was so close. Or was he?

It was about 7 p.m. at Sea-Tac when Larsen got in line to ask about his flight.

Larsen stayed in line for 11 hours because of snowstorm-caused delays. He left the line once.

"I had to go to the bathroom," he said.

By Dec. 22, Levy was anxious because he and Corrine had not heard from Larsen. Levy said he contacted airport police, even sent them photographs of Larsen via e-mail.

A travel agent who worked with Larsen as flight after flight was canceled suggested Corinne check her husband's credit cards for recent activity. Sure enough, Larsen had checked into a hotel.

Larsen was surprised that there was a search party of sorts for him.

When Levy asked Larsen why he failed to call anyone, he said the cellphone had broken. Levy reminded Larsen that his hotel room had a phone.

"Well, whatever," Larsen said. "When am I getting out of here?"

Next winter, Larsen said, he doesn't plan to travel anywhere.

"You won't see me back there in '09," Larsen said. "Not unless they do it in Hawaii."

Note

• Home-run king Barry Bonds has had hip surgery and intends to resume his playing career this year, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report that cited a source familiar with the operation.

Bonds, 44, has 762 career homers. He last played Sept. 26, 2007, when he was with the San Francisco Giants.