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Wade McGilberry

Wade McGilberry is a resident of Mobile, Alabama who won $1 million as part of the Major League Baseball 2K10 Perfect Game Challenge. McGilberry claimed the prize by throwing the first verified perfect game with Major League Baseball 2K10 using either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. McGilberry's perfect game was thrown using the Xbox 360. The $1 million prize is the largest ever awarded as part of a video game contest.

McGilberry originally heard about the contest through an advertisement on Xbox LIVE. After discussing with his wife, he decided to go for it and downloaded the demo to practice. McGilberry purchased the game at midnight the day it became available, March 2, 2010. He considered skipping work that day to focus on his pursuit of the $1 million, but decided to begin his quest after work. After several failed attempts, McGilberry sucessfully completed his perfect game that evening. Pitching with Kenshin Kawakami of the Atlanta Braves, he defeated the New York Mets 1-0 without allowing a single base runner.

Once the contest concluded and judging began, McGilberry received a call from 2K Sports on May 3, informing him they would be traveling to his and other entrants' homes to make sure their game systems had not been hacked or modified to enable cheating. The next day, McGilberry was surprised to find that the 2K Sports representatives had come instead to present him with a giant $1 million check for winning the contest.

McGilberry spent the next few days on a whirlwind media tour, appearing on national television and radio shows such as CBS' The Early Show, ESPN First Take and Howard Stern.

McGilberry and his wife, Katy, are accountants and plan to use the money to pay off their mortgage and start a family.