MLB Pension Plan Sued by Widow of Reds’ Perfect Game Pitcher

The MLB players’ pension office wrongly denied spousal benefits to the wife of a deceased Cincinnati Reds player who pitched a perfect game in 1988, a new lawsuit alleges.

The plaintiff, who says she married pitcher Tom Browning in 2022 after a “close relationship” spanning three decades, claims she was wrongly denied spousal pension benefits because the couple hadn’t been married for a full calendar year before his death. This rationale is based on a misreading of the pension plan’s language, which was amended in 2020 to extend benefits to retired players’ surviving spouses regardless of the length of their marriage, she said.

Dawn Dellapa’s lawsuit, filed Monday in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, seeks wrongly denied benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Dellapa also charges the plan with discriminating against older players imposing more onerous eligibility criteria on the spouses of retired players as compared to active players.

Browning spent nearly all of his 11-year career with the Reds, pitching the perfect game against the Los Angeles Dodgers and winning the 1990 World Series against the Oakland Athletics. Dellapa says the couple met in 1991, had a child in 1995, and maintained a close relationship until they married in 2022, shortly before Browning’s death later that year.

The MLB pension office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gunster, Yoakley, & Stewart PA represents Dellapa.

The case is Dellapa v. Major League Baseball Players Benefit Plan, M.D. Fla., No. 8:25-cv-00859, complaint 4/7/25.