On the Great Means of Perfection

Fate was against me today. It had to be on this day that my week-long free preview of MLB Extra Innings On Demand ran out, essentially meaning I could no longer watch any out of market games on cable anymore. I realized this today as I tried to watch the Rays play the White Sox. I turned to the channel. Blackness. Of course, I didn't realize at the time how consequential that game would be for the history of baseball, but then again nobody did. And that's what remains beautiful about the sport that has encountered such difficulty in maintaining a good public image these last few years. Baseball is true spontaneity. As I always remind myself (and others), each game is born anew, separate from every other game that has ever existed or will ever exist in the history of baseball. It exists within itself and can hold its own spectacular beauty. But I didn't think about that today as I watched the TV tell me to call Comcast if I wanted to watch this channel. Maybe I should have.Around baseball these last few weeks we have had several close calls, both with perfect games and no-hitters. One that particularly stands out was Jonathan Sanchez's no-hitter a couple weeks ago. The rare no-hitter without a walk, but not a perfect game because of an error by the San Francisco third baseman with one out in the eighth inning. No perfection. No hitters and perfect games have been taken into the seventh and eighth this year, but have come up dry (other than Sanchez's performance). With all the close calls with perfect games, two in the last couple weeks, I had a premonition that something could strike soon. Not that it would necessarily, but one can only have so many close calls without feeling like these are a couple thunderclaps before the brilliant lightning strike. A perfect game is that lightning strike, not a no-hitter (which there have been over a hundred of going back to 1876). No hitters are wonderful. Perfect games are legendary. The rarest of occurrences.For me, there is no feat in baseball so rare and spectacular as the perfect game. None. Significantly different from its little sister, the no-hitter, the perfect game remains the only feat in baseball whose title bears the true majesty of the accomplishment. Perfection. One could not possibly do any better. There is simply no other equivalent in the game. The only thing that I can think of which might be comparable is the four-homerun game. Equally as rare (actually rarer, there have been 15 four-homerun games, 18 perfect games dating back to 19th century baseball), the four-homerun game is similar to the offensive "perfect game" if there is is such a thing. However, I can only speak for myself when I say that it simply doesn't carry as much meaning as the perfect game. I can't really give a definitive reason why. Perhaps that a four-homerun game simply does not feel "perfect". In fact, most aren't in a sense. Out of the 15 four homerun games in Major League history, only one player, Carlos Delgado, homered in all four of his plate appearances (Rocky Colavito had four homeruns in four official at bats, but managed to score five runs according to the box score, indicating that he had at least five plate appearances) thus attaining a true measure of "perfection". Yet still, perhaps it is because we are living in the age of offense, offensive achievements don't seem to carry as much weight for me as brilliant pitching. The first recorded perfect game in Major League history was by Lee Richmond on June 12, 1880 according to mlb.com. Amazingly, the next one occurred only five days later by Monte Ward. After Ward's perfect game, the National League had to wait 84 years before perfection struck again when Jim Bunning didn't allow a Met to reach base on June 21, 1964. While the American League had four perfect games during that span, perfection remained (and still remains) uniquely rare. There were no perfect games in baseball between 1909 and 1921, and then not another one until Larsen's ultimate pitching performance in Game 6 of the 1956 World Series against the Dodgers, the only time a perfect game has ever been thrown in the postseason. While we have seen nine perfect games since 1981, Buehrle's perfect game today ended a ten year drought wherein the American League did not see perfection. Going back to the 19th century, there have been five decades that have elapsed where no perfect game was pitched in either league (1890's, 1910's, 1930's, 1940's, and the 1970's). In the 90's we were fortunate enough to see perfection four times (Martinez, Rogers, Wells, and Cone, the most of any decade (all perfect game dates came from mlb.com). Truly, a performance one never forgets. It did not surprise me that it was Mark Buehrle who gave us what will likely be the last perfect game of our decade. Although he is not a power-strikeout pitcher, I've always regarded Buehrle's ability to mow down a lineup as one of the best in baseball. He is definitely the quickest and may be the most efficient pitcher I've ever seen. Buehrle controls the pace, and every time I watch him pitch it always seems as if he is in command. If the lineup does not beat him early, their prospects get dimmer as the game wears on. He controls the flow, not the hitters. He rarely gets himself into trouble and pitches to contact. His soft stuff can stifle an aggressive lineup (like the Rays) and get hitters to jump at pitches. Alexei Ramirez was quite busy at shortstop fielding the two hoppers from all the right handed hitters who "rolled over" on Buehrle's changeup. Buehrle was the man. Twenty-seven up. Twenty-seven down. Eighty-eight pitches. I feel so thankful to be able to have seen it. Although only a few can lay claim to have witnessed it in person, while a few more can say to have seen in on TV, in a sense we all saw it, those who even so much as witnessed the highlights and reflected on how truly special it was. The 34 year period between Charlie Robertson's perfect game and Don Larsen's epic performance in which no perfect games were found anywhere reminds me of how special it is, and that we are not entitled to see it and may not see it again for a long time. That is why each perfect game must be cherished. They are, in a way, freaks of nature. Baseball isn't supposed to be perfect. But then again, the game has a way of showing us all how little we know about it. We erroneously think that we are the game, and that the game is flawed because we are flawed. We think it tarnishes the game when we "cheat" by using performance enhancing substances. But that is the error in our thinking. The game exists outside of us. We are only imperfect players playing a perfect game. Today was special, and yet, none of us had any idea of it when we woke up this morning, when they showed up to the ballpark, when they checked in to see the early Thursday results. No idea. But therein lies the greatness of the game. You never know what you're gonna see.

(Written on 7/23/09)