One Blown Call
26 hitters in a row – one to go and another perfect game in the record books. A hard-hit ground ball to the right side of the infield, pitcher covers first base in plenty of time – runner is easily out. But no. With one blown call, a perfect game becomes a one-hitter, and baseball, a game built on stats and history, loses another potential record – three perfect games in one season. And the career of one of Major League Baseball’s finest umpires will forever be stained by one call. Jim Joyce will join a very select fraternity of Umps, including Don Denkinger, a...
Read MoreSomething Very Rare Has Happened
In the history of professional baseball, which spans 165 years, only 19 perfect games have been recorded, with the 19th being pitched May 9, 2010, by an Oakland Athletics left-hander named Dallas Braden – an unlikely candidate to accomplish one of sports’ most difficult feats. Selected in the 1,383rd round in the baseball draft in 2004 and never considered amongst the top Major League prospects (supposedly lacking the tools to be a consistent winner in the “bigs”), Braden beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4 to 0…27 batters up, 27 batters down. And life as he knows it will never be...
Read More
