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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sports Perfect

Posted by Anthony Hecht on Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 3:14 PM

The Chicago White Sox's Mark Buehrle pitched the 18th perfect game in history this afternoon.

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In the top of the ninth, the Rays' Gabe Kapler hit a fly ball deeeeeeeep to center field, but Dewayne Wise made a leaping, bobbling, heart attack-inducing catch above the wall to preserve the perfect game.

Video of Wise's perfection-saving grab.

Video of the last pitch and the celebration.

A perfect game is one of the most unlikely events in sports. Congrats, Mark.

Comments (23) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

And he couldn't have done it without steroids!! GO JUICE!!

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on July 23, 2009 at 3:18 PM

Something tells me he'll be getting an invitation to the white house soon.

Posted by meks on July 23, 2009 at 3:34 PM

And let's not forget to mention that Gabe Kapler is one of the HOTTTEST baseball players to have ever lived. Google his name for some jaw-dropping modeling photos.

Posted by seattle mike on July 23, 2009 at 3:38 PM

That catch at the wall in the 9th was amazing.

Posted by Timothy on July 23, 2009 at 3:57 PM

My heart was racing when I watched the video. And I KNEW what was going to happen!

Posted by The Amazing Jim

on July 23, 2009 at 4:00 PM

@1: Hey numb nuts -- I played CC ball with Mark, and we have kept in touch over the years. He may be a hunting freak and a Republican, but he is no steroid user. I think you should really watch what you say.

Posted by What is your problem? on July 23, 2009 at 4:02 PM

@2 There is video on the linked website of him receiving a phone call from Obama. And like all good citizens of this country he, regardless of politcal ideology, refers to him as "sir".

Posted by JF on July 23, 2009 at 4:25 PM

Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter while on acid is still cooler.

http://www.cracked.com/article_16532_p2.…

Posted by UNPAID COMMENTER on July 23, 2009 at 4:30 PM

That was awesome. How many hundreds of thousands of games pitched in the history of baseball and this is just the 18th time a guy is perfect. Incredible.

Posted by heywhatsit!? on July 23, 2009 at 4:37 PM

amazing accomplishment, incredible catch, and the Slog's version of dipshits yelling "First" on gossip blog comments grabs post number one.

Posted by Postum on July 23, 2009 at 4:38 PM

Dewayne Wise : Mark Buehrle :: Omar Vizquel : Chris Bosio

Posted by DOUG.

on July 23, 2009 at 4:49 PM

I'm glad to see that Randy Johnson is on that list, even though it wasn't with the Mariners.

Dude was such a hottie

Posted by Parker Todd on July 23, 2009 at 4:53 PM

It's refreshing that the biggest news story of the day (which this unquestionably is) is actually good news.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on July 23, 2009 at 5:10 PM

Why the White Sox?

/Go Twins!

Posted by Jason Josephes

on July 23, 2009 at 6:16 PM

@6, why don't you grow a pair of nuts and register?

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on July 23, 2009 at 7:02 PM

fucking white sox.

Posted by Chicago Fan on July 23, 2009 at 10:13 PM

I once dated a woman who said she used to like watching Yankees games while having sex. I just had to throw that out there because the only ones talking about the attractiveness of the players are guy's. Since none of the ladies are stepping up, I thought I'd mention that one ex and here (only forgivable for geographic reasons) Yankees obsession. Damn, she loved Jeter.
Speaking of attractive atheletes, when does college volleyball start? When is the next LPGA tournament with Natalie Gulbis on?

Posted by Tingleyfeeln on July 23, 2009 at 10:19 PM

Buehrle also threw a no-hitter in 2007 and IIRC he's come close one or two other times. He's unique in that he doesn't throw hard, he takes little time between pitches, he's no strikeout master, and he plays home games in a home run friendly ballpark, but he keeps pitching well despite it all. And now he has a perfecto to go with the no-no. Amazing that this guy's already done twice what many, many MLB pitchers will never ever do.

Posted by Gomez

on July 23, 2009 at 11:21 PM

Sad that in all the coverage I watched about this yesterday, baseball talking heads never popped up with this awesome trivia question:

Who is the only man to have played on the winning team in three perfect games?

We got the neat little list of pitchers who have thrown a non-no & a perfecto, but not the cool "only guy" question.

Posted by Sir Vic on July 24, 2009 at 8:09 AM

Paul O' Neill did it with Cone and Wells. If he played in a third, I can't think of it. Maybe with the Reds??

Posted by heywhatsit!? on July 24, 2009 at 9:28 AM

Checked it out. Tom Browning. Cincinnati Reds. That's pretty freaky.

Posted by heywhatsit!? on July 24, 2009 at 9:30 AM

Well done. I've been hoping for someone to come up with someone in addition to O'Neill, but the perfectos are so rare and random, he may very well be it.
Browning's perfect game is pretty awesome, considering Tim Belcher of LA allowed only a couple hits himself. Browning and Buehrle are very similar pitchers.

Posted by Sir Vic on July 24, 2009 at 9:56 AM

So happy to see positive comments about a sporting event - one of the last communal traditions we have that draws people of all stripes together in the public square (or diamond). At its best, when you know the players and team history, it can be engrossing drama without a script.

Impressed that we were allowed to admire this simple pleasure on our beloved SLOG without the excessive "sports as barbarism/wasteful/anti-whoever" effluvium.

Go M's!

Posted by DawginExile on July 24, 2009 at 10:18 AM