There are somethings that happen very rarely in sport, like a hole in one or an undefeated season; today perhaps the rarest of sporting feats was achieved in Chicago when Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox pitched a 'perfect' baseball game. 'Big deal' I hear being cried from the other side of the Atlantic...well let's put this achievement in perspective for those who don't know the game.Baseball is played over a long and gruelling season. Teams play 162 games in the regular season (i.e. before the play-offs) in the space of 180 days. So that's only 18 days off (and a 'day off' may include a 5 hour flight from NY to LA for the next game) in 6 months. That means there are 2430 games played each season between the 30 MLB teams; if you count the playoffs it's getting up towards 2500 games a year.
The last time a perfect game was thrown was in May 2004 by then Arizona Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson. So that's about 12,500 games since it last happened. Only 19 'perfect games' have been thrown in the history of Major League Baseball, and that's around 140 years, depending on which date you believe the 'league' was formed. So there have probably been somewhere between 250,000 and 300,000 games of Major League Baseball since the league's inception...the fact that this has happened only 19 times tells you what a rare feat it is...only nine times in my lifetime.
So for international readers, just what is a 'Perfect game'?
According to Wikipedia, a 'perfect game' is defined as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any other reason—in short, "27 up, 27 down".
I can't think of an equivalent feat in another sport...maybe a cricketer bowling for 2 or 3 hours without giving up a run, a wide or a no-ball?? Never happens, so maybe even that isn't a good comparison. So even if you don't like or follow, or even understand baseball, you can probably imagine that Mark Buehrle is certainly enjoying a career defining moment, even as he flies from Chicago to Detroit for the next series of games, having joined a very exclusive club.
It must also be a thrill when the sitting President is a White Sox fan, as Obama demonstrated at the All Star game just last week when throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in his White Sox jacket; President Obama called Buehrle after the game to congratulate him on his perfect day. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama told Buehrle: “It was an unbelievable achievement, something that everyone will always remember.”
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