South Side Perfection

I surmised at the beginning of this month that it was going to be a long summer for Chicago baseball. For my Cubs, I was right. The starting pitching has been good, but the bullpen and offense have struggled in typical Cub fashion. The Sox meanwhile have been off to a decent start and are competing in a tough AL Central. But I never saw what happened today coming. No one could have.

Major League Baseball has been around for almost 150 years. Many things have changed since the 19th century within the game since then, but even with all the differences, retiring all 27 men you face in a single game has only happened 21 times in hundreds of thousands of games. I've been blessed to be alive for 9 of them, though I was really only aware of 5 of them (all since 2000).

I had no idea Humber was going for it today. I had called my dad this afternoon to figure out stuff with dinner when he told me Humber was 3 outs away. He talked me through the pitches of out number 25 before I was able to get the TV on at my girlfriend's house. She knows I'm a Cubs fan, so needless to say she was shocked that I flipped on a Sox game. But when you have a chance, even on TV, to witness history, you don't pass it up.

The closest I've ever been in person was 2009 also involving the Sox... and the last South Sider to do it in Mark Buehrle. The start right after his perfecto was in Minnesota. He retired the first 17 or so batters as I recall before giving up that first hit... then the floodgates opened. I was happy he didn't record another perfect game, but 5 innings was awfully early to really feel it.

I'm not a Sox fan. I never will be. But I'm a baseball fan, and I appreciate these rare moments when they happen. I was rooting for Humber to get those last 2 outs when I flipped on the game. And I'm really glad the Mariners fans in Seattle were on their feet in the 9th. A classy move by them to appreciate the moment.

So from this humbled Cubs fan, congratulations to Phil Humber. You may not feel like your name belongs in the annals of history with the likes of Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay, and Sandy Koufax, but you earned it today. And you are forever immortal in the lore of baseball.