“Now you can’t say I’m in a slump,” bowler Rick Auerbach laughed as he chatted with a reporter.
The right-handed Auerbach had just rolled his fourth certified perfect game, his 12th overall, with 12 perfectly placed shots in the Viva Las Vegas league Tuesday night at AMF Woodlake Lanes in Woodland Hills.
It was his second game of the night and he finished with a blistering 740 series with a 215 and 225 in his first and last games, respectively.
Auerbach couldn’t help ribbing an examiner.com reporter for writing a story last week that Auerbach hadn’t bowled a 300 since late last year.
“You said I was in a frickin’ slump because I hadn’t bowled a 300 since September,” Auerbach jested with the reporter. “How many people throw a 300 in their lifetime? I threw a 300 to shut you up.”
Last week’s examiner.com story recounted how Auerbach had put in a strong bid for his first 300 since September by rolling seven straight strikes at Woodlake. But he settled for a spare in the eighth frame and wound up with a highly impressive 254.
This time, the 63-year-old Auerbach – a former major league infielder – was greeted with ear-splitting cheers by teammates and opponents alike as he put together one strike after another en route to his perfecto.
“There were no cheapies,” glowed Auerbach, a Woodland Hills resident who has bowled a certified 818 series. “They were all dead in the frickin’ water.”
Auerbach said he had a feeling he had a chance for a 300 after bowling a strong first game that could have been higher had he not opened in the 10th frame by missing the 10 pin on a spare attempt.
“I thought I had figured the lanes out,” said Auerbach, who played 11 seasons in the majors from 1971-1983, including three years with the Dodgers.
Auerbach revealed he wasn’t even planning on bowling Tuesday night.
“I just happened to be here having my ball drilled,” said Auerbach, who was then recruited by Shawn Azar to bowl for his team.
Asked to rate where his latest 300 game ranked among all his athletic achievements, the former Taft High School athletic standout said, “This is just fun. I was just having fun. This is frickin’ great.”
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