A look back at Mark Buehrle's perfect game

Mark Buehrle threw the second perfect game in Sox history. (AP)

On July 23, 2009, Mark Buehrle became the 18th pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game.

Eight or so hours after the final out was recorded, writing that sentence still feels amazing. It's tough to really write any thoughts down because the experience of watching Buehrle throw a perfect game is still so, well, shocking. I was in section 161, row 3—and I'm getting my ticket framed so a decade from now when 300,000 people say they were at the game, I can legitimately show that I was at the game.

I guess I'm not supposed to inject too much personal opinion into these articles, but you know what, I don't care. There have only been 18 perfect games in the 133-year history of Major League Baseball. Randy Johnson threw one. Sandy Koufax threw one. Catfish Hunter threw one. And now, Mark Buehrle threw one.

Of course, it's not like every pitcher to throw a perfect game is in (or going to be in) the Hall of Fame. David Cone, David Wells, Kenny Rogers, Dennis Martinez, Tom Browning, Mike Witt, Len Barker, Jim Bunning, and Charlie Robertson aren't enshrined in Cooperstown.

Addie Joss, Cy Young, Monte Ward, and Lee Richmond all threw perfect games in the dead ball era. The last of those dead ball perfectos came just under 91 years before the Tampa Bay Rays franchise was even founded.

And while Buehrle's perfect game is a far cry from the greatest of all time—that award easily belongs to Don Larsen—what's been lost in all of this is that the White Sox moved into a tie for first in the AL Central with Detroit today.

Okay, so while Buehrle's perfect game was certainly important, it wasn't the best one of its kind in baseball history. Nobody ever thought that.

But Dewayne Wise's catch? Unless somebody made a spectacular catch that wasn't captured on film—you know, because it didn't exist in 1880, when the first perfect game was thrown—Wise's catch very well could go down as the best ever in a perfect game.

Wise hasn't been the most popular player in Chicago this year. He was already hearing boos in the first series of the year back in April when he struggled as a leadoff hitter to open the year. But something Wise has always given the Sox is a full-out effort in center, even if it isn't pretty at times.

And it's not like Wise never made a big catch before this year. Anyone remember this play? If Wise doesn't make that catch, Detroit may have gone on to win that game and the Sox wouldn't be tied for first place right now.

Wise dislocated his shoulder and ended up missing a good chunk of the first half, too.

Larry over at SouthSideSox raised the question: would BA have had it? I don't think anybody feels like over-analyzing the answer to that question at this point, but you know what? Anybody who was mad that Anderson was sent down last week probably isn't too steamed anymore.

Oh, and Anderson sure picked a bad day to demand a trade. Yeah. Good luck getting any attention now.

Fun fact: Josh Fields became the first player in MLB history to hit a grand slam in a perfect game. Yes, this is the same Josh Fields that hasn't looked like he could catch up to a major league fastball in the last month or so.

But back to Buehrle: on the surface, this looks like a classic Buehrle start that was taken to a different level. He worked fast—the time of the game was 2:03, typical of a good Buehrle start. But Buehrle didn't get outs with his cutter, his usual bread-and-butter. He threw a ton of changeups and curveballs, and he threw them for strikes.

Maybe one of the funnier moments came in the last at-bat of the game, when Buehrle threw a fastball that registered at 90 mph according to MLB Gameday. His average fastball velocity this year is 85.6 mph. Think he was amped up a bit?

Alright, enough of this analysis. You all saw the game, or at least saw the highlights. You all heard Hawk Harrelson blow out a vocal cord with that first "YES!" And you all know probably know by now that Buehrle was on the mound for just 32 minutes for the entire game.

Just sit back and start formulating the stories you're going to tell your kids and your grandkids about the time you watched Mark Buehrle throw a perfect game. And, again, if you have a ticket, keep it, frame it, laminate it, whatever. I guarantee you'll come back in 10 years and get chills as you remember Alexei Ramirez throwing out Jason Bartlett to complete one of the more special moments in baseball and White Sox history.

Buehrle links:

• MLB.com is all over the game, with a slew of links that are worth taking a look at.
• Andrew at 35th Street Review touches on Jim Parque, Brian Anderson, and, of course, the perfect game.
• The Chicago Tribune has a ton of content on Buehrle's game, too.
• RJ Anderson at FanGraphs notes that Buehrle's perfect game was the fastest of its kind since Tom Browning's in 1988.
• Jon Greenberg of ESPN Chicago has a nice column on Buehrle and his perfect game.
• Scott Reifert has a note that confirms that the Rays are a classy organization.
• Reifert has more on his blog.
• Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times has the report from the other side. Gabe Kapler is officially good in my book.
• John Romano of the St. Petersburg Times says the perfect game epitomizes the Rays' offensive woes.
• Rays Examiner Rob Quinn has his thoughts up.
• Jim over at Soxmachine is all over the game. The second paragraph in certainly made me raise my eyebrows. Good stuff.