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Pitcher Perfect

By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on July 25, 2009 at 8:01 AM in Current Affairs, Gender Bias, Sexism, Women

For a bit of a departure from politics, I get to write about my other two loves, baseball, and soccer (aka, football). First to baseball:

This doesn’t happen very often. In fact, it has only happened EIGHTEEN TIMES EVER, including this game. A perfect game. Wow. It is not the same as a no-hitter, bear in mind, which Mark Buehrle of the White Sox has also thrown. A perfect game means that no one reaches base, through either a walk or a batter who has been hit by a pitch (MLB took down the really good video of this game):


Only eighteen times EVER – wowie zowie…That is simply staggering. Congratulations, Mr. Buehrle, on this outstanding accomplishment!

For another first, which also involves the number eighteen, at the soccer match we saw Wednesday night (7/22), the US Women v. Canada Women (national teams), the lone goal was scored by Christine Nairn, who is eighteen years old, in the last minute of the match. This was her first international goal in only her second international match. Get this – she hasn’t even played on the collegiate level yet (she’s going to Penn State). To put this in perspective, there are only a few of women who have accomplished this feat. You may have heard of one of them, Mia Hamm. Another woman who accomplished this feat was Kristine Lilly, a personal favorite of mine as well, is the most capped person (most international appearances) of any soccer player, male or female (click here to see some highlights). For reasons I don’t understand, Nairn’s goal didn’t make it to the Top 10 on ESPN. Oh, wait, that’s right – because they are sexist. Oh, they had plenty of goals from the men on their Top 10, just not the women. Ahem. Christine Nairn sure made it to my Top Ten list, and my congratulations go out to her. What a great match to watch, and a great win.

And for some not so-great football news, Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, was accused of rape by a casino employee in Lake Tahoe, who also claimed the Harrah’s Casino people covered up the rape. Roethlisberger has denied the claim.

Holy smokes. Well, he can join the long line of professional athletes who have been accused of mistreating women. Many of those accusations have proven to be true, I might add. Though in the case of people like Mike Tyson, he can be accused of battery, and rape, serve time for rape, have help getting out early so he can return to boxing, and is now in a movie. Huh – what happened to the woman he raped? Just wondering…

Blech. Well, I can’t let this end on such a downer note. Let’s go back to Mark Buehrle in acknowledgment of his incredible achievement. Apparently, he is also a really great guy, which makes his accomplishment that much sweeter. Good for Buehrle! Good for Nairn! And good for us to have some fun news for a change!

  • Linda Anselmi

    Fun. Thanks for sharing RRRAmy.

  • RedDragon62

    I watched Buehrle pitch that game as I try to watch all of my beloved White Sox games. As I sat transfixed on what i was watching….emotion overcame me. I called my wife and told her ( as she is also a Sox fan ) what I was witnessing.

    This is one of the rarest of accomplishments. I am so thankful I got to watch one of my Beloved White Sox do it!

    • pcmoore28

      I am a Rays fan and even though we lost the game, I was proud that my team recognized the accomplishment and applauded Buehrle at the end of the game. I love the game.

      • leslie

        Yes, the Rays were very gracious and showed real class. That was very nice to see.

  • http://deleted Aaron Kramer

    There are 2 additional ways to reach base and ruin a perfect game. An error and a passed ball, or dropped third strike, on a strikeout. I believe both are scored an error and both would ruin a perfect game.

    • http://rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      Indeed. I was giving examples, but you are absolutely right, Aaron!

      And RedDragon62, congratulations on the outstanding accomplishment for your team. Rare indeed – I am so glad you got to watch it! And that comes from a die-hard Yankees’ fan. Great baseball is great baseball, and should be appreciated for the love of the game, IMHO.

      This was most definitely great baseball!

  • leslie

    I’m with you RedDragon.
    This game was one of the highlights of my year.
    I was at the game on Monday and watched breathlessly as the Sox (barely) won that game. But Thursday, I was out, running errands and listening to the game on my car radio. When I heard the score and that the 7th inning was beginning, I found a little hot dog stand that always has the Sox on tv when they are playing. At the time I walked in, I didn’t realize it was a perfect game in the making. I just wanted to see my Sox win. Wow! what a thrill to see the rest of the game. And Buehrle, to boot! he is such a nice guy.
    The Chicago sport network replayed that game 3 more times that night. I got to tape it for my brother who is out of the country. What a thrill for this White Sox loving woman and her family!!

    thanks, RRRAmy, for posting on this super event.

    • http://rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      My pleasure. Baseball really is one of my great loves. And like our Hillary, I have a fave AL and NL team. One can barely live down south and not root for the Braves (and my partner is a Braves’ fan).

      But the Yanks are my first love – I started going to Yankee Stadium when I was in seminary – it cost $1.50 to sit in the bleachers – being a poor grad student, that was just abt right! That was the day of Big Dave Winfield, Spaghetti Righetti, and Don Mattingly. How could I not fall in love with the game?

      Congrats to all of you White Sox fans!