Tempting the Baseball Gods

July 27, 2009 2009

On Thursday, July 23rd, Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox threw the 18th perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball.  Anything you do that has been done only 17 other times in a sport that they’ve been playing for over 100 years is a big deal.  However, this is a perfect game that almost wasn’t.  While watching highlights of the game, I couldn’t help but notice Buerhle and his teammates chatting, joking around, and basically acting normal in the dugout between innings.  Bad.  Don’t tempt the baseball gods.

Conventional wisdom has it that while a no-hitter, let alone a perfect game, is in order, the pitcher is essentially ignored in the dugout, often sitting alone at one end of the bench while the rest of the team is piled up at the other end.  There’s no “good job”, “keep doing what you’re doing” or “you’ve got all your pitches working today”.  The baseball gods seemed to have noticed this utter disregard for this long-lived principle, because as the bottom of the 9th inning began, Gabe Kapler of the Tampa Bay Rays drove the ball high and deep to center field.  The baseball gods were instantly snickering, ready to burst out in laughter the moment the ball cleared the fence.  They were not only going to ruin the perfect game due to the lack of respect that had been shown to them, but snatch away a no-hitter and even a shutout at the same time.  The baseball gods must not have noticed DeWayne Wise go into center field as a defensive replacement in the 9th inning.  Wise, ranging deep and to his right, soared over the fence and caught the would-be home run, preserving the perfect game and perplexing the baseball gods as they each looked at one another as if to say “how did you let this happen?”.

Indeed, this was a day of glory for all of Major League Baseball and the Chicago White Sox in particular, but the ramifications could be far-reaching.   The 2009 season for the White Sox may very well be doomed, as well as countless seasons to come.  If ticking off a guy with a goat leads to 100 years of futility, what’s the cost of shaming the very deities which oversee the game?  Don’t tempt the baseball gods.

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