The Perfect Game

Last weekend on mothers day, Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden pitched a perfect game. becoming only the 19th pitcher in MLB history to ever do so. He was born in Stockton, California which is a couple of hours away from Alameda and where my father grew up as a kid. Braden's performance was a lot more than just a perfect game because his mother died when he was a child and his grandmother took him in to avoid adoption. His grandmother was at the game where he threw the perfect game and they had a very emotional bond after the game which touched everyone who was watching. I know that this gives a boost to the Oakland Athletic organization and will probably help them win a couple more games in the next couple of days. This was probably the best moment of Dallas Bradens life and I am extremely proud of what he has done especially doing it on mothers day and dedicating it to his grandmother who saved his life. There was alos another reason why he was more fueld and pumped up during this game that involved another player.

Dallas Braden’s perfect game for Oakland has generated plenty of press, and only partly because of his feud with Alex Rodriguez. A perfect game is celebrated with bold headlines because it is one of baseball's rarest achievements. But somehow, without anyone noticing, the perfect game has started to become more common, while no-hitters over all have become harder to come by. Before 1998, only 6 percent of no-hitters were perfect games, but from 1998 to 2003, 20 percent were, and since then 27 percent have been.From 1900 through 1980, baseball witnessed only seven perfect games, including two in the dead-ball era and three during the glory days for pitchers in the mid-1960s. But in the 30 seasons beginning with 1981, nine pitchers have achieved perfection. And, oddly, regular no-hitter have decreased in frequency while becoming more erratic in their appearance.


In the 20 years before Babe Ruth and the live ball era of 1920, no-hitters were far more common, with pitchers hurling 48 of them. In the two decades that followed, the most explosive offensive period before the steroids era, there were just 16 no-hitters, one of which was a perfect game. Baseball found an equilibrium in the 1940s and ’50s and that span yielded 30 no-hitters.Not surprisingly, the swinging and missing ’60s produced an astonishing 30 no-hitters, along with three perfect games, but even after baseball lowered the pitching mound, pitchers churned out 31 no-hitters in the 1970s. In other words, from 1960-1979, baseball averaged more than three no-hitters per season yet only one perfect game about every seven years. Since then, the pattern has shifted: There have been 48 no-hitters over the past 30 years, meaning it now takes two seasons to produce three no-hitters. In the last decade, there were only 13 — none in 2000 and only one a perfect game from June 11, 2003, through Sept. 6, 2006.That decline might make sense considering that the strike zone, the ballparks, the ball and steroids all conspired to boost offense, yet there have been 10 perfect games in that span, meaning they are now coming along every three seasons on average instead of every seven. In fact, perfect games before this year were fairly evenly spaced out, appearing in 1981, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009.As for this year’s big events, it makes sense that Ubaldo Jimenez would pitch the no-hitter and Braden the perfect game because 25 of 35 no-hitters since 1988, including Jimenez’s, have been pitched by right-handers while six of the eight pitchers to retire all 27 hitters they faced, including Braden, have been southpaws. The only question now is whether Braden can live up to his place in baseball and I think that he can do it because he has great pitches and is still young and has room to improve. This is one of the biggest moments in baseball history and I am glad I was able to experience it on the television.