Only 23 pitchers in baseball history have thrown a perfect game. And Philip Humber is one of them.
Humber did not have a long or illustrious big league career outside of that one spectacular performance against the Seattle Mariners in April 2012. And because of it, his perfecto — one of baseball's ultimate individual accomplishments — is rarely discussed.
Well, we sought to rectify that mild injustice on the latest edition of the White Sox Talk Podcast, highlighting Humber's 27-up-27-down afternoon as part of the "Distant Replay" series. It was a fun conversation about Humber, the game, the broadcast and all other sorts of related stuff.
But here's the thing: Was Humber's perfect game really a perfect game?
Obviously, yes, because he faced 27 batters and got them all out, in order. That's the definition of a perfect game.
But there was some controversy surrounding out No. 27, and upon reflection, things could have (and maybe should have) played out much differently.
Humber cruised through this game, flummoxing Mariners hitters at every turn. The game was uneventful, and I mean that as a compliment. Humber pitched so effectively that nothing happened. Unlike in Mark Buehrle's perfect game three years earlier, there was no highlight-reel defensive play necessary to keep baseball history alive. Instead, the toughest play on the afternoon was a line drive to right fielder Alex Rios in the fourth inning. He made a nice play. The outfield wall at now T-Mobile Park will not be forever memorialized in celebration of said play.
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There were really no dramatics at all until the ninth inning. Humber's first three pitches to the inning's leadoff hitter were all balls, but he successfully battled back for a strikeout. After getting the second out, Humber faced pinch-hitter Brendan Ryan to complete the perfecto. Ryan worked a full count before check swinging at a pitch way outside the strike zone. He assumed he held up and started moving to first base, but the home-plate umpire said he swung.
Meanwhile, the pitch was so off the mark that it flew past A.J. Pierzynski, sending the catcher behind home plate to retrieve it. Upon learning he had been called out on strikes, Ryan stopped in the middle of his way to first base to argue with the umpire, but the play was still going. Pierzynski retrieved the ball and threw to first base for the out. Twenty seven up, 27 down. Perfect game for Humber.
But it sure looked like Ryan checked his swing. There were limited replays on the edited version of the game we watched, and perhaps that was the case with the initial Fox broadcast eight years ago. So it's hard to say for sure.
And even today, such a call can't be overturned by replay review.
But what's fascinating is had the home-plate umpire made the opposite call, awarding Ryan a base on balls and costing Humber his perfect game with one out to go, this game would have been legendary. It's mostly forgotten, even a short time later, considering Humber's career did not go so well afterward. He was out of the White Sox rotation before the summer ended, and he was out of the majors after the 2013 season. But if he was the guy who lost a perfect game because of a close call by an umpire?
Well, he'd be Armando Galarraga, who in 2010 infamously lost his perfect-game bid with one out to go in the ninth inning when Jim Joyce made an incorrect call at first base. That's a memorable baseball moment. More memorable, I'd argue, than Humber's perfect game.
Without more replay, I'm not going to argue that Humber didn't actually strike Ryan out and rightfully complete the perfect game. But from the limited angles, it sure looked like Ryan checked his swing.
For far more on this game, give a listen to the latest White Sox Talk Podcast.
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