Almost Perfect
One of my favorite chapters in the book is chapter thirteen, which chronicles the day Charles Bender was nearly perfect.
That day — exactly 98 years ago today — Bender faced 27 batters, the absolute minimum a complete-game winning pitcher can face in a nine-inning game. Bender and the Philadelphia Athletics beat the great Napoleon Lajoie and the rest of the well-built Cleveland lineup 4-0 at Shibe Park. The only man to reach base against Bender did so on a walk in the fourth inning. That man, Terry Turner, was promptly thrown out trying to steal second.
According to Major League Baseball, only 17 men have thrown perfect games. Bender nearly joined that small club on May 12, 1910, by mixing “smokeballs,” as one newspaper called them, with a new pitch — the one now referred to as the slider — in a way that baffled Cleveland hitters from the first out to the last.
“Brains played as much a part in the master triumph of Bender’s as mere strength of the arm,” the Philadelphia North American said. “He is a student as much as he is a pitcher.”
This post was added on Monday, May 12, 2008 by Tom Swift at 01:10 and is filed under Rough Drafts.
"Chief Bender's Burden" has won the 2009 Seymour Medal, which recognizes the best work of baseball history during the preceding calendar year. Thanks awards committee, Dorothy Seymour Mills, the Society for American Baseball Research, and readers!
