Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics, who is in his fourth year as a Major Leaguer and who has a losing record overall, became the 19th pitcher in Major League history to pitch a perfect game. For those of you who don't know what that means, he retired all 27 batters he faced. The 27th batter, Gabe Kapler, had a count of 3-1 when he grounded out to shortstop. Had Braden thrown a ball rather than a strike at that point, he would have lost his perfect game (though he would have retained his no-hitter for at least one more batter). Here is a list of the 19 perfect games. By the way, I was watching the Rangers and Royals when the announcer said Braden had a perfect game in the eighth inning. I thought it might be shown on MLB Network, and indeed it was. I got to watch the final three outs, plus the ensuing celebration. It was wonderful. No matter what else Braden accomplishes as a baseball player, he has made it into the history books.
Addendum: There were 12,228 people in attendance in Oakland. At least 100,000 will claim to have been there.
Addendum 2: Here is the Associated Press story.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 