I heard a stat though talking about Josh Beckett and how at age 34 he was the oldest pitcher since the Big Unit (Randy Johnson) to throw a no-hitter. Randy Johnson did it when he was 40. And it wasn't just a no-no, it was a perfect game.
Randy Johnson is already one of the greatest pitchers ever and arguably the best post-integration pitcher to ever play the game. He's got 5 Cy Young Awards (four came consecutively), 300 wins, the best K/9 ratio in the world, ever, and has thrown two no-hitters (one perfect game). Fun fact: he has the largest gap between no-hitters in history; he threw one in 1990 and one in 2004. Many pitchers aren't even good for 14 years in a row let alone book end a career with perfection.
May 18, 2004: Diamondbacks (15-23) at Braves (17-20). The Diamondbacks were on the backslide of their 2001 World Series run and had aged heavily. The Braves, meanwhile, were in the midst of their historic run of dominance in the NL East. Despite being a few games under .500 going in, they would finish the season at 96-66. This lineup was not a joke but Randy Johnson left the game laughing.
This was a Tuesday night game and unfortunately a lot of the Braves regulars were out of the lineup. Rafael Furcal was out of the lineup and replaced with Jesse Garcia. 45-year old Julio Franco played first instead of Adam Laroche. Nick Green replaced Marcus Giles who would hit .311 for the year. While the Braves lineup was normally pretty fierce, it wasn't as much this particular night. But either way, Johnson was perfect.
I want to reiterate that Johnson was 40 years old when he did this. In today's game, very few players can still play at a high level at this age. Torii Hunter and Joe Nathan for the Tigers are 39 years old and having respectable seasons. The Captain over in New York is turning 40 soon and hitting .275; again, respectable. But perfect games? Not very close.
Braves catcher Johnny Estrada had the longest at-bat of the night, seeing 11 pitches and a 3-ball count (the only 3-ball count any of the Braves would see) and Estrada eventually struck out as did so many other Braves. Johnson went on to strike out 13 total, 11 of which were swinging strikeouts. Chipper Jones struck out 3 times; Andruw Jones and Mark DeRosa were the only players not to strike out. Even Eddie Perez, the pinch hitter for Braves starter Mike Hampton, who came on in the 9th with the pressure of stopping perfection struck out. Wow.
He threw 117 pitches (more than most pitchers do in 6 innings these days) and 87 of those pitches were strikes. That's nearly 75%. I tweeted yesterday that Verlander is down to throwing 62% strikes this year and could pertain to his struggles - he could learn from the Big Unit. 75% strike throwing is ridiculous but at least 65%.
Let's not overlook the start from Mike Hampton either. The Diamondbacks pushed across 2 runs, one in the 2nd and one in the 7th, and they did not take great at-bats. Hampton threw 9 innings, walked 3, allowed 2 earned runs, and struck out 5, all on 107 pitches (71 strikes). That's how baseball goes though, and unfortunately he picked up his 5th loss of the year to drop to 0-5. He would finish 13-9.
It was a small crowd at Turner Field to witness history. I sure wish I was there, or at least was old enough to recognize how amazing this is. I just turned 22 and can barely run a mile let alone pitch a perfect game. Way to go, Randy. If he isn't a first ballot Hall of Famer, I don't know who is.
Thanks for reading, and thank you to the brave men and women who protect the USA so I can write this post. Happy Memorial Day.
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