Prior to throwing a perfect game today for Oakland, Dallas Braden was pretty much only known for getting mad at A-Rod for running across "his" mound. But now I guess he gets the last laugh since this will hopefully go away (though his grandma won't end it, telling A-Rod to "stick it"). But anyway, ever since I started following baseball in 1996, it has only seemed like good to great pitchers have thrown perfect games. But then Dallas Braden, he of the 17 career wins and 4.62 career ERA came along. So I looked down the list and came to a conclusion that there have been worse, just not in my baseball following lifetime.
There were Cone and Wells, both very good pitchers. The umps and coaches weren't jerking Cone off that day. The Unit is going to the hall of fame and Mark Buehrle has always been really good. But then when you go back, there are some good guys like the Gambler, and Tom Browning (he of the Nasty Boy Reds, with Rex Dibble. But getting past him and Dennis Martinez leads to the guys nobody's ever heard of outside the context of the perfect game.
Who is Mike Witt? Hell if I know but apparently he also combined to throw a no hitter with Padres legend Mark Langston. Also the great Len Barker threw one. It's noted as the first one in the DH era. Congrats, Len. There's a career of memorabilia signing waiting.
But then it goes back to guys like Jim Bunning, Catfish and Sandy Koufax. So maybe Braden's just an anomaly in the same vein as Barker and Witt. So he's not the only mediocre pitcher to throw one.
But, anyway, welcome to the 209, bitch.
