ON PERFECTION...AGAIN

I've heard countless times about how baseball is the perfect game to bond fathers and sons. Something about the alleged timelessness of having a catch in the yard, going to your first professional game, learning how to properly charge a bunt. I don't know the logistics of it, because I never believed it.

My dad was a basketball guy. He played at an NAIA school in college, and passed his love for the game on to my older brother and me (and, to an extent, my sister). So we never had the "Field of Dreams" moments together in the same way, instead focusing on the proper way to shoot a free throw or how to defend a pick-and-roll.

Today, however, we arrived during the eighth inning of the White Sox game. We knew they were winning, but that was about all. After a ground ball barely rolled foul, my dad commented that judging by the crowd noise, he wondered if pitcher Mark Buehrle had a no-hitter going. Not only did Buehrle have a no-hitter going, it was a perfect game - no hits, no walks, no errors - through eight innings.

While the White Sox were batting in the eighth, we flipped around. ESPN was promising to show the last inning live (CSN or whatever it's called now was carrying the game). This broke my heart, as I had seen several live feeds of the ninth innings of no-hitters ended on the first batter, and figured it was a curse to Buehrle. We flipped back to the channel and they were announcing a defensive replacement, with a new center fielder.

At this point, my dad said "New center fielder? Uh-oh, don't drop the ball!" This was very much in line with my thinking at the time. And, on a 2-2 pitch, the Rays' hitter send a shot to just left of center field. It was headed over the fence - only replacement center fielder DeWayne Wise - who had been in the game for five pitches at this point - leapt up the wall, squeezed the ball in his glove, smashed into the wall with his body, bobbled the ball, then caught it in his bare hand. My dad and I both cheered out loud, enraptured by this turn of events.

A strikeout (with resounding calls of "He gone!") followed, then the 27th batter of the game. A grounder to short, throw to first, and my dad and I were cheering joyfully. We had witnessed history, the 17th perfect game in regular season history, the 6th pitcher to throw a no-hitter (April 2007) AND a perfect game...and not only did we watch it together, but I will always remember his eerie premonition about the DeWayne Wise catch. It's not exactly "Field of Dreams," but I'll take it.