My (almost) First-Ever Perfecto..
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In 48 years of rolling APBA, I have never had a perfect game. In fact, I honestly can’t recall if I’d ever seen one into the ninth inning. But in my current solitaire GTOP tournament game on GO, I came close to some personal history as the ‘91 Pirates visited the ‘88 Athletics in my Alomar Bracket (for teams 1985 to ‘98).
Pittsburgh’s John Smiley (A-Z) mowed down the first 24 Oakland hitters. He’d been staked to a 1-0 lead on Barry Bonds’ solo HR in the top of the 2nd. The A’s Storm Davis (B-W) had been dominant as well, retiring 14 Bucs in a row at one point, while pitching nine innings of four-hit ball.
** Note: I roll manual games. And it’s true what they say… your hand really DOES tremble a bit when you have a perfecto at your fingertips in the ninth inning. **
Unfortunately for Smiley, it was not meant to be. The A’s Glenn Hubbard rolled a 45-14 to draw a leadoff walk. But to his credit, Smiley then retired Walt Weiss, (pinch-hitter) Dave Parker and Luis Polonia in order to preserve the no-hit shutout.
A proud APBA owner since the spring of 1974, I shall continue to wait… 😉👍🏼⚾️🎲
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Sorry to see the perfect game lost in the ninth, but a 1-0 no-hitter, where any mistake by the defense or pitcher, could not only lose the perfecto, but also potentially cost you the game, is as much fun to watch as anything in sports. Nerve-wracking if you are invested emotionally in either team, but still a blast to watch.
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I just had a no hitter (2 errors) by 2021 deGrom/Mets over the 1969 Expos. Was a little disappointed that all the game said was 'Home Team Wins!
