Photo credit: www.chicagowhitesox.com
Mark Buehrle wrote his name in baseball’s history books last night.
The Chicago White Sox all-star southpaw threw a no-hitter, blanking the Texas Rangers in a 6-0 win. What’s more, it was almost Major League Baseball’s first perfect game in nearly eight years. Buehrle faced the minimum 27 batters, walking just one (Sammy Sosa) and promptly picking him off first base.
Buehrle, who made his professional debut as a member of the 1999 Midwest League champion Burlington Bees, became the first player to toss a no-no at U.S. Cellular Field.
For the complete story, check out this page.
In case you’re wondering (and even if you’re not), the only other former Burlington players to throw no-hitters in the big leagues are:
Kenny Rogers: perfect game for Texas in 1994
Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, and Paul Lindblad: threw the first seven innings of a combined no-hitter that Hall-of-Famer Rollie Fingers completed for Oakland in 1975.
Vida Blue: hurled a no-hitter in 1970, the year before he was the American League’s Cy Young winner and M.V.P.
To our knowledge, Buehrle remains the only former Bee who’s appeared on the coveted Wheaties Box.
April 19, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Buehrle’s no-hitter was eerily similar to Blue’s no-hitter in 1970.
Buehrle – 8 Ks, 1 BB, 0 hits
Blue – 9Ks, 1 BB, 0 hits
The final score in both no-hitters was 6-0.
April 25, 2007 at 11:19 am
Thanks, Ian.
That’s some good research.
Did you know that Blue pitched a no-hitter for the Bees on June 19, 1968, in the first game of a doubleheader at Appleton?
Vida’s stat line for that seven-inning game: 7 Ks, 4 BBs, 0 hits
April 25, 2007 at 11:22 am
…and the score to that game was Bees 4, Appleton Foxes 0.