We have talked all semester about the narrative in baseball and how most of the time a game is not a game without a story behind it. Story-lines add drama to the game and are often the main focus throughout the nine innings. A perfect game is the ideal game to be filled with drama and to offer up an appealing narrative.
This past week the Chicago White Sox's pitcher Philip Humber pitched a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners but it wasn't just his performance during the game that created an interesting narrative. Coming into this season Humber, the 29 year-old, was coming off of Tommy John surgery, which is one of the toughest injuries/surgeries to come back from. Going into the game last week against the Mariners, Humber had yet to win a decision this season and nobody saw his perfecto coming due to his previous outings.
Nonetheless, Humber took all the story-lines and wrote a new narrative by pitching the 27th perfect game in MLB history. The ending of his game also contained some drama as his final pitch bounced in the dirt but was called a swinging strike by the home umpire. A blog featured on BBTF's primer newsblog written by Allan Barra calls the strike into question and asks how "perfect" his perfect game was. Narrative never stops with baseball and even after a game has been completed the talking and storylines continue.
It was a memorable game for Humber and something that he will never forget. To pitch one of only 27 perfect games ever to be thrown is something special. He will never forget but what about the public? There are several other "no-name" pitchers to throw a perfect game but I'm guessing that the majority of people could not name the last 10. So that brings me to the question of how long can a narrative be carried on?
In this specific case, certain fans and experts will remember Humber's game at the end of the season but the casual fan might forget his name by year's end. Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that a narrative is only effective or memorable if it continues well past the event.
