Comments on: Perfect

By: Jake

Jake — Sun, 22 May 2005 20:07:48 +0000

Having seen Afleet Alex’s amazing recovery and triumph in the Preakness yesterday, I thought some more about this question of perfection in sports. It’s clear that Alex’s performance wasn’t perfect (although his near-fall wasn’t his fault alone), but it reminded me of the most spectacular track performance I can remember, Michael Johnson’s 19.32 time in the 200 meters. He stumbled a bit at the beginning of the race, but, of course, recovered. This doesn’t really suggest anything important to me, but I wonder if in some of these sports, the idea of perfection is more or less orthogonal to anything that actually has value within the event. In such sports, perhaps there’s nothing with respect to perfection that generates the interesting tension to which Kieran refers.

By: Bernard Yomtov

Bernard Yomtov — Sat, 21 May 2005 22:43:10 +0000

OK. From the Official rules The batter becomes a runner when_ (a) He hits a fair ball; (b) The third strike called by the umpire is not caught, providing (1) first base is unoccupied, or (2) first base is occupied with two out; When a batter becomes a base runner on a third strike not caught by the catcher and starts for the dugout, or his position, and then realizes his situation and attempts then to reach first base, he is not out unless he or first base is tagged before he reaches first base. If, however, he actually reaches the dugout or dugout steps, he may not then attempt to go to first base and shall be out.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Sat, 21 May 2005 21:50:35 +0000

Bernard and Jeremy—I think the ball has to hit the ground for the batter to have a chance to run. So the catcher will tag the batter when he swings at a third strike in the dirt.

By: MNPundit

MNPundit — Sat, 21 May 2005 17:05:32 +0000

Predictably I get the soccer lovers screaming at me. That’s fine. I believe baseball is the best and most perfect sport ever for the reasons listed above, and because I LIKE IT BETTER THAN SOCCER.

I also wondered if I’d get snark for the “major ethnicities.”

Perhaps you missed this paragraph?

“In recent years baseball has made in roads into Central Asia and I think, will be the other sport that best competes with soccer for planetary recognition.”

What’s central asia? The afghanistan, pakistan, indian region wouldn’t it be?

You would think I didn’t even acknowledge these things.

By: Bernard Yomtov

Bernard Yomtov — Sat, 21 May 2005 15:33:20 +0000

oops.

Johnson has struck out 30%, not 1/3, over his career. So the odds get even worse.

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 21 May 2005 07:58:21 +0000

I’m not sure that ‘perfection’ can exist as a goal for batting sides in cricket – you could declare at 500-0 & still draw the game. I’d suggest batting perfection was only achieved once – Gary Sobers’ 6 sixes off a single over in 1968 (?year from memory). But then what do you call Basil d’Oliveira’s 49 off a single (imperfectly bowled) over around the same time? Seekers after further obscure feats can always try Wisden online though it looks as if we’ll have to wait till later in the year for the full backlist.

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 21 May 2005 06:52:03 +0000

I think cricket has the idea of perfect games, but not the reality. For bowlers/defending teams it would be 10 wickets for 0 runs. For the batting side, it would be declaring with the opening pair not out (and some non-trivial score, presumably “enough to win”).

By: Jeremy Osner

Jeremy Osner — Sat, 21 May 2005 02:31:31 +0000

fun to contemplate what would happen if two teams with perfect defenses played one another.

By: Bernard Yomtov

Bernard Yomtov — Fri, 20 May 2005 23:59:46 +0000

If the catcher drops a 3rd strike, the batter can get to 1st base if he gets there before he’s tagged out or forced out.

Only if it’s a swinging strike. There has been at least one famous incident – in the 1941(?) World Series a dropped third strike gave the Yankees (of course) an extra chance to score, which they took advantage of.

The pitcher, by the way, still gets credit for a strikeout, as well he should.

Paulos discusses the chances of a perfect game, and shows that on reasonable, though perhaps a touch fudged, assumptions, it has happened about as often as the probabilities would suggest.

The chance of a 27-strikeout perfect game is absurdly low. It is very rare for a pitcher to strike out one third of the batters he faces in a season. (Randy Johnson has just managed it over his career). So it’s less than 1/(3^27).

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 20 May 2005 22:05:37 +0000

Carlos, I’m amazed that you can describe soccer as a legacy of British imperialism & then say that basketball is set to move into the soccer-playinf countries: no commercial imperialist agenda there, of course.
Cricket has no concept of a ‘perfect game’ but has once achieved 10 dismissals in as many deliveries, I believe – by a native australian bowler in the 19th century. The nearest equivalent in Test cricket would be Jim Laker at Old Trafford in 1956 – against the Aussies, of course.

By: obeah

obeah — Fri, 20 May 2005 21:05:10 +0000

In horse racing, there’s really no definition of a single perfect performance (if there were, it would probably be Secretariat’s Belmont Stakes victory in 1973), but it is exceedingly rare for a horse to retire undefeated after a full career. Personal Ensign was the last to do it in the U.S., in 1988, and before her you have to go back to Colin in 1908.

By: terceiro

terceiro — Fri, 20 May 2005 21:01:02 +0000

This is cool, indeed. But at 5’8” and only 11, she’s got to be a full head taller than every boy in the whole league. The sexual tension between 11 year old boys and girls is just barely past the cootie stage for most boys, and yet the girls are, in some cases, menstruating. Those boys aren’t just intimidated by her fastball, they’re scared to death that she’ll beat them up after the game, or, even worse, try to kiss them. It will be very interesting to see what happens in a few years.

That said, the athleticism of 11 year olds is nothing to scoff at. These are no t-ball toddlers. There’s a couple of kids on my son’s team (8 and 9 year olds) who are downright and uncontestable good athletes. They can run, throw, hit, slide, and catch with consistency and surprising power. They even swagger. The next age group up (10 and 11 year olds) can play real baseball. It’s exciting to watch—and not just for the parents of the players.

By: Anarch

Anarch — Fri, 20 May 2005 19:55:41 +0000

Good on ya, Katie. Very cool.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 20 May 2005 19:54:07 +0000

Jeremy,
If the catcher drops a 3rd strike, the batter can get to 1st base if he gets there before he’s tagged out or forced out. (If you watch the games closely, you’ll see that the catcher usually tags the batter after a 3rd strike anyway.) I’m not sure if the dropped 3rd strike (or a passed ball in general) counts as an error or not, but if not, I don’t really understand why. But, to put the point more fully- a perfect game in one where no one reaches base, whether by a hit, an error, or a dropped 3rd strike/passed ball.

By: urizon

urizon — Fri, 20 May 2005 19:32:50 +0000

The strikeouts are actually more imressive than the perfect game. There have been seventeen perfect games in the major leagues, and who know how many in the minors, college, little league, etc. But to strike out the entire opposing team in a row three times? I only know of one instance, by a pitcher named Ron Necciai, in 1952. If I remember correctly, they only play six innings in little league, so her strikeout total would have been 18, which puts her in Nolan Ryan/Roger Clemens territory. Truly impressive feat for a member of either sex.