"Perfect I'm Not!"- David Wells...
David Wells travels to the beat of so many different drummers he could do "Stomp" solo. Henry David Thoreau didn't quite have Boomer in mind when he wrote "If a man does not keep pace with his companions. perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer". There's no perhaps about it when it comes to the wacky lefthanded pitcher who's won 227 games in a career that started in 1987. His body might be falling apart but his arm is a body part that refused to follow. He won 15 games for the Red Sox last year and if it weren't for injuries he'd probably win at least 15 again this year...
Boomer who stands 6'4" and is charitably listed at 250 pounds on the Red Sox roster has pitched for 8 different teams, 3 of those teams twice. One of those multiple tours was with the Yankees and on May 17, 1998, Wells was perfect, contrary to the "Perfect I'm Not" quote, part of the title of a 2003 book...
It was a Sunday at Yankee Stadium and Wells was 3 days shy of his 35th birthday when he took the mound against the Minnesota Twins. The crowd noise starts growing progressively during an attempt at a no-hitter and from the 6th inning on, the buzz would build with each pitch. In the bottom of the 8th inning Wells went through neck and arm stretches in the dugout and Boomer got a standing ovation when he took the mound in the 9th, just 3 outs away from not only a no-hitter but a perfect game. Wells had a 4-0 lead to work with and the Twins went down quickly in the 9th with a flyout and Wells' 11th strikeout of the game and then David Wells went into the history books when he got Pat Meares to hit a weak flyball to rightfield and into Paul O'Neill's glove for the final out. The Yankees rushed the mound and throwing caution to the wind in addition to risking hernias to do it, carried Wells off the field. The last time a perfect game was pitched at Yankee Stadium it was authored by Don Larsen, the only pitcher to pitch a perfecto in world series history. The two share another distinction, attending the same Point Loma High School in San Diego...
When Wells released his book "Perfect I'm Not! Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches & Baseball" (2003) he claimed he was "half drunk" when he pitched his perfect game but later backed off that claim saying he was hung over. David might not be the sharpest tool in the shed nor could he ever be accused of telling whole truths but one thing he was on May 17th, 1998 was perfect...
More May 17 Memories...
1620] The 1st merry-go-round was seen at a fair in Philippapolis, Turkey (ah those Turks. They always have to be first)...
1792] The New York Stock Exchange is founded by a couple of dozen brokers meeting under a tree on what is now Wall Street...
1846] The saxophone is patented by Antoine Joseph Sax (now we're talking)...
1875] Aristides (the horse, not the jockey) wins the 1st Kentucky Derby...
1939] In the 1st televised baseball game, Princeton beat Columbia 2-1 in 10 innings at Baker Field in Manhattan on experimental W2XBS. The New York Times review the next day: "It is difficult to see how this sort of thing can catch the public fancy"...
1946] President Harry Truman seizes control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen...
1954] The Supreme Court unanimously rules for school integration in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka...
1963] Joan Baez headlines the 1st Monterey Folk Festival. The Festival also features Bob Dylan making his west coast debut, Peter, Paul and Mary and the Weavers...
1970] Henry Aaron singles and homers in a game against the Reds giving him 3,000 hits and 570 homeruns (Aaron becomes one of 3 players having 3,000 hits and 500 homeruns. The others are Willie Mays and Eddie Murray)...
1973] The Senate begins hearings into the Watergate scandal...
1973] Stevie Wonder releases "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life"...
1974] Ray Stevens is #1 with "The Streak"...
1975] NBC-TV buys the rights to show "Gone With The Wind" (the one time rights cost $5,000,000)...
1975] Elton John's "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" LP is released and becomes the 1st LP to be certified a million-seller on its 1st day of release...
1975] 10cc releases "I'm Not in Love"...
1980] Paul and Linda McCartney appear on "Saturday Night Live"...
1983] "Let's Dance" by David Bowie is #1...
1983] The Islanders sweep Edmonton in 4 games to win their 4th consecutive NHL Stanley Cup (only Montreal has done better, winning 5 in a row 1956-1960)...
1985] Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) dies on the season finale of "Dallas" but returns "alive" the following season (remind anyone of "Alias"?). Producers reason it away as a "dream sequence"...
1990] Falcon Crest bows out after nearly 9 years...
1992] Bandleader Lawrence Welk dies of pneumonia at 89 ("The Lawrence Welk Show", still on in syndication, ran on ABC-TV for 16 years. Welk also owned Welk Music, a music publishing company, now run by his son)...
1996] President Bill Clinton signs legislation authorizing "Megan's Law" (named for 7-year old Megan Kanka from New Jersey who was raped and killed in 1994) requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in to a neighborhood...
1998] David Wells is perfect and becomes the 13th pitcher in modern major league baseball history to pitch a perfect game (feature story)...
2000] Two former Ku Klux Klansmen are arrested for a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama that claimed the lives of 4 young black girls in 1963...
2004] Massachusetts becomes the 1st state to allow legal same-sex marriages ("not that there's anything wrong with that" to paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld)...
2004] Tony Randall who seemed like he would grace our presence forever, dies at 84...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline]...
Commentary...
Bon appetit to those gathered in Randolph (Mass) for the twice annual Media Gang Luncheon hosted by Len Zola. We need more Len Zola's in this world to keep alive the flames of record and radio veterans, putting them together to renew friendships. swap war stories and in general, re-live the good times. I'll see you for the next one in October, Len...
Happy Birthday To...
1936] Dennis Hopper...
1940] Taj Mahal a.k.a. Henry St. Clair Fredericks...
1956] Sugar Ray Leonard...
1956] Bob Saget...
1962] Craig ("Late, Late Show") Ferguson...
[Today is the 137th day of 2006 with 228 days remaining in the year and 12 days until Memorial Day]
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