John Wasdin's perfect game
 John Wasdin in 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | April 7, 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Herschel Greer Stadium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Nashville, Tennessee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attendance | 1,946 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On April 7, 2003, John Wasdin of the Pacific Coast League's Nashville Sounds pitched a perfect game against the Albuquerque Isotopes. The Sounds were the Triple-A Minor League Baseball affiliate of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Isotopes were the Triple-A affiliate of the Florida Marlins. Wasdin retired all 27 batters, striking out 15. The game took place at Herschel Greer Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
This was the sixth perfect game and second nine-inning perfect game in the history of the Pacific Coast League, which was established in 1903.[1] The league's previous perfect game, the first to last nine innings, was pitched by John Halama of the Tacoma Rainiers against the Calgary Cannons on July 7, 2001.[1] Wasdin's perfect game was the fourth no-hitter in Sounds history and the first since Jack Armstrong no-hit the Indianapolis Indians on August 7, 1988, in Nashville.[2]
Background[edit]
Wasdin's early career[edit]
John Wasdin was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the first round of the 1993 Major League Baseball draft.[3] The right-hander quickly rose through the Athletics' minor league system, reaching Triple-A in 1995 and making his major league debut on August 24 of the same year.[4] Wasdin began the 1996 season at Triple-A, but was promoted to Oakland in late May and stayed in the big league club's starting rotation for the rest of the year.[5] On January 27, 1997, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Jose Canseco.[3] Wasdin remained with Boston at the major and minor league levels until July 2000 when he was traded to the Colorado Rockies.[3] He was released by the Rockies in June 2001 and signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles within a week.[3] Though initially assigned to their Triple-A team, he played most of the season with the Orioles.[4] Wasdin was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies that offseason but elected free agency instead.[3] He then signed for the 2002 campaign with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Central League with whom he made 10 appearances before being sent to their minor league club.[6] After playing a season abroad, he was signed as a minor league free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates for 2003.[3] Up to this point, Wasdin had a career minor league win–loss record of 36–21 with a 3.85 earned run average (ERA),[4] and a major league record of 35–37 with a 5.11 ERA.[3] He had pitched just 3 complete games in his 10-year professional career.[4]
2003 season[edit]
Wasdin began the 2003 season, his eleventh year in professional baseball, assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds.[4] The Sounds had won the first three games of the season leading up to their April 7 meeting with the Albuquerque Isotopes.[7] The game was Wasdin's first start of the season.[8]
Game summary[edit]
The game started at 7:01 p.m. in front of an announced attendance of 1,946 people at Nashville's Herschel Greer Stadium.[7] The umpires during the game were Jimmy Horton at home plate, Ryan West at first base, and Matt Schaeffer at third base.[7] Wasdin's catcher was Humberto Cota,[7] who was playing his third season with the Sounds and had been a September call-up for the Pirates in each of the last two seasons.[9] Wasdin opened the game by striking out each of the first three Albuquerque batters.[10]
Sounds third baseman Mike Gulan made two significant defensive plays to keep Wasdin's perfect game bid intact. The first was the barehanded-fielding of Jesus Medrano's bunt in the top of the fourth inning which he threw to first baseman Adam Hyzdu to get Medrano out by a step at first.[11] The other came in the top of the ninth inning as Gulan made a backhanded catch of Matt Treanor's sharply-hit line drive for the inning's first out.[11] Only the next-to-last hitter, Matt Erickson, worked the count full before striking out swinging on Wasdin's curveball.[8] Wasdin completed his perfect game by striking out pinch hitter Rob Stratton, the final batter, on four pitches.[8]
In all, Wasdin struck out 15 batters, matching a team record previously set by Jamie Werly in 1981 and subsequently tied by Luis Vasquez in 1989.[11][12] Wasdin retired two batters per inning on strikes in each of the last four innings.[10] Five ground outs and seven fly outs accounted for his other outs in the game.[7] Seventy-two of his 100 pitches were counted as strikes.[11] The game lasted two hours and two minutes.[7]
Wasdin's teammates supported him offensively by scoring four runs during the game. The Sounds scored two unearned runs on a pair of errors by Albuquerque shortstop Kevin Hooper and pitcher Nate Teut in the bottom of the second inning.[13] Adam Hydzu doubled the lead with a two-run home run off of Teut in the bottom of the sixth.[13]
Game statistics[edit]
- General reference
- "Albuquerque Isotopes at Nashville Sounds – April 7, 2003 at Nashville, Tenn" (PDF). Nashville Sounds. Minor League Baseball. April 7, 2003. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
Line score[edit]
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albuquerque Isotopes (3–2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||||||||||
| Nashville Sounds (4–0) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | X | 4 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||
| WP: John Wasdin (1–0) LP: Nate Teut (0–1) Home runs: ABQ: None NVL: Adam Hyzdu (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Box score[edit]
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Aftermath[edit]
Post-game celebrations[edit]
Following the final out, Wasdin was mobbed by his teammates in front of the pitcher's mound.[14] The accomplishment was recognized on Greer Stadium's signature guitar-shaped scoreboard which read, "PERFECT GAME."[14]
Wasdin was named the Pacific Coast League's Pitcher of the Week for April 3 to 13.[15] He was also selected for the 2003 Triple-A All-Star Game, but was unable to participate after being traded to the Toronto Blue Jays prior to the competition.[16] Epiphone, a Nashville-based musical instrument manufacturer, presented Wasdin with a professional grade banjo in recognition of his performance.[17]
Reactions[edit]
I was placing my fastball in and out, up and down. I threw changeups and split fingers, depending on the ball and how it felt. I had good location and was down in the zone, plus the guys played great behind me.
— John Wasdin, Florida State Seminoles, April 7, 2003[8]
It gives me a ball to put on my mantle that I never had before. I just wish my wife and kids were here to see it. I was just out there and was like, 'If it's God's will, it is going to happen tonight, and if it's not, we will get a win out of this and get ready to play tomorrow.
— John Wasdin, Nashville Sounds, April 7, 2003[2]
A lot of you guys have been in baseball a long time. A lot of you guys will be in baseball a long time. But you won't see anything more magical or difficult in your entire career.
— Trent Jewett, manager of the Nashville Sounds addressing the team after the game, Nashville Sounds, April 7, 2003[2]
Wasdin's post-game season[edit]
Wasdin made 17 more starts for Nashville in 2003.[4] On July 8, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for outfielder Rich Thompson.[3] He appeared in 3 games for Toronto, making 2 starts, where he surrendered 13 earned runs and struck out 5 batters in 5 innings of work, giving him a 23.40 ERA.[3] He spent the rest of the season with their Triple-A club, the Syracuse SkyChiefs.[4] His final 2003 Triple-A win–loss record was 10–5 with a 3.38 ERA.[3] He became a free agent after the season, and later signed with the Texas Rangers for 2004.[3]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Pacific Coast League No-hit Games". Pacific Coast League. Minor League Baseball. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Traughber, Bill (June 30, 2005). "Looking Back: Sounds No-Hitters". Nashville Sounds. Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on October 21, 2008. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 "John Wasdin Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 "John Wasdin Minor League Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ↑ "John Wasdin 1996 Pitching Game Logs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
- ↑ Biertempfel, Rob (April 13, 2007). "Wasdin rediscovers enthusiasm with Pirates". Tribune-Review. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 "Albuquerque Isotopes at Nashville Sounds - April 7, 2003 at Nashville, Tenn" (PDF). Minor League Baseball. April 7, 2003. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Former Seminole John Wasdin Tosses Perfect Game For AAA Nashville". Seminoles.com. Florida State University. April 9, 2003. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ↑ "Humberto Cota Minor League Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "American League: Roundup; Moyer, 40, Shuts Out Angels". The New York Times. The Associated Press. April 9, 2003. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 "Wasdin Tosses Perfect Game". Baseball America. April 7, 2003. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ↑ "Single-Game Records". Nashville Sounds. Minor League Baseball. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Wasdin Perfect Game". Nashville Sounds. Minor League Baseball. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "John Wasdin's Perfect Game – April 7, 2003" (PDF). 2015 Nashville Sounds Media Guide. Minor League Baseball. 2015. p. 150. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ↑ "Sounds to Win PCL Player of the Week" (PDF). 2018 Nashville Sounds Media Guide. Minor League Baseball. 2018. p. 175. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 20, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
- ↑ "John Wasdin To Start Against Sounds On Saturday". Our Sports Central. April 21, 2004. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
- ↑ "Pitching Perfect has its Rewards". Epiphone. June 5, 2003. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
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