July 23 in baseball history: MLB’s 18th Perfect Game

JULY 23, 2009 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – MLB’s 18th perfect game was thrown by Mark Buerhle on this date in 2009. To take nothing away from the Chicago White Sox southpaw, another left-hander positioned about 250 feet behind Buerhle’s right shoulder did the unbelievable.

Dewayne Wise had just been put in as a defensive replacement in centerfield in the 9th inning. Defend, he did. Tampa Bay Rays’ right fielder Gabe Kapler hit a 2-2 pitch from Buerhle to the farthest point of left-center field. It was on its way out. The perfect game would be lost. The no-hitter would be lost. The shutout would be lost.

Dewayne Wise would not have it. He ran to the wall like he was the 4th leg of a relay race. Jumped at just the right time to pull the ball back into the field of play. Then the ball slipped out of his glove, but he managed to regain control, holding on to the perfect game as he fell the ground.

The 26th hitter struck out.
The 27th hitter grounded out to short.

Mark Buerhle had MLB’s 18th perfect game. How could he possibly thank Dewayne Wise enough?

Contributing sources:
July 23, 2009 box score, stats, play-by-play
Dewayne Wise

Published by

Bill Grimes

I'm from Chicago. I worked in broadcast journalism for much of the 1970's and 80's. In 1990 I became a litigation consultant, retiring in 2017. Around 2005 I recall flipping through the sports section of the newspaper coming across "On this day in baseball history Willie Mays hit his 600th home run." I enjoyed the one-liners, but I wanted more. I wanted a story. I took my news reporting skills and started researching and telling baseball stories, one for every day of the year. TodayinBaseball.com is the result.