The Chicago White Sox announced that they will retire the jersey #56 in a special ceremony this June. The jersey number is being retired in honor of longtime pitcher Mark Buehrle.
Buehrle was the ChiSox’s 38th round pick in the 1998 MLB Amateur Draft out of Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Missouri.
He shot through the club’s minor league system, making his big league debut on July 16, 2000, with an inning of relief against the Milwaukee Brewers at Comiskey Park.
Just three days later, Buehrle drew his first starting assignment at the Metrodome against the host Minnesota Twins.
In what would become a typically efficient Buehrle outing, he earned the win that night. The lefty lasted seven innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out five and walking just one batter.
It was the beginning of a fantastic career. Buehrle would pitch out of the White Sox rotation for the next 11 seasons. He made the AL All-Star team four times during the period, and won a pair of Gold Glove Awards.
On a perfect midsummer Saturday afternoon in the friendly confines of venerable Wrigley Field in Chicago, Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels tossed the 13th no-hitter in the history of the franchise, beating the hosts 5-0.
Hamels was coming off the worst back-to-back starts in his glorious career, and there were many questions about the ace lefty coming into this all-important start, as Ryan Gerstel at TBOH explored prior to the outing.
The Phillies longtime fan favorite, one of the last remnants of the 2008 World Series champions and 'Glory Era' team of the last decade, answered every one of those questions positively and emphatically.
Hamels (6-7) threw 129 pitches, 83 of them for strikes, and he had everything working today.
His fastball was consistently in the 94-96 mph range, as strong as it has been in some time. His slider was a bit erratic, but just enough to also be effective. And his curveball was working as well as we've seen it.
It all added up to a near-impossible situation for the Cubbies talented but young lineup.
Halladay and Ruiz embrace after final out of playoff no-hitter
For Phillies fans, it was not that long ago that our team was at the top of the National League, with the best starting rotation in baseball leading the way.
Three years ago on this date the Fightins were in the midst of a franchise record-setting 101-win season, and that vaunted pitching rotation included four pitchers who had been collectively nicknamed "The Four Aces" by fans and media.
Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and arguably the Ace among Aces, Roy 'Doc' Halladay. It all seems to be drifting further and further into the rearview mirror now. Oswalt has been gone for a couple of years. Lee is on the Disabled List, and heavily rumored in trade discussion. Only Hamels remains, and is likely to remain, for the foreseeable future.
Halladay finally retired following the 2013 season, one that was frustrating and painful for himself and for fans of both the team and the man whom we had all come to love over the final four years of a brilliant career that spanned parts of 16 seasons, mostly with the Toronto Blue Jays. In what was his 2nd consecutive ineffective season cut short by injuries, Doc Halladay's gifted right arm finally was spent.
But Halladay left behind a tremendous legacy in just those brief closing seasons here in Philly. There was the Cy Young Award that he won following his first season here in 2010, a 21-win campaign that included that 'Perfect Game' on May 29th. There was that magical 2011 season in which he was the Cy Young runner-up for the record-setting Phillies who won their 5th straight NL East title. And there was that 'Perfect Game' against the Florida Marlins on this night, four years ago now.
For my wife and I, there was also a special night with Doc. It came on a cool, damp night at Citizens Bank Park in the 2010 playoffs, in what was the very first playoff game of Roy Halladay's illustrious career. It was what he had come to Philly for in the first place, a chance to win a World Series, in front of a ballpark packed to the rafters with rabid, knowledgeable fans. It was Roy Halladay's dream.
We are 'Sunday Plan' season ticket holders with the Phillies, and back in 2010 our seats were in section 208, row 6. On that night of October 6th, 2010, however, because it was a playoff game, we had been given tickets in section 313. So we were seated up above left field in foul territory, a little ways beyond first base. They were good seats, as are most at the gorgeous ballpark.
The Phillies were up by 1-0 in the series, and as this game unfolded the team staked Halladay to an early lead, scoring a run in the 1st and then 3 more in the 2nd to go up 4-0. Halladay himself had knocked in the 2nd run, and then scored the 4th. It was now up to him to hold that lead, and put the Phillies up 2-0 in the series, within one of advancing to the National League Championship Series.
On this night, there was nothing to worry about. Not only would Halladay hold that lead, he would make history. Somewhere around the 6th inning my father called my cellphone from his home in Florida, asking if I knew what was happening. Did he really think that we were not all aware that Doc Halladay was tossing a no-hitter? I told him brusquely: "Yes, and don't say anything!"
A lifelong baseball fan, as my Dad well knew, I was not going to be the one to jinx our hero.
So the game continued into the 9th inning with Halladay just three outs away from Major League Baseball's first post-season no-hitter since Don Larsen's legendary 'Perfect Game' in the 1956 World Series. That Larsen perfect effort was the only no-hitter in MLB playoff history up to that point. Halladay was going for history here, and we were there to see it.
I had been attending Phillies games since Veteran's Stadium opened back in 1971 in my old South Philly neighborhood. I had attended hundreds of games between the years at 'The Vet' and then at Citizens Bank Park once it opened in 2004. I had never, ever been this close to experiencing a no-hitter 'live' as a spectator. It was thrilling to feel the electricity in the air, and to be experiencing it with my best friend, my wife Deb.
The first two batters of that 9th and final inning went down fairly easily, both popping out. So there was just one batter between Doc, we Phils fans, and the no-hitter, the Cincinnati Reds tough and talented 2nd baseman Brandon Phillips. Doc got the first two strikes, and the fans, already on our feet the entire inning, roared for that final strike to end it.
