Almost Perfect

Sixteen times in the history of major league baseball, a starting pitcher has been able to retire the first 26 batters he faced, only to not be credited with a perfect game. Thirteen times the 27th batter reached base safely and in the other three games that batter was also retired, but the pitcher did not complete a perfect game until his team won. Those pitchers and games are the subject of this book by Joe Cox.

The stories are varied – from the 12 perfect innings thrown by Harvey Haddix, only to lose the game in the 13th inning to Eddie Shore relieving Babe Ruth and then retiring 26 batters, each game story is told in three acts.

One act is a brief biography of the pitcher who came very close to making history. Another act describes the important facts surrounding the game or the atmosphere surrounding it, such as the chapter on Mike Mussina’s near-perfect game in 2001, just days before the terrorist attack on the United States. The third act is an inning-by-inning recap of the game itself. These are quite good and show the research that Cox did in order to write about each at-bat by those hitters who were retired in order inning after inning. Even though the reader will know that eventually that the 27th batter will get a hit, there is still good drama in each game description.

The other two acts in each chapter occasionally will feel like they stray too far away from the objective which is to build up the drama of the game only to show the heartbreak suffered by the pitcher. When the subject pertains to the history of the team more than the pitcher or the game, it feels like filler material. As an example, in the chapter about Pedro Martinez’s game in which he retired 27 batters and lost the perfect game in the 10th inning, a significant portion of the chapter was devoted to the history of the Montreal Expos, the team for which Martinez was pitching.

While some of this material may not have been necessary to capture the spirit of the game and what went through the pitcher’s mind, the book was still a good read. It was very interesting to read about these games and realize how many different ways that a game like this can end in a manner that will not be a happy one for a pitcher who has been so dominant. Baseball fans will want to add this one to their bookshelves.

I wish to thank Lyons Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Almost Perfect" by Joe Cox is an intriguing compilation of all the ruined perfect games in the history of baseball. It was fascinating to read the stories of the pitchers (most of whom were not superstars), their teams, and the players who ended up breaking the perfect game.
Cox weaves each near perfect game into its own chapter. He takes the reader through the player's historical background, the game itself, and what happened afterwards. It's a definite "must read" for serious baseball fanss.

Almost perfect is about the sacrifice that baseball pitchers and teams make for the perfect game. Very, very few have ever done it. Some perfect games turned into no hitters but didn't end up perfect. There are write ups on some close calls with the box score and why they didn't end up perfect. Unfortunately my Mets have never had a perfect game and have only ever had 1 no hitter!

For those of you are not baseball fans - a "perfect game" is when you have no hits or walks, hit by pitch, etc. as a pitcher. A no hitter is just that - no hits. But you could have walked a player or hit him with a pitch. This book shows some of these no hitters and other "almosts".

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

Book looks at 16 pitchers who fell short of perfection

The perfect game is one of baseball’s rarest gems; the 27-up, 27-down masterpiece that has been accomplished just 23 times in the history of Major League Baseball. It is the purview of Hall of Fame talents like Young and Koufax and Randy Johnson, but also of forgettable players like Charlie Robertson and Philip Humber. On any given day for any given pitcher, perfection potentially awaits.

But what about those who come tantalizingly close, only to have that dream of perfection yanked away by circumstance?

Those men are the focus of Joe Cox’s “Almost Perfect: The Heartbreaking Pursuit of Baseball’s Holy Grail”. MLB history also has an exclusive club of almost-perfect pitchers – 16 in all. Thirteen of them retired 26 consecutive batters, only to have fate step in at the final out. Three more actually did mow down 27 straight (or more), yet still found themselves without a perfect game in the end.

From the first in 1908 (George “Hooks” Wiltse for the New York Giants) to the most recent in 2015 (Max Scherzer for the Washington Nationals), Cox goes through each of these 16 contests, breaking them down out by out as they make their way to the fateful moment that leaves them almost perfect. But he also provides a great deal of context, offering a look at the careers of these men both before and after their brushes with history, giving us a glimpse at the aftermath.

The preponderance of almost-perfect games in recent years – five of the 16 have happened in the 21st century – results in some familiar names. Longtime Red Sox fans will recall Mike Mussina’s effort for the Yankees against Boston back in 2001. 2013 saw two such games – one from Texas’s Yu Darvish and the other from San Francisco’s Yusmeiro Petit – while the sports world learned a lesson in true sportsmanship and understanding from the aftermath of the blown call that cost Detroit’s Armando Galarraga his place in history back in 2010.

Another Red Sox-adjacent example is the game pitched by Pedro Martinez back in 1995 while he was still with the Montreal Expos. On June 3 of that year against the San Diego Padres, Pedro retired 27 consecutive hitters, striking out 10 along the way. Unfortunately, his team’s offense was also unable to score, leaving him to head back to the mound in the 10th where he allowed a hit to the leadoff batter and bid his perfect game adieu.

There’s also the legendary Ernie Shore game for the Red Sox in 1917, when Shore took the mound in relief of then-pitcher Babe Ruth after just one batter and went on a run. Two guys named Milt (Pappas and Wilcox) have both been almost-perfect. And of course, there’s the greatest of all – Harvey Haddix’s 1959 masterpiece in which he recorded 36 consecutive outs – 12 perfect innings - against a Braves lineup that featured some all-time greats.

Plenty of ink has been spilled covering the particulars of history’s perfect games. But what Joe Cox has done in “Almost Perfect” is tell stories that reveal a different truth about baseball. It can (and will) break your heart. Touching greatness isn’t easy; circumstances, skill and luck must all align to achieve it. And when even one of those things is the tiniest bit off-center, you can’t hold on.

These names might not have the overall cachet of those in the perfect game club. Just one Hall of Famer (Pedro) is in this crew, though one hopes to see Mussina eventually enshrined. Max Scherzer is on track to perhaps be there too. There are some very good pitchers (Haddix, Billy Pierce, Dave Stieb) and some journeymen (Tommy Bridges, Ron Robinson, Brian Holman), too. Really, the only thing they have in common is this missed grasp at perfection.

But each of these games is given its own moment in the spotlight; Cox treats every game with the utmost respect and sympathy. The depth of research is significant; he also spoke directly with six of the pitchers. The resulting work goes behind the basics and broadens our perspective; knowing both how these pitchers reached this point and how they proceeded afterward gives us an empathetic entry point. The sports world adores rarity and these almost-perfect games are even more rare than the actual perfect ones. This book is a fascinating look at pitchers whose feats, while essentially footnotes in the history of the game, are nonetheless impressive and worthwhile.

“Almost Perfect” lives up to its subtitle. We celebrate excellence on the diamond, and rightly so. But we should also admire those who couldn’t quite achieve the summit toward which they climbed. Heartbreak is a constant companion in the sports world, the notion of just-missed opportunity. Cox captures that sense, even as the men themselves acknowledge that this is how it goes sometimes in the game that they love.

ALMOST PERFECT by Joe Cox tells the story of 16 major league pitchers and their brush with perfection; each pitcher carried a perfect game until the 27th and last batter and lost it. These men are all different, from Hall of Famers, to fringe players; some early in their career, some one their way out of baseball, and hailing many different domestic and international locales.
Cox does an excellent job of setting the scene for each pitcher; he provides their (and often the pitcher's team's)backstory leading up to the game in question, walks the reader through the game, and then tells not only what happened to the pitcher after their special day, but fills out the story with tidbits surrounding the game, whether its what happened to the team the rest of the season, or about one of the batters in detail, etc. Each chapter is brought to life with myriad of special choices that paint a clear picture of the almost perfect game. While there is no clear relation each pitcher has to one another, for the most part there was a theme I gathered from each story, that while all of the pitchers wanted a perfect game, that most of them were less concerned with not getting it than those around them and they just figured things happen and that's just baseball.
For a baseball fan like me, ALMOST PERFECT was a joy to read. I recommend it to any baseball fan and I think anyone who reads it is reminded that even when life is going great and then falls apart, the best idea to follow is just move on and continue living.

"Because perfection can happen at any time, at any place, to any pitcher. Isn't that part of why we keep coming back to the ballpark? And moreover, isn't it why we keep getting up in the morning? Even in the midst of the most humdrum existence, there exists that possibility that maybe the day comes when all of the breaks come our way, when the road bends under our feet, the sun shines at the right angle, and we do something truly memorable." p. 227

I’m a huge Chicago White Sox fan. That should go without saying. However, I still have a lot to learn about baseball. My immediate family never watched the sport and I didn’t take my fandom seriously until college. But I think I’d still have a lot to learn even if it had played a more dominant role in my childhood because so many unexpected things can happen during a game, not to mention the rarely used rules that come out of nowhere. (I’m looking at you, AJ Perzynski running to 1st base after the ball hit the dirt during ALCS Game 2, may you be forever thanked and praised for knowing such a rule existed.)

One of the more interesting baseball phenomenons is the perfect game. A perfect game consists of 27 consecutive outs, no hits, no errors, no walks, no hit batters, and no catcher's interference. Just thinking about Mark Buehrle’s perfect game in 2009 makes me happy all over again. As of Opening Day 2017, there have been only 21 perfect games.

Before this book, I didn’t know much about the pitchers who came *thisclose* to a perfect game and missed it. My heart went out to the 16 pitchers profiled in Almost Perfect.

While we all look forward to the glory days, most of us are more used to the almosts and the what ifs. I’ve never pitched an inning of baseball but I’ve made mistakes and I’ve been let down by others. Joe Cox does a marvelous job of not only taking us through these games but telling us about the players themselves, from their childhoods to their personal lives to their careers. Even though Major League ballplayers are akin to celebrities (at least to me), they’re also a lot like you and me. They have great days at work and they have bad days at work.

Cox seamlessly wove history into the narrative. Whether it was the rise of TV coverage or integration or simply teams changing cities (did you know the Baltimore Orioles were originally the St. Louis Browns?), Cox showed how the sport was changing and changing us as a result.

I also loved going deeper into these almost perfect games, not an easy feat for such an audiovisual game. Cox keeps the details moving and the chapters center more on the players themselves. One of the most unusual games involved Babe Ruth being ejected from a game in the start of the first inning and Ernie Shore taking over as pitcher. Shore got his 27 outs but because Ruth walked a player, it was ruled a no-hitter. Kind of crazy, right?

I was moved by the chapters on Armando Galarraga and Max Scherzer. Galarraga technically did pitch a perfect game but the umpire Jim Joyce called Jason Donald safe at first base but he messed up the call. At that time, there was no replay for umps and Bud Selig refused to overturn the call. Joyce and Galarraga were a great example of sportsmanship and in 2014, replay was expanded. Scherzer’s brother Alex committed suicide in 2012; 3 years later Scherzer became the 5th pitcher in MLB history to throw 2 no-hitters in a single season. An amazing accomplishment but bittersweet without his brother there to cheer him on and give him pointers.

This book is perfect for baseball fans and those who want to learn more about the game. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the players, as well as the parallels Cox makes between baseball and us.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and Rowan & Litttlefield, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would write a review and post it on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my history book blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested a copy of this book because I am a fan of baseball, the New York Yankees in particular, and the focus of the book appealed to my interest in the game. It is the first book by Joe Cox that I have read.

This book is about the 16 pitchers who came tantilizing close to one of the holy grails of baseball - the perfect game. 27 batters and 27 outs with no one reaching base. The author has done his research and produced a well written and interesting read on the subject. He brings to life the events of the game and what happened to the pitchers afterwards.

I have a personal bias in that I believe that Harvey Haddix should be credited with a perfect game as he pitched 12 perfect innings before losing in the 13th. That is an unheard of accomplishment in the modern era of baseball where a starting pitcher rarely goes beyond 6 or 7 innings.

I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of baseball and is looking for an enjoyable read about those who came close to perfection.

Almost Perfect was a superbly researched book about the 16 almost perfect games in MLB history. I found the writing both enjoyable and informative, and the author did an excellent job of making the reader feel as if they were reliving each game. You could not help but feel sorry for the pitchers (well, maybe not Milt Pappas), and in one case, the umpire, on the loss of perfection. I was familiar with some of these performances, and some I experienced for the first time via this book, yet they all felt new and exciting. Readers will gain new insight into the intensity of remaining perfect, and learn a bit about baseball history along the way as well. This book should be read by all fans of baseball, regardless of your knowledge about the events in this book before beginning your reading journey or agony, triumph and perseverance.

This is a great book for any baseball fan. Almost perfect goes into those games where the pitcher loss the perfect game after getting 26 outs, no walks, errors, perfect. Only on batter number 27 to lose the perfect game but still get the no-hitter. In some cases the game would go past nine innings like Harvey Haddix who pitched into the 12 inning with 36 consecutive outs only to lose the game and give up a hit as well. Overall the stories in this book about each and pitcher are fascinating and not all of them have I heard or read about before. That I what makes this book unique is that each chapter is different, but is still about the same topic. The author does a fabulous job at making each story its own little book inside of a larger one. Together you have truly a wonderful baseball book for any fan male or female. A great read.