Mark Buehrle succeeded in pitching a perfect game in Chicago facing the minimum of 27 batters and retiring each one of them even though he needed some ninth inning heroics from a late inning defensive replacement, centerfielder DeWayne Wise. The first batter in the top of the ninth, Gabe Kapler connected on a pitch and drove it towards the fence in left-center. Wise sprinted toward the same fence with what seemed to be about a dozen strides and at the last minute jumped and extended his right arm above the 8-foot wall. He was able to reach the ball and he grabbed it in the webbing of his glove, but as he was falling, the ball popped out of his glove momentarily as he ricocheted off the wall, stumbling on the warning track, and nearly lost it. But, Wise then grabbed it with his bare left hand and fell to the ground and rolled.. He then bounced back up to his feet, proudly displaying the ball for the crowd, and the umpires. What could have been a home run sudddenly became a long out. With this biggest threat behind him, Buehrle calmly finished off the just the 18th perfect game in major league history, and only the 16th since the modern era began in 1900, and the 2nd no-hitter in his career, by mowing down the last two batters. President Barack Obama, a White Sox fan, made the congratulatory call to the pitcher after the game. Obama had worn a White Sox jacket when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the All Star game in St. Louis just last week. He told Buehrle that it's an honor to know him and that a lot of people are going to remember this forever. By: Frank Bilotta
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