Cleveland's Finest. Vince McKee

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СКАЧАТЬ of the infield this time, but right into the glove of left fielder Joe Charboneau. Barker recorded his first strikeout of the game by getting Lloyd Moseby to swing and miss. It was quickly followed by another strikeout by Bell. Twelve Toronto batters had come to the plate, and each one had failed to reach base.

      A quick bottom of the fourth didn’t give Barker too much time to rest between innings, but it also kept him from getting cold. Leading off the top of the fifth was cleanup hitter Mayberry, who became yet another strikeout victim, the third in a row and all swinging. After an Upshaw foul ball fly out to third base, and another strikeout, this time by Garcia, to close out the top half of the inning, Barker was more than halfway through the perfecto. During the bottom of the fifth, Orta hit a two-out single only to get thrown out at second while trying to steal with Hargrove at bat. Bosetti led off the top of the sixth by grounding out to second-baseman Duane Kuiper. Danny Ainge and Buck Martinez followed with back-to-back strikeouts; they both went down swinging. Barker had earned every one of his strikeouts that same way, as his pitching arsenal appeared to be more and more unhittable inning after inning.

      The Indians continued to make things interesting by trying to add to their lead in the bottom of the sixth. They had hits by both Hargrove and Harrah. Leal managed to strand both runners on base by forcing fly outs from Thornton and Hassey. He followed that with a ground out from Charboneau that closed out the inning and kept Cleveland still ahead 2–0.

      With 18 outs down and only 9 more to go, the chance of a perfect game entered everyone’s minds—even Barker’s. He disclosed when he felt that he could be pitching a perfect game: “After the seventh inning, and then truly in the ninth inning, that’s when I went out there and knew my pitches were working. I still had great command of them, and the Blue Jays couldn’t hit them.” The once unlikely feat was now suddenly possible, even close enough to hope for. Barker wasted no time in getting Griffin to ground out to start off the seventh inning. Barker then took matters into his own hands by getting both Moseby and Bell to strike out swinging. Barker was red-hot as he now set down 21 batters in order. All of his strikeouts resulted from Toronto batters swinging. Barker was in full command of all of his pitches and headed toward a perfect game. Barker didn’t have time to think about a perfect game too much, though, because again the Indians went down in order to close out the seventh. With the top of the eighth inning on tap, the Cleveland Indians were beating the Toronto Blue Jays 2–0. But the real story was that starting pitcher Lenny Barker was now a mere six outs away from tossing a perfect game.

      For the third time that evening, Mayberry went down swinging. With just five outs to go, the 7,290 fans in attendance at the Cleveland Municipal Stadium roared at every pitch as if there were ten times that number of fans present. The atmosphere became intense and exciting as Barker closed in on what only a few hours earlier seemed impossible to imagine. After an Upshaw ground out to second-baseman Kuiper, the crowd began to sense magic in the air. When Garcia struck out swinging to close out the top of the eighth inning, the Indians crowd roared again with excitement, because the team was just three outs away from seeing baseball history.

      Orta, perhaps filled with adrenaline from a possible perfect game, started off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run off of relief pitcher Leal. It was an insurance run that brought the score to 3–0. Barker had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief before taking the mound at the top of the ninth. When Barker walked to the mound in the top of the ninth inning, he was no longer just another major league player—he was a man just moments away from achieving baseball immortality. He was on the verge of pitching only the tenth perfect game in major league baseball history. He was no longer the hard-throwing righty that the Texas Rangers had sent away after early control problems: Barker was a man on a mission and no one was going to stop him from achieving it. He was so focused that he didn’t think of the possibility of Toronto laying down a bunt in the ninth inning, “It didn’t cross my mind. I had a no-hitter going against the White Sox once when their leadoff hitter bunted to reach base to start the seventh inning. The next time he came to bat, I drilled him. That is part of baseball.”

      Bosetti completed his 0–3 night with a foul ball pop out to the left side of the infield to start the ninth. Desperate to try anything to break up the no hitter, Blue Jays manager Bobby Mattick chose pinch hitter Al Woods to bat for Danny Ainge. The move proved futile—Woods also struck out swinging, giving Barker his 11th strikeout of the game. When Mattick then substituted Buck Martinez for Ernie Whitt, it was his last move. The tension in the crowd and the fans watching at home was thick. Barker had come so far and everyone knew they were just seconds away from witnessing history. Barker forced Whitt to fly out to center fielder (and current Indians television broadcaster) Rick Manning. The perfect game was complete, and the city of Cleveland erupted in joy and pride for their beloved starter.

      Vince with perfect-game hurler Lenny Barker

      The crowd went wild with excitement after the last out of the perfect game. Barker had just pitched only the tenth perfect game in Major League Baseball history. His teammates stormed the field to greet him in celebration. How did the perfect-gamer celebrate? Barker described it as a pretty low-key affair: “We went back to my condo back in Parma and we celebrated for a while. We were on the game of the week the next day, which was an early day game, so some of us celebrated longer than others.” It took a few days for the great accomplishment of the game to sink in for Barker: “It pretty much set in a couple of days later when I started thinking about it. Everyone was waiting to see if I could do it again. It was never in the back of my mind, as I believe the next game I threw a three hitter only to lose 3–0 because all three hits were solo home runs. So it was back to reality real quick because that is what the major leagues does to you.” Out of the 104 pitches that Barker threw that perfect night, 84 of them were strikes:

      I always had a good curveball and threw it hard, but that night I was able to throw it over the plate with ease. I just had such good control over it, and Hassey and I were able to realize it quickly. That night we threw more curveballs, as I would normally throw mostly fastballs. It was just knowing that when you get something working well that you don’t change it. They were trying to hit the ball because every strikeout was swinging. My concentration was unbelievable that night, and my confidence was high from having a good season thus far. The whole staff was having a great year until the work stoppage. That night belonged to my curveball because I could throw it anywhere and they weren’t hitting it.

      Barker only made one adjustment to his pitching during the game, stating, “I threw one changeup that Mayberry hit for a line drive out, so we got rid of that pitch and stuck to the fastball and curve.” After Rick Manning caught the last out and Barker had achieved the perfect game, he described the feeling in detail:

      All the air was sucked out of my body as I took a big sigh of relief that it was over. I felt like a 1,000-pound weight was lifted off my shoulders. It was one of the best feelings I have ever had in my life, besides having my children. It was a tremendous feeling having all my teammates celebrate with me. In the clubhouse, they rolled out a whole lane of towels leading up to my locker filled with Champagne. It was a great feeling not just for me but for my teammates as we all celebrated. Everyone was so much a part of it back then because of the loyalty from the city and players. Cleveland had so many negative things said about them that it was nice to have our team in first place and then have the perfect game to go along with it. It was something that hadn’t been done in a long time, and for it to happen in Cleveland was great for the city and for everyone as we all shared in it. It wasn’t just my game, it was everyone’s!

      CHAPTER FIVE

      The Orange and Blue Era

      “Show people how to have success and then you can push their expectations up.”

       —Lenny Wilkens

      The СКАЧАТЬ