Thursday, May 19, 2005

Perfection, Part II

Yesterday, mentioned that I thought a great pitching performance in baseball was as exciting as lots of runs. And that a no-hitter is that to which all pitchers aspire. But, a no-hitter is trumped by a perfect game: no batters reaching first base, for any reason (hit, error, walk, hit batsman, etc).

All that, to tell you what I think is the perfect baseball story:

The wife and I have season tickets to the local minor league team, the Columbus Catfish of the South Atlantic League. That's Class A baseball. Lots of young players, most in their first two or three years of pro ball.

Although I've been a Braves fan for years, I cheer for the Catfish, who are a Dodgers affiliate. If the Braves had an affiliate here, I'd cheer for them. Heck, if the Yankees had the affiliate, I'd still cheer for them. But, the Dodgers have the affiliation with the local team. And there are some pluses to that.

One is that members of the Dodgers organization occasionally come to town. And the local team sits them in good seats. Well, the seats the wife and I have are also good seats.

Last May, Tommy Lasorda made the rounds and stopped in Columbus. When he went to the games, he sat behind us. Actually, one row behind and one seat the the left of the wife, who sits to my left.

With him sitting there, we were able to hear much of the conversation he had with others. Because of a rainout the first night, a double-header was scheduled the next afternoon, May 20, 2004. During the first game of the double-header, we heard Tommy Lasorda tell one story of a player on the Catfish roster at the time.

Tommy Lasorda mentioned that he was traveling through an airport with the Dodgers one time, when a young kid came up to him and said "Mr. Lasorda, I'm going to play ball for you one day." When the young man was asked his hame, he told him "Chuck Tiffany."

He said he'd be looking for him. And, he says he followed the kid's career. And when Chuck was eligible for the draft, he talked the Dodgers into drafting him. And he was looking forward to actually watching him pitch as a member of the Dodgers organization (remember, the Catfish are a Dodger's Class A affiliate).

Chuck Tiffany started game two of the double-header. And, he pitched a no-hitter. And not just a no-hitter. Not the first member of the opposing team reached base.

In front of his hero, in front of Tommy Lasorda, the man Chuck told he wanted to play for, the man who had the Dodgers draft him, Chuck Tiffany pitched a perfect game.

6 comments:

  1. that's a pretty cool story. does Chuck have a shot at making the Majors?

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  2. The only knock any of the scouts seem to have on Chuck is, when he gets behind, he drops his arm and his pitches don't place as well, which leads to more trouble. They say when he gets that under control, he'll be ready to make the jump.

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  3. Chuckie, along with God-given ability, has one thing that will always go in his when a problem arises.......his head. He's smart enough to know he doesn't know everything and he's dedicated enough to respect the game by playing it right. He has the head of a major league pitcher. Give him time.....he's coming to the show soon.

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  4. I'm looking forward to seeing him pitch again. At the Major League Level would be great!

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  5. I stumbled onto this story looking to see how Chuckie is doing in the minors... This is a great story about a great guy.. it just so happens I had the pleasure of playing with and against Chuckie as a kid. During the winter we played ball together and during the spring we played against eachother always Charter oak vs. West Covina when we were kids it was a great rivalry. He is competitive on the field and humble off the field I got to know him well as a kid and i hope the best for him...

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  6. It was great fun watching him pitch here. He did well at Vero Beach. Not sure if he'll make the jump to Jacksonville or Las Vegas next year. There are lots of good pitchers in the Dodgers minor league system, but he's one of the best.

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