Images from 2012…

There were three perfect games this season, a record, but perhaps the most unexpected was the first one, by Phil Humber. He no-hit the Mariners in April. He’s somewhere underneath his teammates in the picture below.

(Photo by Blake Handley, used under a Creative Commons license.)

What’s amazing about this, despite the fact that every perfect game is unexpected, was that both before this game and after it, Humber had been unexceptional. In fact, by the end of the season, he was an afterthought with a 6.44 ERA who was let go by the White Sox at season’s end. Sports Illustrated noted that this made him the pitcher with the worst ERA in the league with at least 100 IP this season.
He’ll try to resurrect his career next season in Houston. But no matter what happens, he will always have that April day against Seattle, where he saw 27 come up, and sent all 27 down.