#NerdsUnite: Play on playa! (Breaking down the world of sports so you don't have to!)
<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Derek - I met him when I was professor for a day at CSUF. Really rad dude, and he wants to come on board to help explain to us nerdy folk the wild world of sports. Smart dude, and knows his shizzy shiznat. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT DEREK!!!</editorsnote>
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @DerekJ_AllDay
Good day young'ns! Let's just jump into this one shall we? Here we go! Respecting your elders might always be a good rule of thumb to live by, but this may never be more true when applying it to your local 49-year old Major League baseball player, Jamie Moyer. Last Tuesday, this elderly starting pitcher for the Colorado Rockies won his first game of the 2012 season and also set the record as the oldest pitcher in history to record a win. This has to be one of the most mind blowing records in sports. This man was almost 50 years old when he beat a MLB team full of 20-30 year old professional athletes, and he has been doing it for 26 years. He became most famous with the Mariners since that was the team that he stuck with the longest, but he was truly a journeyman. So far over the span of his career he has played for 8 different teams, and he has won 268 games which puts him only 32 wins short of the epic goal of 300 wins.
There was a lot of conversation not that long ago about the next person who would win 300 games, but more interestingly it was the popular opinion that nobody would ever reach it again. Only 24 people have reached that mark in the history of the game! Organizations in MLB have started treating their pitchers much differently than in the past, and because of this there really isn't a realistic way for a player to start his career today and have a chance to reach 300 wins. More to the point, this means that it is very likely that Jamie Moyer is our last chance to see a Major League pitcher join the 300 club.
HOW COOL IS THAT?! No sport has as much history or tradition as baseball, and when you watch Jamie Moyer pitch you are literally watching history in motion. Every pitch he throws is potentially moving him closer and closer to becoming peers with legends like Cy Young, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens and Tom Glavine. Although, to be fair to Cy Young, he won 511 games. Like I mentioned earlier those were very different times.
If you would like to learn a lesson out of this...you should tell yourself that if a 50 year old crispy could continue to be a professional athlete, then you really don't have an excuse. Haha
For as long as Jamie Moyer has been around, there is one thing that 29 year old starting pitcher for the White Sox has on him, and that is a perfect game. This is because last Saturday he threw a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners! For those who struggle with the term “perfect,” it's pretty simple. As a starting pitcher, he pitched the entire game and did not give up a hit or a walk (did not allow a single baserunner). In other words, he pitched and got 27 straight outs without any interruption. Is a lot of luck involved in this? Absolutely! That's why I'm not going to spend an hour writing about it, but that does not change the fact that he is one of only 21 others to record a perfect game. This kid gets to go down in the record books forever, and his name will be listed along with the legends of baseball history. All I have to say is good for him!
Thanks for reading again guys! Man, I cannot wait for summer break! School has truly been killing me this semester, and the stress level needs to go down! Hope all of you are hanging in there! Don't forget to tweet me @DerekJ_AllDay with any comments regarding sports or your daily nerd talk. Talk to you next week.