On judgment day, when all our deeds are scrutinized, our failures will be indefensible for God has given us the resources to succeed (II Peter 1.3), and has managed our challenges so that they are not more than we are able to bear (I Corinthians 10.13). Once you start slapping on asterisks, where do you stop? We can point to almost any human achievement and find elements of advantage, coincidence, and dumb luck that made it possible. The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all (9.11). Others argue that Babe Ruth had plenty of chemicals in his veins back in the day, although I don’t think alcohol and nicotine ever enhanced anyone’s performance. Many believe Barry Bonds should have an asterisk next to his career and single season home run records since he almost certainly used performance enhancing drugs. Some say Emit Smith, and Walter Peyton before him should have an asterisk next to their records for career rushing yards since they played 14 and 16 game seasons, while Jim Brown played 12 game seasons. Some purists try to put an asterisk next to just about every name in the record books. Of course every Providence batter squinted into the same sun, and they still managed to score 5 runs – but some think this unfair advantage diminishes Ward’s accomplishment.** Because the start time of the game had been moved up from 3:30 pm to11:00 am to allow for an afternoon event, every batter Ward faced was looking squarely into the sun. Some purists believe there should be an asterisk by Ward’s name. Another perfect game would not be pitched until Cy Young shut down Philadelphia on May 5th, 1904.
He pitched it just five days after the first perfect game was pitched by J.
John Montgomery Ward (yes, of those Montgomery Wards) pitched the second perfect game in Major League Baseball history on J– 137 years ago – a 5-0 victory for Providence over Buffalo.
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