…to a nicer really tall 40-year-old ex-Seattleite whom I once met at the Crocodile: The Big Unit threw a perfect game.

For the baseball-impaired, an explanation: In bowling, a perfect game is when everything happens. In baseball, a perfect game is when nothing happens. The starting pitcher gives up no runs, no hits, no walks, no hit batters, no opposing players on base for any reason. In the 100-some years of Major League Baseball, it’s only happened 17 times. The last time was five years ago.

Perfect games are a subset of the slightly less exclusive statistic known as no-hit games. Johnson pitched one of those for the Mariners, way back in 1990. Few pitchers ever achieve one of those, let alone two.