For King and County: The Depressing Awesomeness of Felix Hernandez’s Perfect Game

Perfect games are rare. 23 ever. That’s it. And so, when Felix Hernandez finished the final of his 27 outs on Wednesday afternoon at Safeco Field, and the Seattle Mariners picked up their first ever individual record of the sort – yea, Randy Johnson never did it, not for the Mariners, at least – it was worthy of a celebratory toast for both the stud pitcher and his adopted hometown.

Seattle needs this. Their sports history is even more dotted and depressing than Vancouver’s – their sister city to the north – but it’s perhaps worse in the sense that their only ever championship team, the Seattle SuperSonics, are now heading up a potential dynasty in Oklahoma City. The Seahawks are historically brutal, their only Super Bowl appearance in XV (2006) ruined by referees who seemed determined to give Pittsburgh their then-record fifth title.

So, this is big. For Seattle. And, the Mariners blow. If you’re going to buy a jersey, the only guy you’ll consider is Felix, aside from retro beauts like Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro, and Edgar Martinez.

(*The only way to measure the success of a team is by measuring the ease of buying jersey quality players. If you have to order it from some obscure eBay user, you could be doing better.)

And then, there’s the man himself, that perfect numero 34, who continues to be the one bright spot in a lineup that is as impotent as it is emerald.

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“Why is Everyone So Hard on Seattle?” – White Cover Magazine (Aug. 8, 2012)

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Felix has his personal record, and the Mariners and their fans can now live with another measure of glory, even without a World Series. They’ll have to lose him eventually, even if he doesn’t want to go. This team is on the road to nowhere, save for some kind of Billy Beane-ish offseason that is surely not on the way.

One day, King Felix will leave King County. He’ll take his throne to another town, like Roy did to Toronto and every great man has done to the others before them. Even Greinke in Kansas City, Sabathia in Milwaukee and Cleveland… the eagles always leave the nest one day.

So, yes, he’ll go, and this will all be ceremonial. But, today, the city gets to celebrate and – in an even rarer occurrence – America is paying attention to Seattle.