Perfect Game - David Cone
Now we reach the awkward point of the Perfect Game series, where I cover a game that took place during the official Showdown era. Most players involved have cards, so what do I do? Well, not *every* player in that game got a Showdown card, so I can fix that, but some notable players involved can't be avoided (like Cone himself, who was chosen as one of the holo cards for the starter set). So here I'll make a few exceptions for those few notable men and give them "special" pennant race variants.
Most pitchers know better than to strive to pitch a No-Hitter. Sure, they can start each game fresh, thinking they can retire every hitter, but once that first baserunner reaches, it's a forgotten worry. No so with David Cone, who obsessed over the notion that he could etch his name into history. There were several notable close calls for Cone in which circumstances or poor luck got in the way, and each instance was maddening to him. And while the vast majority of pitchers can retire without a No-No to their name and still sleep at night, David Cone saw it as some sort of personal failure on his part.
While fate seemed to have conspired against David before, at Yankee Stadium on July 18, 1999, it seemed to smile upon him. It was ominous already when the Yankees celebrated Yogi Berra day and brought in Don Larsen to throw the first pitch to him so they could recreate the iconic final pitch from the World Series perfect game. Afterwards there was a game to play against the Montreal Expos and it seemed Cone took the perfect game reenactment beyond the first pitch ceremony.
Things just couldn't be too easy for Cone, however, when a rain delay stopped the game in the 3rd inning for over half an hour. Usually when rain delays happen nowadays, a Manager is quick to go to the bullpen since the idea of an extended break for their pitcher might mean he risks a catastrophic injury if he's allowed to go back out there...not so the case with David Cone (or Montreal's Javy Vazquez for that matter) and Coney went right back to dicing up Expos hitters like it were a AAA rehab start.
Behind a 5 run 2nd inning, the Yankees were coasting their way to a 6-0 win, but Cone was fighting history at this point. Late in the game in between innings, Cone would head to the bathroom to stare in the mirror and psych himself up, literally telling himself "This is your last chance." Cone struck a guy out to start the 9th inning, then gave up a fly ball that headed for disaster; Leftfielder Rickey Ledee lost the ball in the sun and miraculously found it again just in time for out #2. The final batter hit a soft popup off 3rd base, and as the ball settled into the glove of Scott Brosius, Cone was on his knees with Joe Girardi and the other Yankees rushing to embrace him.
