What can be said about Philip Humber that has not already be said? He's apparently a great guy, a quiet assassin, who goes to work, does his job and goes home. He is a family man and a man who loves God. His wife is 9 months pregnant, so soon he will be a father. Before yesterday, I am sure many casual fans had no idea who Philip Humber was. Now, they all know.
So who is Philip Humber, beyond "Starting Pitcher for the White Sox who threw a perfect game."?? He was born in Nacogdoches, TX and spent his whole life in Texas. He attended Rice University, a traditional college baseball powerhouse. There, he became an instant star as a freshman. Along with Jeff Niemann (Current Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher), they would win the 2003 College World Series. Humber pitched a complete game in the final game of the series, a 14-2 victory.
Humber eventually signed with the team, and was quickly sent down to Single-A. After not pitching very well in Single-A(2-6, 4.99 ERA) he was actually promoted to Double-A. He left a game in the middle of the year with elbow soreness, and found out he would have to have Tommy John Surgery. He came back 377 days later and pitched a few more games for Double-A. Then, he was promoted to the Major Leagues and made an appearance on September 24th, 2006. He gave up no runs in one inning of relief; the same result in his other appearance on the 27th.
His rocky road with the Mets finally ended on February 2nd, 2008, when he was traded to the Minnesota Twins along with Carlos Gomez for Johan Santana. He mostly pitched for Triple-A in 2008, but made 5 relief appearances for the Twins, posting slightly below average numbers. Humber struggled out of the gate in 2009, and the Twins designated him for assignment on April 17th.
Humber found himself out of baseball, an almost unimaginable thing for a man who had had nothing but success for most of his life. He would have to wait until December, when Kansas City came calling. Phil found himself on Triple-A for the club to start the year. On June 10th, 2010, he was struck in the face by a ball hit back up the middle. He would lay on the ground for a few minutes, before eventually being taken to the hospital. He was good to go by August when he was called up to the Royals.
He made a start against the White Sox on August 21st, and pitched 5.2IP, allowing 5ER. The White Sox blew a 5-1 lead and eventually lost in 11 innings, giving Humber the no decision. Humber went back to the pen for the rest of the season, earning 2 wins and 1 loss and mostly pitching well. In December, the Royals decided to waive him, and he was picked up by Oakland. Oakland waived him less than a month later, and on January 18th, 2011, he was signed to a minor league contract by the Chicago White Sox.
Don Cooper, White Sox pitching coach, is notorious for being able to "fix" problems in pitchers with talent who may have developed or not been taught how to see their flaws. He turned around Jose Contreras, Esteban Loaiza and Matt Thornton. These were all talented pitchers who just needed to have their flaws mapped out and fixed. In the case of Loaiza, he needed to be taught another pitch to become a successful pitcher. Don taught him a cut fastball and he dominated the 2003 season.
Humber spent time with Cooper and Cooper immediately realized that Humber's cut fastball was not ML-material and told him to immediately scrap that and learn a slider. They worked to develop his slider into ML-calibur stuff, and he felt confident coming into the 2011 season behind his new pitch and mentor.
Humber made the 25-man roster and made two relief appearances, one on April 3rd that was not very good. He made his first start on April 9th. He came out firing, as he went 6IP allowing just 1 run and striking out 4. He made one of his best starts of the season on April 25th, at New York. He threw 7 shutout innings and only gave up 1 hit while striking out 5 in a 2-0 White Sox victory. He had promise and his slider was definitely working for him. He went on to have an up and down year, really struggling the last few months. He finished 2011 with a 9-9 record and a 3.75 ERA in 163 innings (26 starts).
Coming into 2012, many Sox fans felt he had promise as a good starter this year. In his first start, he had a nice performance: 5.1IP, 1 ER, 7 Ks. He would not get the win however because the bullpen failed to hold down the win and would go on to give up 9 runs in a 10-4 loss. Humber was supposed to start prior to this against Cleveland but his game would be rained out, pushing his first start back five games.
When Humber was 11 years old, a family friend named Robert Ellis took him to Florida to attend the White Sox Spring Training. This was in 1994, when the White Sox would field one of their best lineups ever, including current White Sox manager Robin Ventura. I am not sure what affect this had on him, or if he feels any special bond with the White Sox organization because of this. Whatever is going on with Humber since he has joined the Sox, he has come alive. He is finally pitching like a high draft pick. He is having a level of success that would match his expecations from the past. It has been really great to watch.
Then, Humber made what appeared to be an ordinary start on April 21st, 2012. He probably went through all his pregame routines as he always had before, stretching, getting loose and throwing in the bullpen. The Mariners were not a great hitting ball club, but they could get on base. Their trouble was scoring runs. Humber seemed to have a good shot at a win that day.
After getting through the lineup once, Humber looked to be in cruise control. He was striking guys out, getting a lot of flyouts and sprinkling in some routine grounders. Nothing had looked difficult in the least, except maybe a half-leaping catch by Rios in right. Before you knew it, the White Sox were up 3-0 and it was the 7th inning. At that point, you have to start thinking about it, even if you want to push it far out of your mind and focus on the win.
Humber got through the seventh rather easily, and it started to become even more exciting. The eighth inning was not especially diffcult by result, although I am sure his heart was racing. He made it look easy. When the ninth inning rolled around, it must have finally gotten to him if only a little. In the first at bat, he threw three straight balls. At 3-0, he threw a good pitch for a strike. He managed to come back and strike out Saunders. Jaso sent a high, but easy flyball to right for the second out.
The last batter, Brendan Ryan, pinch hit for Kawasaki. He gave Humber his most trouble of the game, working a 3-2 count. He fouled off the sixth pitch. On the seventh pitch, Humber threw a fastball a bit outside and it deflected off of the glove of AJ Pierzynski. The umpire ruled that Ryan had swung, although Ryan contended that he held up his check swing for what he thought should have been a ball four. Ryan's displeasure caused him not to run out of the box, giving AJ plenty of time to run after the ball and throw it to Konerko to finish off Humber's perfect game. A perfect game; all zeros.
This was just the 21st perfect game in MLB history. He threw just 96 pitches and recorded 9 strikeouts. In my opinion, his perfect game looked better than Buehrle's, if you want to compare perfect games against each other. Humber didn't need any huge plays from his defense, just big pitches from himself, especially the 9th inning. This was his first ever complete game, his first shutout. In a strange twist to the plot, Humber became the seventh former Mets pitcher to throw a no hitter/perfect game. No pitcher has ever thrown a no hitter as a Met. That seems fitting.
Philip Humber has finally gotten himself to the place that equals his draft position. He has finally fulfilled his expecations. Humber is a really good guy who has really had to work hard to get here. Harder than anyone could have imagined for a guy who was so talented out of Rice. Many top prospects end up as busts, and I am sure more than a few analysts had felt Humber a bust just before 2011.
The culmination of determination, hard work, belief in himself and a good mentor in Cooper all came together to give him this moment. It's a great story, to see him succeeding, and let's hope the story is still unfolding and nowhere near the end. Even if he does go on to just be a guy who pitched a few good seasons for the White Sox, he will always have April 21st, 2012, and he deserves that. The fans will never forget, and his name will be remembered in the record books forever. He is not just a White Sox legend, but a legend in all of MLB history.
Before I end, I just want to give a shout out to the Mariners fans yesterday. They did the classy thing yesterday, and that was cheering for Humber during the 9th inning. I heard it from the broadcast and spoke with fans who were in attendance yesterday that said it was true. Your class was on display yesterday, and I applaud you all.
