term “perfect game” used in baseball in general when talking about the team’s pitcher. John Paciorek was not a pitcher but it’s enough so fitting to talk about a perfect match when the name John Paciorek mentioned. On 29th September 1963, he came to write himself into the history books thanks to an unprecedented perfection. Right there and then it was probably many who suspected that they were witnessing something great but for the wrong reason. The then 18-year-old Paciorek made its debut in the top league with the Houston Colt .45 s (now the Houston Astros) in the season’s last game when the team came up with several young players to showcase their future players.
how was the debut? Well it went brilliantly. Paciorek went up to hit five times, including three times resulted in a hit, the other two ended with him having to go to first base after four unsuccessful throw from New York Mets pitcher. Points-wise, he contributed to run into four points himself while his kind allowed three teammates to run into points (RBI). Many in the audience sensed enough of a future star in the club, and before his last battle Paciorek got a standing ovation.
something big had just happened, we can retrospectively confirm but it was not because it was the beginning of a long and successful career. Pacioreks debut also came sadly to be his last match in the top division. Injuries prevented him from ever getting up from the lower divisions, and thus ended his career with perfect stats. He met 100% of their shots and he even reached first base 100% of the time. A really good player hits about 33% of the balls in today’s MLB. The legendary Babe Ruth averaged 34% during his career.
Performance-wise, this is one of the better matches of a player and since it was Pacioreks single match, his average statistics say the least impressive. Even for a player who only played a single match he’s statistics really good. Pacioreks match was perfect and all the one hit wonders, the question of not just Paciorek is first, at least in baseball.
Paciorek had always aimed to reach the stars in the sport and it is very possible that he could get there. He trained extremely hard to be the best but fate wanted otherwise. Shortly before his big match, he suffered a shoulder injury and later also began his back hurt. When the season was over for his regular team Modesto Colts in the lower divisions, he returned to Houston to check on their injuries. It was found that Pacioreks sciatic nerve is jammed due to a congenital problem. Vila was said to be the best medicine that was not for the hard-training Paciorek. It was also associated with medical consultation as Houston gave him the chance to play their last game of the season.
Spring 64 was Pacioreks hope that he would take a seat in Houston but back pain put a stop to it. Paciorek was again playing in farm team where it was pitiful. He met only 13% of strokes and finally forced him to refrain from gambling and operate the back. It took until 1966 before Paciorek could again try to play again but it was not much better in terms of results and in addition to back problems began even his shoulder to make trouble. Houston saw no future for Paciorek released him from the organization.
1968 Paciorek got one last chance in the Indians organization, and it looked promising for a while but in the beginning of 1969 season he tore off his Achilles tendon and even Indians broke with him. Unfortunately, this was the end of Pacioreks career in baseball, but he can still boast of having performed better than most at the highest level. Now Paciorek more humble than that and noted the need to see the whole thing with a little perspective. Had just the game was not the last of the season, he had probably been even play the next game that probably had not done quite so well. Paciorek is not bitter that his career ended when he was only 24 years old and is proud of his performance even though he is not as impressed as many others seem to be his match in the spotlight.
Most so-called one-hit wonders in the world of sports tend to be known that they fired a shot and scored a goal in his entire career, and thus ended up with one hundred percent statistic. What makes Paciorek special is that he was a fantastic performance by an entire match and thus he proved that he happened to be lucky only once at a random point in a match, and moreover it was in his debut in the world’s best league. It may be hard to talk about continuity of only one match but in the category of one hit wonders have enough Paciorek more continuity than most athletes.
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