June 17

John Ward threw the second perfect game in Major League Baseball history on June 17, 1880. The first came just five days before. The next National League perfect game didn't come until 80 years later when Jim Bunning dropped a perfecto on the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Maybe you remember June 17 it as the day O.J. was chased along the L.A. freeway. Or if you're tight with Dave Concepcion, you'll remember to send him birthday wishes. On that day mid-summer, Bostonians are thinking about Kevin Garnett's "anything is possible" celebration after winning the NBA Finals. If you like the Nets, Spurs, Pacers or Nuggets, your teams also deserve a "Happy Birthday" as they were brought into the league on that date in 1976.

You get the picture. A lot of crap happened in sports on June 17. I look at the calender to remember important dates like my family's birthdays, my anniversary with my girlfriend and when bills I can't pay were due. I don't think about dates in sports very often. The one that sticks out the most is July 18. I wrote down the date on a blue note card immediately after watching David Cone toss a perfect game against the Expos. But, July 18 could go by 20 years in a row without it coming to mind.

However, when June 17 comes this year, I will remember that date forever after. No, I'm not getting married. But in a sense, I'm beginning a relationship I hope to last forever. Me and baseball. Broadcaster and game. June 17 is my first game doing play-by-play for the Batavia Muckdogs, single-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Calling any sporting event is exciting. There's a natural energy that you don't always pick up on as a fan. The 3...2...1 in your headphones. The nervousness about pronouncing a name correctly or interjecting the right anecdote or fact at the right time. The anticipation leading up to the first drop of the puck or swing of a kicker's leg. You never know what can happen. The first pitch will have a different feel, though.

Don't get me wrong, hockey and football are fine sports to announce. You practice all day how you're going to say "he scoreeeeees!" or "intercepted!" But, June 17 will be more than an exciting exercise. It will be reconnecting the with the game I've lost touch with since ending my college baseball career in 2005.

Sure, I've attended hundreds of baseball games since. I've studied thousands of statistics and written a bunch of articles for Biz of Baseball and VenuesToday magazine about America's game. What I've been missing, really, is being a part of the game.

From the booth, I'll still miss being on the mound. Every time I watch Felix Hernandez or Roy Halladay pitch, I feel the two-seemer in my finger tips. When a batter swings through, I do a little fist pump - you know, the one as a pitcher you learn to do inside your head so as not to show up any one. It won't be anything like doing that from the mound. It will - at least - be doing it as part of the team.

When I ended my college baseball career - if you can even call it that - I didn't think I'd miss my teammates.  Maybe I don't miss those guys, but I've missed having teammates. Learning their stories, coming in contact with so many different personalities and simply standing in the sun talking about baseball. And, baseball players - maybe only second to golfers in all of sports - have great stories. In baseball, you don't just have 25 teammates, you have 25 teammates who have stories about their last 25 teammates.

There's another aspect to this special day: June 17 will be the day many of the players remember as their first professional at-bat. The first "plate appearance" that puts them in baseball's books forever. June 17, the day they were paid to be in a box score. The first step in a staircase that could lead to a door with a $25 million contract behind it.

Ryan Howard played for the Batavia Muckdogs. So did Chase Utley. Maybe June 17 I can be up in the box pumping the fist in my imagination to strikeouts of the next great Major League Baseball player. How could anyone forget that day?