Benetti: Buehrle was the kind of special no one expected
On our telecast Saturday, Steve Stone and I shared our favorite memories of Mark Buehrle's White Sox career. His number was retired this weekend at Guaranteed Rate Field, if you haven't encountered that bit of information.
There were so many instances of 56 in your program showing his doggedness, his care for the game and his sheer joy for life that I felt compelled to select something he actually did on the field. He detailed some of these windows into his soul on the website The Players' Tribune on Friday including his perfect game and subsequent call from President Barack Obama, his friendship with maintenance workers in the ballpark and his liquid intake before his World Series Game 3 save in 2005.
But, the most remarkable moment of Mark Buehrle's career happened by phone, when he was drafted in the 38th round of 1998. In the pick of all of America's schoolyards in '98, Mark Buehrle was selected 1139th.
That year, 30 players were drafted in the 38th round. Four made it to the major leagues.
Those other three players - Tommy Watkins, Trey Hodges and Dennis Tankersley - entered 92 combined major-league games over the course of their careers. According to baseball-reference.com, the combined WAR for the four major-leaguers in the 38th round that year is 56.7. Buehrle accounts for 58.5 (the other three players were net negative).
Here's how rare Mark Buehrle is: 22 players from the entire decade of the 1990s made it to the majors after being drafted in the 38th round (this only counts Tankersley once; he was drafted in two 38th rounds). The total bWAR of those players (again, only counting Tankersley once) is 112.9.
Using bWAR, Mark Buehrle is 51.8 percent of the production from the 38th rounds of the MLB draft in the 1990s.
Even that underestimates how rare Buehrle is in terms of the draft and the decade around him.
Four other players in the 1990s 38th rounds make up 54.7 of the remaining 1990s bWAR. They are Gary Matthews (1992), Eric Byrnes (1994), Scot Shields (1997) and Rich Harden (1999).
Matthews, Byrnes and Harden were all re-drafted in a year after their 38th round selection. Gary Matthews never played for the Twins. Eric Byrnes didn't put on Dodger blue. And Rich Harden never was a Seattle Mariner.
Of the 10-plus WAR guys in the 1990s, only Scot Shields - drafted and signed by the Angels - played for the team which took him in the 38th round. And Buehrle.
The man is exceptional in a lot of ways - his approachability, his demeanor and his left arm are a few. His draft status put him into the "afterthought" category. And for anyone who's ever felt the feeling of being on the margin - most of us have, I'd wager - he provides great hope.
Mark Buehrle was one of us even while he was better at what he chose to do in life than many of us will ever be. And for being both Everyman and Superman all at once, #56 on the South Side will be Mark Buehrle's forever.
• Jason Benetti is a play-by-play broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox, as well as ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @jasonbenetti