Mark Buehrle

Left-hander Mark Buehrle pitched in 518 games, starting 493 of them, over a 15-year career. He finished his career with a 214-160 career record with a 3.81 ERA and 1,870 strikeouts in 3,283⅓ innings pitched. Buehrle was a five-time All-Star, and won four Gold Gloves and one World Series championship. He pitched two no-hitters, one of them a perfect game.

Mark Alan Buehrle was born on March 23, 1979, in St. Charles, Missouri to John and Pat Buehrle. John was an ex-Marine who became a paramedic, then the manager of the St. Charles City Water Department. Pat worked in the lunchroom at Barnwell Junior High, where her children attended school. Mark was the youngest of the three boys; they had a younger sister. St. Charles is about 30 minutes northwest of Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis. Mark grew up rooting for the Cardinals, watching them make the World Series three times before he turned 9 years old and admiring pitchers John Tudor and Joe Magrane, both lefties, and closer Todd Worrell, who was his favorite even though he threw right-handed.

Buehrle played a lot of baseball in his youth. “Just like any kid playing baseball, I loved everything about it,” he said. “Waiting for school to end to get dressed into the uniform and get out on the field. I just really enjoyed the competition involved with it.”1

Unlike most kids, Buehrle had superior control. His sister, Amy Buehrle English, fondly remembered:

A story I’ve heard a lot my whole life is when he was like one or two (years old), my parents took him to a church picnic or fair. He played one of those games where you throw a ball and knock something over. He just sat there and threw the ball over and over and over hitting the target each time. People would stop to watch because he was so young and so good. So, I’m pretty sure it was known since he was little that he would be a great ballplayer.2

His control even impressed 1983 Cy Young Award winner John Denny, who agreed to coach him privately. Denny was drafted by the Cardinals in 1970 and was a starting pitcher for them for five seasons before being traded to Cleveland.

In an era before travel ball, the first real test a young man will pass is to make his high-school baseball team. However, Buehrle did not make his freshman baseball team at Francis Howell North high school.

English teacher Neil Berry was the freshman baseball coach. He explained: “The only thing I can tell you is that FHN had a program wide pitching coach who loved Mark from his first day as a freshman. I remember his evaluation of Mark was glowing, and he was so impressed that Mark had pinpoint accuracy. The problem was that he was only 5 feet tall and his pitches were hit back harder than he threw them. The reason he didn’t make the team as a freshman was that he was a pitcher only and threw batting practice speed. He also had a bit of an attitude problem as a freshman.”3

Buehrle tried out again his sophomore year, but still did not make the team even with the new coaching from John Denny. “After I got cut those first two years, I pretty much decided I was done,” Buehrle said. “I just felt like getting cut, not being able to make your freshmen and sophomore teams, then there was going to be no way I’d make the varsity team. I basically just decided that I was done, baseball wasn’t going to be my thing and I should move on.”4

Incidentally, it wasn’t Mark Buehrle who was supposed to be cut from the junior varsity team that year. It was another Mark B. instead. This led to the creation of the “Mark Buehrle rule” at Francis Howell North that declared all cuts in the baseball program had to go through the head coach before being finalized.

However, after his father scolded him for his defeatist attitude, letting him know that he did not raise a quitter, Mark found redemption his junior year after growing nearly a foot during the offseason. During his junior year, he worked out of the bullpen as a lefty specialist and put up a 2-0 record with a 0.60 ERA.

Buehrle worked as a starter his senior year, gaining the attention of local scouts as he continued to fill out and gained velocity on his fastball and stronger bite in his curveball. He chose to attend nationally ranked Jefferson College in nearby Hillsboro, Missouri.

“It was a pretty easy sign,” said Dave Oster, former Jefferson College baseball coach, of landing Buehrle as a recruit. “We saw him play one day, asked him to come down for a visit and the next day he came down, he liked the place and committed, and then it kind of went from there.”5

The scouts quickly took notice. “I remember the first tournament we had was down at Southwest Missouri State,” Buehrle said. “I threw a couple of innings down there and the next thing I knew, there were a few scouts handing me index cards asking me to fill out information on myself. At first I thought someone was playing a joke on me. At the time, there was another lefty who pitched for us that threw harder than I did and was a sophomore. I had thought they mistook me for him.”6

After that first year, the Chicago White Sox selected Buehrle in the 38th round of the June 1998 amateur draft with the 1,139th overall pick. Buehrle did not sign initially. The White Sox used the “draft and follow” strategy, which allowed them to retain his rights for a year. Buehrle was undeterred. He underwent a more rigorous offseason training program, becoming the ace of the Jefferson College pitching staff the following season. Just before their draft rights expired, the White Sox made him an offer of $150,000, and he signed.

Buehrle did not spend much time in the minor leagues. In 1999 he started 14 games for the Burlington Bees of the Class-A Midwest League and went 7-4 with 91 strikeouts in 98⅔ innings. The next season Buehrle started 16 games for the Birmingham Barons of the Double-A Southern League and was 8-4 with a 2.28 ERA. That production was good enough to get a call to the big leagues.

On July 16, 2000, Buehrle made his major-league debut, pitching the ninth inning of a blowout win for the White Sox over the Milwaukee Brewers. He allowed two hits and one earned run. He made his first start three days later against the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis. Over seven innings he allowed six hits and two earned runs and earned his first major-league victory, 3-2.

Buehrle spent the first 12 years of his career with the White Sox. He mostly worked out of the bullpen his rookie season, After defeating the Twins, he started two more games. However, after getting knocked around by the California Angels in the second of those starts, his next 24 appearances were all in relief.

The White Sox won the American League Central Division title in 2000 but were swept by the Seattle Mariners in the Division Series. Buehrle pitched in one game, getting the call in the top of the ninth inning of Game Two and allowing an inherited runner to score.

Buehrle made the starting rotation in 2001 and became a steady presence on the pitching staff, starting 362 games and going 157-118 with a 3.82 ERA (120 ERA+) over an 11-year period (2001-2011). He was named to four All-Star Games and finished fifth in the Cy Young Award vote in 2005.

Buehrle made his first All-Star Game appearance in 2002, having started 19 games with a 12-7 record while producing a 3.57 ERA in the first half of the season. He pitched two innings, allowing one run. In what ended up being one of the strangest All-Star Games, the game ended in a tie after both teams ran out of pitchers in the 11th inning.

In 2003 Buehrle’s 14-14 record with a 4.14 ERA was better than average (112 ERA+), but not as good as his career average (117 ERA+). In 2004 he led the American League in innings pitched (245⅓) while producing a 16-10 record with a 3.89 ERA (121 ERA+). This was his fourth consecutive season with at least 200 innings pitched, an achievement that would become the norm for him rather than the exception.

Buehrle was a major contributor to the White Sox in 2005, with a record of 16-8. His 3.12 ERA was the best among White Sox starters. Only Jon Garland, with 18 wins, topped Buehrle in victories. Buehrle started the All-Star Game and earned the win for his two innings pitched as the American League scored in the bottom of the second and never gave up the lead, winning 7-5.

Beginning in 2001, Buehrle started each of the remaining 490 games of his career, with one notable exception: On October 25, 2005, after throwing 100 pitches over seven innings in Game Two of the World Series two days before, Buehrle was called upon to close out Game Three. He needed only three pitches to induce the Houston Astros’ Adam Everett to pop out and end the game.

That appearance was notable because of what happened before the event. Assuming that he would not be needed during the game, Buehrle had a few beers.

“Yes, I did have a few beverages on the bench, and I went up to (pitching coach) Don Cooper in the sixth, seventh, or eighth inning. I don’t remember what it was,” Buehrle said. “They were starting to use the bullpen. This guy came in for a third of an inning and this guy came in for a third, so it was getting thinner and thinner there. “I’m like, ‘Will you need me?’ and Coop said, ‘No.’ So I go get another beer. I did that a few times, and it was like, when he said, ‘Yeah, get [your] crap on,’ I thought he was just saying it because he was sick of me asking him. I got ready and went down there.”7

Buehrle’s 2006 season was reminiscent of the tale Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was good in the first half, putting up a 9-4 record in 16 games started with a 3.22 ERA through June. His final three months was a completely different tale. He finished 3-9 with a bloated 7.12 ERA. Overall, he finished 12-13 with a 4.99 ERA, the highest of his career. The White Sox missed out on the playoffs, finishing five games behind the Detroit Tigers for a wild-card spot..

On April 18, 2007, Buehrle was virtually perfect when the Texas Rangers came to town. The only blemish on his record that day was a walk to Sammy Sosa. Nonetheless, two pitches later, Buehrle caught Sosa leaning in the wrong direction and threw to first baseman Paul Konerko to pick him off, and didn’t allow another baserunner. In a book published in 2008, he said, “When I see my name connected to a no-hitter, it seems unreal. You see “last no-hitter pitched in the Major Leagues” and you see my name. It’s kind of overwhelming.”8

In 2007 Buehrle had 201 innings pitched in 30 starts, producing a 10-9 record with a 3.63 ERA. The White Sox, on the other hand, were the worst they would be in Buehrle’s time with them, going 72-90 and finishing fourth in the AL Central Division with only the Kansas City Royals faring worse.

The White Sox got back to their winning ways in 2008, finishing first in the division with an 89-74 record. Buehrle went 15-12 with a 3.79 ERA. He started Game Two of the American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Buehrle threw seven-plus innings and was the losing pitcher, giving up five runs and 10 hits in a 6-2 loss.

On July 23, 2009, at US Cellular Field, Buehrle was perfect against the Rays. Notoriously a quick worker, he mowed through the Tampa Bay lineup almost effortlessly. He breezed through the first inning, using only 10 pitches to induce two groundouts and a strikeout. He used 18 pitches in the second, the most he required for an inning, but was able to get Carlos Peña to pop out, Ben Zobrist to strike out, and Pat Burrell to fly out. (Peña did push him into a full count.) Buehrle settled back down in the third inning, retiring the Rays with only 11 pitches. In the fourth, B.J. Upton worked a full count before striking out. Buehrle quickly retired the next two batters, Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria, getting through the inning having thrown just 11 pitches. He was even better in the fifth, needing only 10 pitches. After getting through the first two batters in the sixth without much trouble, Jason Bartlett pushed him into a full count before grounding out to shortstop. Buehrle needed only nine pitches to get through the seventh inning, inducing two groundouts and a fly ball. In the eighth inning, Buehrle struck out Peña, then Zobrist worked a full count before fouling out to the third baseman, Gordon Beckham, requiring seven pitches. Buehrle needed seven more pitches to retire the next batter as well, retiring Pat Burrell on a lineout to Beckham.

Statcast has a statistic called Tempo, which measures the median time between pitches. Their data exists since 2010. With the bases empty, no one has a faster tempo equivalent to throwing a pitch every 5.9 seconds. Fast pitchers keep defenses on their toes. That proved to be necessary during the ninth inning. Manager Ozzie Guillén brought Dewayne Wise into the game in the ninth inning to help shore up the defense, moving Scott Podsednik from center field to left field while sending bad-fielding Carlos Quentin to the bench. Guillén’s move proved to be the right one. The first batter Buehrle faced in the ninth inning was Gabe Kapler. On a 2-and-2 pitch, Kapler hit a drive to deep left-center field. It looked like the ball was headed over the wall. However, Wise raced back diagonally to the wall, leapt up, and caught the ball, robbing Kapler of a home run. Broadcaster Ken Harrelson described the play as “(u)nder the circumstances, one of the greatest catches I have ever seen in 50 years in this game.”9

Buehrle cinched the major leagues’ 18th perfect game by striking out Michel Hernandéz and getting Jason Bartlett on a weak grounder to shortstop.

“I can’t believe that happened to me,” Buehrle recalled. “I’m not a guy who should be throwing perfect games, with not striking guys out, not hard throwing. Just the same thing with the no-hitter. I said I would never throw a perfect game, or a no-hitter, and I ended up doing both of them. So, it was, ‘No way. That just didn’t happen.’”10

(Coincidentally, the home-plate umpire for the perfect game was Eric Cooper, who worked behind the plate for Buehrle’s no-hitter against the Rangers.)

In his next start, Buehrle retired the first 17 batters he faced. Combining his final out in Baltimore on July 18 with his perfect game and those 17 Twins batters on July 28 summed up to 45 straight batters retired. This was a major-league record, later broken by San Francisco Giant Yusmeiro Petit over a course of eight games in 2014.

In 2010 the White Sox finished with an 88-74 record, seven games behind the New York Yankees for a wild-card spot. Buehrle was 13-13 with a 4.28 ERA, the second worst of his career. This ERA was exactly league average, something that Buehrle was not accustomed to, producing an average ERA+ of 117 during his 15 seasons as a starter with only two seasons below 100.

Buehrle did have one notable moment in the sun that season. On June 19 a poll was conducted by the MLB Twitter account asking “Which pitcher made the best play?” The poll offered the following options: Greg Maddux (2008), Mark Buehrle (2010), Bartolo Colon (2015), and Vince Velasquez (2018) with videos showcasing each pitcher’s impressive defensive play. While this was not a scientific poll since the respondents were self-selected, Buehrle was the winner for his kick save on April 5, 2010 – a through-the-legs glove flip to prevent Cleveland Indians catcher Lou Marson from legging out a single up the middle.11

Buehrle’s defensive prowess was widely recognized. The play on Marson came in one of his four straight Gold Glove years (2009 to 2012). Only 11 pitchers have won the award more often.

Part of good defense in the pitching position is picking off baserunners. According to MLB.com, Buehrle was the best at it, getting 100 pickoffs in his career, one better than Steve Carlton.12 It should be noted that pickoffs did not become an official statistic until 1974. It is widely recognized that Carlton accumulated some 45 more pickoffs in his full career.13

Info Solutions developed a defensive runs saved statistic in 2003. Since that year, the only pitcher who saved more runs than Buehrle is Zack Greinke – 98 to 88. The next closest is Jake Westbrook with 62.14

Buehrle became a free agent after the 2011 season. He signed a four-year contract with the Miami Marlins worth $58 million.15 In 31 starts for the Marlins in 2012, Buehrle posted a 13-13 record with a 3.74 ERA and won a Gold Glove for the fourth consecutive year. His time in Miami was short-lived. After finishing in last place with a 69-93 record, the Marlins decided it was time to trim the fat reminiscent of their post-championship sells of 1997 and 2003. Along with shortstop José Reyes, starting pitcher Josh Johnson, John Buck, and Emilio Bonifacio, Buehrle was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in what appeared to be a salary dump.

“I’m upset with how things turned out in Miami,” Buehrle said in a statement issued through his agent, Jeff Berry.” Just like the fans in South Florida, I was lied to on multiple occasions. But I’m putting it behind me and looking forward to moving on with my career.”16

In his three seasons in Toronto, Buehrle started 97 games and produced a 40-28 record with a 3.78 ERA. He was selected to the All-Star team in 2014.

On October 2, 2015, two days before the end of the regular season, Buehrle threw 6⅔ innings against Tampa Bay and picked up his 15th victory. Many, including Buehrle, thought that this might be the final game of his career. He saved the game ball.

Manager John Gibbons had other ideas. Buehrle had pitched 198 innings. Two more would put him at 200 innings pitched for the 15th consecutive year, a feat that only four other pitchers – Gaylord Perry, Don Sutton, Warren Spahn, and Cy Young – had accomplished. On October 4, the last day of the regular season, Buehrle started against the Rays again. He did not survive the first inning, giving up eight runs (all unearned, thanks to two Blue Jays errors), getting just two outs and giving up five hits and a walk.

“Sad thing, I felt better today than I did on Friday, better than I’ve felt in the last month, month and a half,” Buehrle said afterward. “This game is crazy. I didn’t feel great on Friday and went 6⅔, and today I felt great and they had to take me out in the first inning.”17

After the game, Buehrle was informed that he had not made the Blue Jays’ postseason roster. The Blue Jays decided to carry just four starting pitchers – David Price, R.A. Dickey, Marcus Stroman, and Marco Estrada along with seven relief pitchers. Those 45 pitches thrown on a pleasant day in Tampa Bay would prove to be his final major-league tosses.

“I was told I was retiring,” Buehrle said. “I got about 400 text messages today from friends who are, ‘Sad to see you go, to be retiring.’ And I’m like, ‘What’s going on here?’ Apparently I’m done, and what a way to go out. Nowadays we don’t have a decision. It’s what people tell us.”18

In 2017 the White Sox retired Buehrle’s number 56. It is one of 12 numbers retired by the team. Nine of the players have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said the 38-year-old Buehrle, who was flanked by his wife, his two children, and his mother and father at the 30-minute ceremony. “I really can’t put it into words how I feel. … It’s a special day.”19

In retirement Buehrle devoted himself to being the best father he could be to his two children. Said his sister, Amy Buehrle English, “He is a dad first and foremost.”20 Buehrle spent time hunting, traveling, and woodworking. Buehrle has always enjoyed the outdoors. His sister cited an article from when he was a player that said, “Whenever he has time, sometimes around the All-Star break in July, Buehrle races back to St. Charles to laze around the 18-acre pond on his property. He might take out a boat or just sit on shore with a fishing pole and a worm for bait, watching his bobber.”21

Buehrle and his wife, Jamie, displayed a passion for dogs. While living in Chicago, they provided public service announcements for animal rescue facilities, appeared on pet adoption billboards, and headed a Sox for Strays promotion at US Cellular Field.

When Buehrle signed his contract with the Marlins in 2012, he bought a house in Broward County approximately 30 minutes from the Marlins Stadium in Miami-Dade County because pit bulls are prohibited in the county.22 Once he was traded to the Blue Jays, things got even more complicated since pit bulls are banned in the Province of Ontario. The Buehrles opted to keep their family in the St. Louis area, living with their four dogs while Mark lived by himself during the baseball season.

Since 2000, no one has approached Buehrle’s consistency in producing 14 seasons of at least 200 innings pitched and falling four outs short of a 15th. As of 2024, Justin Verlander was the closest to this level of production, posting 12 seasons of at least 200 innings pitched. Nine of the 10 pitchers with more than 14 (Don Sutton, Greg Maddux, Phil Niekro, Warren Spahn, Bert Blyleven, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Gaylord Perry, and Grover Cleveland Alexander are in the Hall of Fame; the sole exception is Roger Clemens.

Since 2000, Buehrle ranks seventh among all starting pitchers in WAR (as of 2024). The top four – Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, and Zack Greinke – were active in 2024. The sixth, CC Sabathia, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2025.

In his book One Hundred Years of White Sox Baseball, author Mark Pienkos summarizes Buehrle the player: “Mark Buehrle is one of those rare breeds of pitchers that only comes around once in a lifetime. He was special in so many ways: reliable, great fielder, didn’t waste time between tosses, great command of his pitches so as not to allow lots of walks, yet able to strike out batters without having a great deal of velocity.”23

Last revised: March 1, 2025

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and a number of other sources including the following:

Chicago Sun-Times, White Sox: 2005 World Series Champions (Chicago: Sports Publishing, LLC. 2005).

Lee Jenkins, “Miracle on the South Side,” Sports Illustrated, August 3, 2009.

Colleen Kane, “Mark Buehrle on His Quiet Retirement: ‘I Wanted to Sneak My Way Out,’” Chicago Tribune, February 24, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2024, from https://www.chicagotribune.com/2017/02/24/mark-buehrle-on-his-quiet-retirement-i-wanted-to-sneak-my-way-out/.

Elliot Lee, Red-Tagged: Dirty Diamonds (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform), 2015.

Mark Buehrle | MLB Contracts & Salaries. (n.d.). Spotrac.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024, from https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/player/_/id/169/mark-buehrle.

Tom Stone, Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises (Chicago: ACTA Publications, 2017).

Notes

1 Jeff Strange, “From Being Cut in High School to an MLB All-Star Team: Mark Buehrle Shares His Story,” Patch.com (St. Peters, Missouri), March 6, 2011. https://patch.com/missouri/stpeters/from-being-cut-in-high-school-to-an-mlb-all-star-teamab0e9608ea.

2 Amy Buehrle English, interview by author, September 19, 2024.

3 Neil Berry, interview by author. December 15, 2021.

4 Strange.

5 James Fegan, “Before Mark Buehrle Made the Hall of Fame Ballot, White Sox Scouts Saw Potential,” New York Times, November 22, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2191063/2020/11/22/mark-buehrle-hall-of-fame/.

6 Strange.

7 Scott Merkin, “Remembering Mark Buehrle’s Perfect Game,” MLB.com, July 22, 2019. https://www.mlb.com/news/remembering-mark-buehrle-s-perfect-game.

8 Lew Freedman, Game of My Life: White Sox: Memorable Stories of Chicago White Sox Baseball (Chicago: Sports Publishing, 2008), 199.

9 Scott Merkin, “Oral History of Mark Buehrle’s Perfect Game,” MLB.com. Retrieved October 10, 2024, from https://www.mlb.com/news/mark-buehrle-perfect-game-2009-an-oral-history.

10 Scott Merkin, “Remembering Mark Buehrle’s Perfect Game.”

11 Video can be seen on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujUdP7H81no.

12 MLB.com stats. https://www.mlb.com/stats/pitching/pickoff/all-time-totals?expanded=true.

13 Kevin Czerwinski, “The Pickoff Artist,” BallNine, September 27, 2022. https://ballnine.com/2022/09/27/the-pickoff-artist/.

14 Bill James, “Fielding Bible,” Fielding Bible, n.d.. Accessed November 20, 2024. https://archive.fieldingbible.com/DRSLeaderboard.

15 The 2012 Marlins were managed by Ozzie Guillén.

16 Associated Press, “Mark Buehrle: Marlins Lied to Me,” ESPN.com, November 21, 2012. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/8661291/mark-buehrle-says-miami-marlins-lied-multiple-occasions.

17 G. Chisholm, “Buehrle Falls Short of eat, Postseason Roster Spot,” MLB.com, October 4,2015 Retrieved November 14, 2024, from https://www.mlb.com/news/mark-buehrle-falls-short-of-feat-alds-roster/c-153295414.

18 Chisholm.

19 Associated Press, “White Sox Retire Mark Buehrle’s No. 56 Jersey,” USA Today, June 24, 2017. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/06/24/white-sox-retire-former-star-pitcher-buehrles-no-56-jersey/103167590/.

20 English interview.

21 English interview.

22 Jerry Crasnick, “Outlawed Pit Bull Will Keep Buehrle Away From His Family,” ESPN.com, February 7, 2013. Retrieved September 17, 2024, from https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/8921726/outlawed-pit-bull-keep-mark-buehrle-away-family.

23 Mark Pienkos, 1917-2017: One Hundred Years of White Sox Baseball: Highlighting the Great 1917 World Series Championship Team (Sarasota, Florida: Pepperpot Press, 2017), 90.