Former A's lefty in exclusive club after perfect game

This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos’ A’s Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

OAKLAND -- Dallas Braden knows a little something about being perfect.

On May 9, 2010, Braden took the mound at the Coliseum against the Rays and retired all 27 batters he faced, throwing the 19th perfect game in MLB history.

For 13 years, Braden’s perfect game was the second and most recent in the 55-year history of the Coliseum. On Wednesday night, Yankees right-hander Domingo Germán added to that short list by tossing a perfect game against the A’s.

With Braden now working as the lead color analyst for A's television broadcasts on NBC Sports California, the former Oakland left-hander made history by getting to call Germán’s perfection, becoming the first person to ever throw a perfect game and also call one from the broadcast booth.

MLB.com: It has been confirmed that you are the only person to have pitched a perfect game and called one from the booth. How does it feel to have been able to do both?

Braden: It was pretty ridiculous, first and foremost, when our scorekeeper and statistician David Feldman said, ‘Well, you’re now the only one to have done that.’ When he said that, I just kind of laughed. You think about it and it’s pretty nuts. Ron Hassey is the only guy to catch two perfect games. The idea that there has been somebody who has caught two and I’m the only one to have thrown one and called one is just crazy to think about.

MLB.com: You’ve called a couple of no-hitters in the past. But as Germán’s perfect game was building on Wednesday, as someone who is part of that exclusive club, what was going through your mind?

Braden: Flashbacks start to happen. You start to think about what your game felt like in certain moments and in certain counts. When it gets to a three-ball count, you really start to clench your fist. For me, I wanted that to happen. Not to [the A's], obviously. But those are the things I like to see happen in the game. Extraordinary moments. A lot of it has to do with me knowing what that moment has done for me in my life and what it has meant to me. I don’t want to say it means more to me than any of the other 23 individuals who have felt that feeling. But I just know how big it can be for somebody, and I want the best for people.

MLB.com: You have talked about how life-changing throwing that perfect game was for you. As you look back at what has come your way since that day for you, how has it changed your life?

Braden: One, it put me in front of more cameras. People want to talk to you when something like that happens. From there, it was an opportunity to share my personality and for the baseball world at that time to get to know a little bit more about who I was. I think it’s pretty obvious that opportunities outside of the playing aspect of my career were provided to me because of that day. Outside of that, I’m not here talking to you. I don’t know that I’m here, period. I look at it as really the catapult into my chapter two. Without that, I don’t know why I would have an opportunity to start on a national media scale at ESPN. There were just opportunities abound after that night, and I know that it’s because I had one good day at work.