In 2012, Felix Hernandez earned his crown with the 23rd perfect game in baseball history

Aug. 15, 2012. What were you doing that late summer afternoon? It was a Wednesday. Maybe you were taking the kids to school. Maybe you were at work.
If, however, you took the day off and were one of the 21,889 in attendance at Safeco Field, you were treated to a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. Seattle's Felix Hernandez carved himself a place in baseball immortality by throwing the 23rd perfect game in Major League history in the Mariners' 1-0 victory over the Rays.
It ended with Felix letting loose, one leg in the air, both arms thrust skyward in triumph after a called third strike against Sean Rodriguez: 

Felix's masterful outing, which earned him a stellar game score of 99, remains the most recent perfect game thrown in the Majors. It was also the perfect (pun intended) demonstration of Hernandez's unfair pitching repertoire. There were silly video game offspeed pitches, which he used to mow down Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist and Carlos Pena in the eighth inning and put himself on the precipice of history:

But this whole event, Hernandez's coronation as King of the Pacific Northwest -- it almost wasn't even a thing! Sam Fuld, leading off the game for Tampa Bay, cracked a deep drive to right-center on Felix's fourth pitch of the afternoon:

But Eric Thames -- yes, that Eric Thames -- tracked it down in the gap. In hindsight, that was quite an important moment, to say the least.
There were several moments throughout the game, really. Excitement, tension and anticipation rose with each pitch, each subsequent out as the game went along. Here are all 27 outs in a tidy package: 

Just roll out this highlight clip the next time somebody asks you to recall one of the most impressive single-game pitching performances ever.