Yes, it was brilliant. It was breathtaking. It was a supreme effort from a player who has come back from a career-threatening injury and proven to be one of the game's best pitchers over his 14 years in the game. But true baseball fans can't overlook the fact that Cone's perfecto came against the Montreal Expos, the poster child for the game's have-nots. It is a fact that takes more than a little something off a feat once thought to be truly magical.
Cone is just the third highest-paid player on the New York roster.
In short, the Yankees, who sent four players to the All-Star Game earlier this month, have the best talent money can buy. And, so, the defending World Series champion Yankees lead the American League East, while the Expos sputter along in the National League East at 22 games under .500. But too many of the game's fans forget that it's not just in the financial bottom line that teams suffer. It's on the field, where Montreal and Minnesota and others simply can't compete. David Cone threw a marvelous game Sunday, something done by only 13 others in baseball history.