HOLY SCHMITT! Cody Schmitt Shoots the 38th Perfect 900 Series -- November 17, 2021

Cody Schmitt achieved perfection, bowling the 38th 900 series in Wisconsin, pending USBC certification.

The nerves started to kick in around the 6th frame of Game 2. He knew what was happening, as did everyone around him. It’s impossible not to notice the guy who’s thrown nothing but strikes through a game and a half of league.

Cody Schmitt is no stranger to rolling honor scores; he’d just recorded his 23rd career 300 game in Game 1, and was well on his way to his 19th career 800 series. He’d been here once before, in October of 2020: Schmitt struck on his first 27 attempts before a 4-pin foiled his bid at ultimate perfection. He ran down the single-pin, and struck out for an 879 series. A fine series — one few bowlers ever reach — but a far cry from the house record of 899.

There have only been 37 certified 900 series in the history of bowling. Wesley Low — a potent two-handed lefty, multi-time national champion and Team USA member — shot the most recent 900 in July 2020. Schmitt’s résumé pales in comparison, but what he lacks in force, he makes up for in familiarity.

Schmitt’s family owns Anchor Lanes in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, nestled perfectly between Milwaukee and Green Bay. Schmitt has run Fireside Pro Shop out of the center since the summer of 2019. He knows how to read these lanes like Carl Yastrzemski knows how to read a baseball caroming off the Green Monster. When the ball leaves Schmitt’s hand purely, he doesn’t even need to look at the pins. He already knows.

As he released the 12th shot of Game 2, with 23 consecutive strikes at his back, the result of his shot was not predestined. The reason was irrelevant — maybe he missed little left, or maybe he caught a little more at the bottom, or maybe the lane just broke down a tad faster than he anticipated — what mattered was that pesky 4-pin that remained standing as his Idol Helios exited the pin deck. But as Schmitt faded from the camera’s view, a messenger fulfilled his desperate request; it was as if the Greek sun god himself directed his chariot to take down the familiar foe.

That 2020 October night crossed Schmitt’s mind as he rolled the first four strikes in Game 3, surpassing his previous benchmark. That’s when he started to realize shooting 900 was a legitimate possibility. “There is a light at the end of the tunnel when you realize you only need 7 more, then 6, then 5, and so on,” he told me in the wee hours after his league.

With Bryan Adams’ “Heat Of The Night” providing the appropriate mood — a song that predates the first certified 900 series by more than a decade — Schmitt polished off the 38th perfect series on record, pending USBC’s official stamp of approval. “This is probably cliché, but I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. I can’t believe what happened tonight,” Schmitt said as the adrenaline still coursing through his veins precluded him from falling asleep.

A 900 series is a feat every bowler dreams about, but almost never accomplishes; yet, here is Schmitt, fresh off achieving the impossible, unable to dream.