Happy birthday to one of the greatest pitchers in White Sox history.

Mark Buehrle turned 41-years-old Monday. His accomplishments in a White Sox uniform were unparalleled: a no-hitter, a perfect game, a World Series championship and much more.

But while everyone has their favorite memories of Buehrle and some of the biggest moment of his career, there were stories behind those moments you might not be as familiar with.

Here are five things you might not remember about the birthday boy.

Buehrle got the ball from his between-the-legs flip back

The perfect game, the no-hitter, the World Series. It was all pretty great.

But much like chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, the scene that always goes through my head when thinking about Buehrle is his Opening Day web gem for the ages.

In the first game of the 2010 regular season, Buehrle flipped a ball through his legs and into the awaiting bare hand of Paul Konerko to nab Lou Marson at first base. The play was sensational at the time. It's still sensational now.

The thing you might not remember? When the White Sox retired Buehrle's number in 2014, they found the young fan who got the ball from that play that day. Not quite as young anymore, they brought him out to return the ball to Buehrle in the middle of the ceremony.

Totally awesome.

Buehrle was a bit buzzed before his World Series save

After his rookie year in 2000, Buehrle never pitched out of the bullpen during the regular season. He pitched in relief just one time, in Game 3 of the 2005 World Series.

The White Sox broke a 5-all tie in the top of the 14th on a Geoff Blum homer and got another run in that inning on a bases-loaded walk. But in his second inning of relief, Damaso Marte ran into some trouble in the bottom of the 14th, when a two-out error brought the winning run to the plate.

Enter Buehrle, who threw seven innings as the Game 2 starter two nights earlier. Buehrle got Adam Everett to pop out to end the game and bring the White Sox a win away from the world championship.

That part you remember quite vividly, I'm sure.

But White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper revealed years later, on a 2015 edition of SportsTalk Live, that Buehrle had a few drinks in him before taking the hill that night.

Cooper recalled that Buehrle approached him with a Styrofoam cup in his hand in the seventh inning, asking if the team needed him to pitch.

"I look in it, there's a beer in there," Cooper said. "It wasn't uncommon for guys on the 2005 staff - the starters when they weren't pitching - to enjoy a cocktail from time to time."

Cooper added that he told Buehrle the White Sox wouldn't use him that night unless the game went 13 or 14 innings.

Well.

Buehrle predicted his perfect game right before it started

You watched the perfect game. You called your friends. You called your neighbors.

But you weren't in the White Sox clubhouse before and during Buehrle's perfecto, when he and A.J. Pierzynski were verbally jabbing at each other the entire time - some sparring that included Buehrle predicting that he wouldn't allow a base runner that afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays.

According to Pierzynski, who wasn't catching that day, it all started with Buehrle complaining that he didn't get his usual energy drink that morning.

"He was a little bit late and said, 'Oh, I'm not going to be able to do anything today. I'm going to stink,'" Pierzynski told Our Chuck Garfien on a 2017 edition of the White Sox Talk Podcast. "And I just looked at him, because we had our lockers right next to each other the whole time, and I was like, 'Dude, just go out and throw a no-hitter and be quiet.' And he was like, "I've already got one of those.' And I was like, 'Fine, go out and throw a perfect game.' He was like, 'OK, I will.'

"And as the game went on, he'd come in, and I'd be wanting to go out in the dugout, and he said, 'Nope, you're not allowed out there. I'm going to throw a perfect game and you're not catching, so ha ha.'

"People always worry about superstition and stuff. He'd talk about it openly in the dugout and the clubhouse. There was no, 'Oh don't talk about it' with him. He'd come in and be like, 'I'm going to throw a perfect game.'"

On a separate edition of the podcast, Buehrle confirmed the story.

Story continues