Was it history? Turns out that no, it wasn't. Was it historic? For sure. And another reminder that no other corner of the world as modest as ours owns baseball the way we do.

This was Wednesday night in Kansas City when Matt Harvey made it all the way back, a baseball homage to Jim Valvano — don't give up, don't ever give up — earning the start for the Royals. And then when Harvey's night was over, his former Fitch teammate, Jesse Hahn, relieved him.

High school teammates following each other in a major league game.

Had it ever been done?

We've done some checking.

I reached out to old friend Peter Abraham, formerly of the Norwich Bulletin, and now covering the Red Sox for the Boston Globe. I figured Pete might have access to the Elias Sports Bureau that little ol' me wouldn't. Pete, who still follows sports around here, was happy to help.

He reached out to the Royals' public relations department who, in turn, spoke to Elias. Regrettably, Pete e-mailed back saying, "Elias says we can't do it."

Former Waterbury Republican-American Joe Palladino thinks it's been done before. He tweeted Wednesday, "very cool — has happened before I believe. Dave Wallace and Ron Diorio were teammates at Sacred Heart then at Univ. of New Haven and pitched consecutively for Phillies Aug. 9, 1973 at San Diego — may have been Diorio's debut."

And then our own Dave Davis found a story from the Chicago Tribune in 1994. Turns out Rick and Paul Reuschel, high school teammates and brothers, followed each other during a game for the Cubs. Harvey and Hahn were part of history Wedneday night, but not the authors of it.

Still, it's not so bad to try. Imagine: of all the gin joints in all the world, Harvey and Hahn not only ride the same alliterative boat, but find themselves together again only 1,314 miles (per Google Maps) from Fitch High.

"It's pretty amazing," their high school coach, Ed Harvey (also Matt's dad) was saying Thursday.

Harvey and Hahn played on — for my money, anyway — the best single-season team I've seen here in almost 30 years now. Fitch's 2005 team finished with one loss, the Class LL title and ranked No. 1 in Connecticut. Imagine.

Harvey and Hahn were sophomores headed to the majors. Matt Browning made it to Double-A. Brian McGugan (now the Fitch baseball coach) is a top-10 hitter ever around here. Other athletes included Todd Doyle, who went on to play professional basketball in Europe; Justin Walz, who set records as a Div. III quarterback; and Eric Korteweg, who pitched a no-hitter in the state championship game.

Harvey, who has overcome Tommy John surgery and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (when certain blood vessels or nerves are compressed, affecting the space between the collarbone and first rib.) He lasted three innings Wednesday and despite allowing back-to-back homers in the third, hit a consistent 94-95 with his fastball, looking enough like his old self to be encouraged.

"Lots of excitement," Ed Harvey said. "It's nice to see him believing in himself again. It wasn't easy for a while. It took a good three years to come back from (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome). It didn't look good in the winter when nobody called and the spring when the virus hit and everybody went home."

Kansas City manager Mike Matheny told reporters after the game, "I was really, really impressed. It was better than even what I expected or from what I saw on video, seeing it live, I'm really happy with how the ball was jumping out of his hand."

Hahn, meanwhile, pitched a scoreless fourth.

"That's something special," Hahn told the Kansas City Star. "We don't know if it's ever happened before, but that's something that I know some guys back home are going to be pretty pumped about it. I know both our fathers were watching the game. I know they're fired up right now."

It hasn't been easy for Hahn either, lately. Jesse began the season on the bereavement/family medical emergency list following the sudden death of his mother, Kate. Hopefully, the game allowed his dad, Fred — maybe the biggest baseball fan of them all around here — a chance to lose himself in the accomplishments of his son, at least for an inning.

Not a bad Wednesday night. Harvey returns. Hahn returns. And they march on, undaunted.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro