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Should baseball give Galarraga his perfect game back?

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by

mwkruse
in

GameOn!: Should baseball give Galarraga his perfect game back?

Detroit's Armando Galarraga illustrated that pitchers don't throw perfect games but that perfect games are played. Everyone, not just the pitcher, has to be unblemished. Unfortunately, umpire Jim Joyce   made one mistake and history was snuffed out.

Click here to see the play that cost Galarraga black ink in the record book.

Joyce took responsibility for the gaffe.

"I just cost the kid a perfect game," said Joyce , who personally apologized to the pitcher. "I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw until I sawthe replay. It was the biggest call of my career."

The blown call is going to increase the pressure on baseball to use more instant replay and this may be the tipping point on that technology.

Click here to vote on replay.

USA TODAY columnist Christine Brennan makes her call on that.

That is, for the future and it is going to take a lot of discussion and plenty of votes behind closed doors.

But in the interim, should the commissioner step in and change the laws of baseball this one time by awarding Galarraga a perfect game? …

Comments

5 responses to “Should baseball give Galarraga his perfect game back?”

  1. Neil Avatar
    Neil

    I so badly want to say that this should be considered a perfect game. It was clearly a mistake on the final out. But one play does not make a perfect game, if this one play is overturned then they’d have to check every pitch to make sure that all the pitches were called accurately, as one miscalled pitch could have altered the outcome of the game too.
    If they are willing to review every pitch and determine that this was the only human error of the game then give it to him, otherwise it should stand as it is, a great game of baseball.

    Reply
  2. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    I suppose you could do something like they do in football where only certain kinds of plays are reviewable. But that is the problem. At the moment there is no rule for how to do this.

    Reply
  3. JMorrow Avatar
    JMorrow

    If this was anything but the last play I would be hesitant to reverse it. Where to begin instant replay reviews is the big question. I’m not opposed to the change though, unlike some baseball purists. The game has changed plenty of times over with the times, from the kind of plays that are allowed and substitutions permitted, to the number of games played and the playoff system. There is no “pure” baseball.

    Reply
  4. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    Baseball fans are a lot like the Amish. Change is acceptable only at a very deliberate and well thought through pace. 😉

    Reply
  5. David Avatar
    David

    Don Miller has a great answer to this question on his blog. Joyce took responsibility and asked for forgiveness in tears and Galarraaga did. I’m so glad we still have men who act like men. Being human we all make mistakes. It’s a good thing when the mistake is acknowledged, confessed and forgiveness is granted.
    I love it. Lets never take the human call out of Baseball. It’s what gives baseball it’s charm…

    Reply

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