Umpire steals perfect game from Armando Galarraga

[CUBZ99]

I would have all the respect in the world for Jim Joyce if he personally contacted the Commissioner and ask that his call be officially overturned.

 

It's not a guarantee that Selig actually would, but I'd respect him for asking for the right thing to be done, rather than dig in his heels and refuse to admit he was wrong.

 

He has already stated that he felt terrible and that he blew the biggest call of his career. I think people need to cut the guy some slack.

The veteran ump regretted it.

 

“I just cost that kid a perfect game,” Joyce said. “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay.”

 

“It was the biggest call of my career,” said Joyce, who became a full-time major league umpire in 1989.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=300602106

[erik316wttn]

I would have all the respect in the world for Jim Joyce if he personally contacted the Commissioner and ask that his call be officially overturned.

 

It's not a guarantee that Selig actually would, but I'd respect him for asking for the right thing to be done, rather than dig in his heels and refuse to admit he was wrong.

 

He has already stated that he felt terrible and that he blew the biggest call of his career. I think people need to cut the guy some slack.

The veteran ump regretted it.

 

“I just cost that kid a perfect game,” Joyce said. “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay.”

 

“It was the biggest call of my career,” said Joyce, who became a full-time major league umpire in 1989.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=300602106

 

I'm not giving him flack. He admitted he screwed up, and that's a big step in the right direction. I kinda feel bad for him for blowing the biggest call of his career. Nobody would be talking about him if he had made the right call. I'm just saying he should take it a step further and make it known that he wishes his call be overturned and that the perfect game is recognized officially by MLB.

[NCCubFan]

I think Selig could overturn the call. My understanding is that the "best interests in baseball" clause basically gives the Commissioner power to do just about anything if warranted, and in this case I think everybody would agree it's warranted.

 

The official scorer could have helped, too (and maybe he still will after he has time to sleep on it). Even though the play clearly wasn't an error, it clearly wasn't a hit either, so he could have charged an error rather than a hit. The perfect game would still have been lost, but at least he would have a no-hitter.

[OleMissCub]

from Peter King's twitter

 

What a great moment in Comerica:Jim Joyce apologizes to Galarraga, Galarraga accepts, they hug. Class by Joyce, incredible class by the kid.

[NCCubFan]

The play in question:

 

http://i.imgur.com/kBUSO.jpg

 

 

I dunno if I feel worse for Galarraga for losing the perfecto or for Joyce for what's going to happen to him.

You shouldn't feel bad for Joyce. He deserves everything he gets. Something like this is unforgivable.

 

I really think in a situation like this Selig (or somebody in his office, such as Bob Watson) should have the authority to overrule the umpire's incompetent call and award Galarraga with the perfect game he in reality did pitch. It's not a judgment call, like the ball 4 call in Milt Pappas' almost-perfect game. In this case the batter was clearly, objectively out; no judgment involved whatsoever. The umpire was factually wrong.

 

I wouldn't call it "unforgivable". Sure, people would say it was a crappy call if it came, say, in the 5th inning of a tie game, but it wouldn't be "unforgivable."

 

However, I agree with the rest of your post.

Yeah, "unforgivable" is perhaps a bit too strong of a term. Still a horrible call which requires action to keep from happening again.

[Sabermetrician]

That was obviously a make-up call for calling Damon safe in the 8th

[erik316wttn]

I think Selig could overturn the call. My understanding is that the "best interests in baseball" clause basically gives the Commissioner power to do just about anything if warranted, and in this case I think everybody would agree it's warranted.

 

The official scorer could have helped, too (and maybe he still will after he has time to sleep on it). Even though the play clearly wasn't an error, it clearly wasn't a hit either, so he could have charged an error rather than a hit. The perfect game would still have been lost, but at least he would have a no-hitter.

 

Has Selig ever used that clause?

[Derwood]

http://brentmayne.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/250022.jpg

[NCCubFan]

I don't know whether Selig has, but there is past precedent for a commissioner to use that clause. Back in the mid or late 1970s Charlie Finley tried to gut his team by selling some of his stars (Vida Blue is one that I remember) for nothing but cash, and then-Commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided those sales "in the best interests of baseball."

[Guest]

I could see Selig overturning it just because this is a pretty unique situation in that it would have been the last play of the game. There's no what ifs involved (i.e., if it had happened at any other point in the game, you can't say that everything would have transpired the same way). It was the last play of the game so if they rule an out, the only thing that happens is Crowe never bats.

[OleMissCub]

haha, the Michigan governor just issued a proclamation declaring that Galarraga threw a perfect game

[NCCubFan]

Good for him. Galarraga DID pitch a perfect game even if the umpire says otherwise.

[OleMissCub]

he pitched the longest perfect game in history. He retired 28 straight.

[Irrelevant Dude]

That is horrible. It would be nice to see the call overturned, but I'm just not sure what kind of precedent that would set for future games.

[CincyCubsFan]

I would have all the respect in the world for Jim Joyce if he personally contacted the Commissioner and ask that his call be officially overturned.

 

It's not a guarantee that Selig actually would, but I'd respect him for asking for the right thing to be done, rather than dig in his heels and refuse to admit he was wrong.

 

He has already stated that he felt terrible and that he blew the biggest call of his career. I think people need to cut the guy some slack.

The veteran ump regretted it.

 

“I just cost that kid a perfect game,” Joyce said. “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay.”

 

“It was the biggest call of my career,” said Joyce, who became a full-time major league umpire in 1989.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=300602106

 

Why should he be cut slack? It wasn't even a close play. It's didn't even qualify as a "bang bang" play. The runner was clearly out. There was no question. You didn't need slow motion replay to see it. The ump's head was up his ass. That's a complete and utter failure at your job. The only way to miss that is if you, as the umpire, are completely unfocused and paying no attention whatsoever to what is going on in front of you - to what should be your ONLY focus at that moment. Joyce's job at that point, no, his DUTY to Gallaraga, The Tigers, the game of baseball, the fans in the stadium, is to GET THE CALL RIGHT. He failed utterly and completely.

It's like Michael Jordan hitting the game winning three pointer with 3 seconds left on the clock in Game Seven and the ref saying time expired before the shot drained.

It's that big of a failure. He shouldn't be cut slack. He should be sent back to double A ball where he belongs, and he should stop by the DMV on the way to get his vision checked.

These atrocious umpires need to be held accountable. Screw steroids, the state of umpiring is the biggest threat to the integrity of the game of baseball today.

[Keener98]

I think Selig could overturn the call. My understanding is that the "best interests in baseball" clause basically gives the Commissioner power to do just about anything if warranted, and in this case I think everybody would agree it's warranted.

 

The official scorer could have helped, too (and maybe he still will after he has time to sleep on it). Even though the play clearly wasn't an error, it clearly wasn't a hit either, so he could have charged an error rather than a hit. The perfect game would still have been lost, but at least he would have a no-hitter.

 

The official scorer was just on MLBTV and said there is nothing there to call an error on so the play stands.

[MADD_DOG_31]

I would have all the respect in the world for Jim Joyce if he personally contacted the Commissioner and ask that his call be officially overturned.

 

It's not a guarantee that Selig actually would, but I'd respect him for asking for the right thing to be done, rather than dig in his heels and refuse to admit he was wrong.

 

He has already stated that he felt terrible and that he blew the biggest call of his career. I think people need to cut the guy some slack.

The veteran ump regretted it.

 

“I just cost that kid a perfect game,” Joyce said. “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay.”

 

“It was the biggest call of my career,” said Joyce, who became a full-time major league umpire in 1989.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=300602106

 

Why should he be cut slack? It wasn't even a close play. It's didn't even qualify as a "bang bang" play. The runner was clearly out. There was no question. You didn't need slow motion replay to see it. The ump's head was up his ass. That's a complete and utter failure at your job. The only way to miss that is if you, as the umpire, are completely unfocused and paying no attention whatsoever to what is going on in front of you - to what should be your ONLY focus at that moment. Joyce's job at that point, no, his DUTY to Gallaraga, The Tigers, the game of baseball, the fans in the stadium, is to GET THE CALL RIGHT. He failed utterly and completely.

It's like Michael Jordan hitting the game winning three pointer with 3 seconds left on the clock in Game Seven and the ref saying time expired before the shot drained.

It's that big of a failure. He shouldn't be cut slack. He should be sent back to double A ball where he belongs, and he should stop by the DMV on the way to get his vision checked.

These atrocious umpires need to be held accountable. Screw steroids, the state of umpiring is the biggest threat to the integrity of the game of baseball today.

 

I agree 100%

 

This guy needs zero slack....he needs fired

 

Joyce is getting paid a lot of money to do his job right and he has consistently f'ed up this year and f'ed up big time today

 

Fire him period...do not cut him any slack

 

Until the umps are held accountable the umpiring will continue to be shitty and an embarrassment to the sport

[Illini Iceman]

Why did Cabrera range that far over to make that play? It seems to me if he just stays in position and covers first base it is a routine grounder to the second baseman and the runner is out by a couple steps.

[chuckywang]

This is easily remedied. Overturn the call and let the game end right there. Everything that happened afterwards is stricken from the books. End the game on that play. It's so easy to do, why isn't anybody talking about it? Nobody would complain about it, and everyone would agree.

 

Make it right, Selig.

[Rob]

I don't know if I feel more sorry for Galarraga or Joyce.

[javy knows my name]

Joyce has been a terrible umpire for a long time. I'm glad it's finally out in the open so that the casual fan can see it, too. I hope the play doesn't get overturned, though. Everyone knows it's a perfect game, and I like that this guy will be remembered for his total incompetence above anything else. I also like that this guy recorded 28 outs in his perfect game.

 

My only regret is that it wasn't Froemming.

[javy knows my name]

I don't know if I feel more sorry for Galarraga or Joyce.

I know you aren't the first to share this sentiment, but really? A terrible umpire made a terrible call that cost a kid a place in baseball's history books. This isn't hard at all.

[UMFan83]

Some of you guys are way too harsh on Joyce IMO. He's a human and humans make mistakes. Umpires blow calls all of the time, how is this any different? Because it came at such an inopportune time? I understand it becomes a forum for introducing replay, and people think its ridiculous that there is such a human element to umping. But there is no replay now. He made the call that he thought was correct and unfortunately it wasn't. It's not like he was trying to ruin the kid's perfect game. It's not like he tried to give him a favorable call to preserve history. He was trying to be an impartial umpire and it backfired badly on him. And he's not acting like Froemming did after he blew Pappas' perfect game. The guy has a ton of remorse and personally apologized to the kid. He realizes he f'ed up and he's probably gonna have trouble sleeping tonight.

 

I'm not saying take pity on him, but it's unnecessary to call for his head for making a mistake that umps make all the time either.

[imb]

lol a lot of feigned outrage in this thread

[Butterscup1679666578]

how can you not feel bad for the ump? he blew a call in a baseball game, he didn't murder jesus.