Jim Joyce and the cost of no replay

[Soul]

Pretty good piece on OTL this morning. Jim Joyce -- the umpire who blew the call that would have given Galarraga a perfect game in Detroit -- was profiled.

 

He mentioned things like "it's almost worse than when my Dad died," and showed letters that he gets (and his family) even to this day about how he's going to be shot when he travels to X town, and what not.

 

Beyond discussions of how stupid people who make death threats are, it's amazing to think of how easy it would have been to spare Joyce and his family the pain of having their lives overturned for one split moment of bad decision-making.

 

There's a real cost to not having replay in baseball. I think Joyce is a good look at the price that must be paid -- wrongly to be sure -- for human beings being human in a world of stupid people.

 

Here's a link to the OTL article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=5993137

 

By all accounts I can see, Joyce is a really good guy. He's never going to be able to move past this thing. That's pretty unfortunate, and it just strikes me how easily we could remedy the situation, and yet nothing is done.

[Cubs Fan Dan]

Pretty good piece on OTL this morning. Jim Joyce -- the umpire who blew the call that would have given Galarraga a perfect game in Detroit -- was profiled.

 

He mentioned things like "it's almost worse than when my Dad died," and showed letters that he gets (and his family) even to this day about how he's going to be shot when he travels to X town, and what not.

 

Beyond discussions of how stupid people who make death threats are, it's amazing to think of how easy it would have been to spare Joyce and his family the pain of having their lives overturned for one split moment of bad decision-making.

 

There's a real cost to not having replay in baseball. I think Joyce is a good look at the price that must be paid -- wrongly to be sure -- for human beings being human in a world of stupid people.

 

Here's a link to the OTL article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=5993137

 

By all accounts I can see, Joyce is a really good guy. He's never going to be able to move past this thing. That's pretty unfortunate, and it just strikes me how easily we could remedy the situation, and yet nothing is done.

 

I agree with this, it is sad how stupid people take spotlight in others mistakes. I think Joyce overall is a pretty damn good umpire, replay needs to be used more in the MLB, maybe not for bang bang plays but definitely for obvious umpire mistakes.

[javy knows my name]

If Froemming was in this same situation, he wouldn't have batted an eye, and no one would be calling for his head. The fact that Joyce is so publicly remorseful about this is only hurting he and his family. The problem is not the lack of replay, it's the abundance of idiots who see a weakness.

 

Look, I appreciate him coming clean about this. But, you can't look at this as a direct cause of no replay. He didn't handle the situation that well, and people have picked up on a perceived weakness and are calling for blood because they can. It's not an indictment on the lack of replay; it's just an indictment on idiots who want to make a good guy's life miserable because he showed some humanity.

 

Yes, expanded replay could have prevented this from getting so out of hand. But that is hardly the point.

[erik316wttn]

If Froemming was in this same situation, he wouldn't have batted an eye, and no one would be calling for his head. The fact that Joyce is so publicly remorseful about this is only hurting he and his family. The problem is not the lack of replay, it's the abundance of idiots who see a weakness.

 

Look, I appreciate him coming clean about this. But, you can't look at this as a direct cause of no replay. He didn't handle the situation that well, and people have picked up on a perceived weakness and are calling for blood because they can. It's not an indictment on the lack of replay; it's just an indictment on idiots who want to make a good guy's life miserable because he showed some humanity.

 

Yes, expanded replay could have prevented this from getting so out of hand. But that is hardly the point.

 

Yes you can. You absolutely can. With replay, the call would have been reversed and the correct outcome would have happened. It baffles me how people could be against something that could guarantee the correct outcome on the field.

[imb]

lol at "guarantee".

[Soul]

It wouldn't guarantee anything. In this case it seems sure that it would have reversed the call.

 

To me this is definitely a good argument for replay. You aren't going to stop stupid people from existing. They're out there. And I don't want to declare Joyce "handled it badly" because he openly showed remorse. That just doesn't seem right to me. I'm happy he didn't try to clam up or become obstinate over the whole deal.

 

One other thing too -- it's amazing that they've actually got all the technology in place. It's ready to go. They already spent the money, did the work. And now? Now we ask the very people who are charged with getting the calls right to ignore the video replays that everyone else can see!

 

No, you can't look on that video screen 20 feet away. Everyone else can see it, but you can't. It's mind numbing.

[Guest]

I don't see what was wrong with how Joyce handled it.

 

He realized he was wrong, he realized everyone else knew he was wrong and he admitted it. I'd much rather have him do that then steadfastly defend what everyone could tell was an incorrect call.

[jersey cubs fan]

If Froemming was in this same situation, he wouldn't have batted an eye, and no one would be calling for his head. The fact that Joyce is so publicly remorseful about this is only hurting he and his family. The problem is not the lack of replay, it's the abundance of idiots who see a weakness.

 

I don't really think this claim makes much sense. People make threats to every person who makes a high profile mistake. It doesn't matter if the person "doesn't bat an eye" or actually shows remorse for the mistake.

[rocket]

joyce blowing that call was the best thing to ever happen to galaragga. no one cares today about len barker, tom browning, and mike witt. and in 25 years no one will care about dallas braden. but galaragga's should-have-been-perfect game will be remembered for a long time.

[bukie]

joyce blowing that call was the best thing to ever happen to galaragga. no one cares today about len barker, tom browning, and mike witt. and in 25 years no one will care about dallas braden. but galaragga's should-have-been-perfect game will be remembered for a long time.

Wait, what did Dallas Braden do? 25 years, try 25 weeks.

[biittner77]

joyce blowing that call was the best thing to ever happen to galaragga. no one cares today about len barker, tom browning, and mike witt. and in 25 years no one will care about dallas braden. but galaragga's should-have-been-perfect game will be remembered for a long time.

Wait, what did Dallas Braden do? 25 years, try 25 weeks.

 

He's the guy that punched Jeter because he kicked dirt from the pitchers mound. Or something like that.

[shnsajax]

joyce blowing that call was the best thing to ever happen to galaragga. no one cares today about len barker, tom browning, and mike witt. and in 25 years no one will care about dallas braden. but galaragga's should-have-been-perfect game will be remembered for a long time.

Wait, what did Dallas Braden do? 25 years, try 25 weeks.

 

He's the guy that punched Jeter because he kicked dirt from the pitchers mound. Or something like that.

 

He would actually be more memorable if he had done that.

[javy knows my name]

joyce blowing that call was the best thing to ever happen to galaragga. no one cares today about len barker, tom browning, and mike witt. and in 25 years no one will care about dallas braden. but galaragga's should-have-been-perfect game will be remembered for a long time.

Wait, what did Dallas Braden do? 25 years, try 25 weeks.

 

He's the guy that punched Jeter because he kicked dirt from the pitchers mound. Or something like that.

 

He would actually be more memorable if he had done that.

It was Arod, wasn't it? And he just pointed and yelled at him. Everyone points and yells at Arod

[erik316wttn]

It wouldn't guarantee anything. In this case it seems sure that it would have reversed the call.

 

To me this is definitely a good argument for replay. You aren't going to stop stupid people from existing. They're out there. And I don't want to declare Joyce "handled it badly" because he openly showed remorse. That just doesn't seem right to me. I'm happy he didn't try to clam up or become obstinate over the whole deal.

 

One other thing too -- it's amazing that they've actually got all the technology in place. It's ready to go. They already spent the money, did the work. And now? Now we ask the very people who are charged with getting the calls right to ignore the video replays that everyone else can see!

 

No, you can't look on that video screen 20 feet away. Everyone else can see it, but you can't. It's mind numbing.

 

With replay instituted for safe/out calls on the bases, and fair/foul for home runs, how can you argue that the correct outcome can't be "guaranteed"?

[Soul]

It wouldn't guarantee anything. In this case it seems sure that it would have reversed the call.

 

To me this is definitely a good argument for replay. You aren't going to stop stupid people from existing. They're out there. And I don't want to declare Joyce "handled it badly" because he openly showed remorse. That just doesn't seem right to me. I'm happy he didn't try to clam up or become obstinate over the whole deal.

 

One other thing too -- it's amazing that they've actually got all the technology in place. It's ready to go. They already spent the money, did the work. And now? Now we ask the very people who are charged with getting the calls right to ignore the video replays that everyone else can see!

 

No, you can't look on that video screen 20 feet away. Everyone else can see it, but you can't. It's mind numbing.

 

With replay instituted for safe/out calls on the bases, and fair/foul for home runs, how can you argue that the correct outcome can't be "guaranteed"?

 

Mistakes can still be made on replay. Camera angles don't always show everything clearly. And sometimes refs look at the video and apply the rules wrong.

 

I don't see how you can argue that anything is guaranteed. That doesn't mean replay isn't a good idea. It most definitely is.

[abuck1220]

i don't really get why joyce is taking this as hard as he is. it's not like his mistake led to galarraga's family being murdered or something. it's like the nine billionth most harmful mistake made in the last year.

[wade]

It wouldn't guarantee anything. In this case it seems sure that it would have reversed the call.

 

To me this is definitely a good argument for replay. You aren't going to stop stupid people from existing. They're out there. And I don't want to declare Joyce "handled it badly" because he openly showed remorse. That just doesn't seem right to me. I'm happy he didn't try to clam up or become obstinate over the whole deal.

 

One other thing too -- it's amazing that they've actually got all the technology in place. It's ready to go. They already spent the money, did the work. And now? Now we ask the very people who are charged with getting the calls right to ignore the video replays that everyone else can see!

 

No, you can't look on that video screen 20 feet away. Everyone else can see it, but you can't. It's mind numbing.

 

With replay instituted for safe/out calls on the bases, and fair/foul for home runs, how can you argue that the correct outcome can't be "guaranteed"?

 

The NFL may be our best example of replay, and during the Bears-Packers game the expert official in the broadcast booth said that the interception at the end of the first half would clearly have to be overturned, and it wasn't.

 

Safe-out calls at first could conceivably open a can of worms regarding control of the ball vs. toe touching the bag, etc. While the Gallaraga play looked obvious, not all would be, in my opinion.