Blown Call Ruins Perfect Game for Galarraga

Video replay clearly shows that Armando Galarraga's foot was on the bag in time to 

beat Cleveland's Jason Donald by a half-step (courtesy AP)

 

 

With two outs in the ninth inning of last night's game between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians, history was calling. To that point in the game, Tigers' pitcher Armando Galarraga was one out away from only the 21st perfect game in Major League history. 17,738 fans in attendance were on their feet, cheering for what they thought would be history, something they could tell their grandchildren about in later years. The entire Tigers' team was on the top of the dugout steps, waiting to storm the field to congratulate Galarraga. Just then, the unthinkable happened. 

With the count 1 ball and 1 strike to Cleveland Indians' shortstop Jason Donald, Galarraga delivered a slider. Donald grounded the ball into the hole between first and second. Tigers' first baseman Miguel Cabrera ranged to his right, backhanded the ball, and threw a perfect strike to Galarraga, gliding over to cover the first base bag. Umpire Jim Joyce, a  21-year veteran, called Donald safe on the play, and the perfect night was not to be. Tigers' manager Jim Leyland came out to argue in vein, and Galarraga, who was clearly upset, retired the next batter to preserve the one-hit shutout. 

Immediately after the game, Joyce went into the umpires' locker room, reviewed the play, and instantly met with the press to admit his mea culpa. He had clearly blown the call, and he knew it. Joyce owned up to his mistake with the media, and then requested to meet with the distraught Galarraga to apologize. Tigers president/general manager Dave Dombrowski brought Galarraga from the home clubhouse into the umpires' room. "He asked if he could see Armando and I brought Armando in there," Dombrowski said, "and [Joyce] apologized profusely to him and he said he just felt terrible. They hugged each other and Armando said, 'I understand.'"

Dombrowski went on to say, "I feel terrible. I don't know why life works this way, but sometimes life just isn't fair for people. He's a good umpire." Said Galarraga: "He understands. I give him a lot of credit for coming in and saying, 'Hey, I need to talk to you to say I'm sorry.' That doesn't happen. You don't see an umpire after the game come out and say, 'Hey, let me tell you I'm sorry.' He apologized to me and he felt really bad. He didn't even shower. He was in the same clothes. He gave me a couple hugs."

The play itself unleashed a slew of calls for baseball to expand its use of video replay. Many players and managers weighed in on the issue soon after viewing the controversial play. New York Mets' third baseman David Wright said, "Umpires go out there, they give you a great effort. Of course they're not always going to get everything right, but that's kind of the nature of the game. If they do the instant replay thing, great. If not, we'll keep playing it how it's been played for 100 years." Kansas City Royals' manager Ned Yost chimed in as well. "My whole philosophy is that the umpires should be able to get the call right. And if it takes instant replay, that doesn't bother me. I'd just as soon make sure that the play is called right. Umpiring is not an easy job -- it's tough. I try to do it every night and I'm wrong about 60 percent of the time on plays at first base. I think he's out and I go look at the replay and he's safe. If I think he's safe, I go look at the replay and he's out. It's tough and I think that sometimes that could be something that could help."

This interesting take from Boston Red Sox centerfielder Mike Cameron: "We're going to replay it forever for the next two months anyway, so you might as well do it in the two minutes it takes to get it right," Cameron said. "Obviously the guy knew he was out, too, so that's even worse. In a situation like that, we was talking about having a little red flag you could throw on the field. You get one instant replay call. The game has already been so far advanced. You might as well have instant replay. I wouldn't mind it at all. We do everything else. We have every stat you can possibly have so you might as well have instant replay to get it all right."

There are many baseball purists out there who will certainly rail against the use of video replay, and many current players and managers are among them. St. Louis Cardinals' pitcher Mitchell Boggs had this to say: "I think what makes baseball great is the human element. If you have instant replay it takes a lot of tradition out of the game." "Those guys," Boggs added, referring to umpires, "do an outstanding job for the most part, they don't miss a lot, so I don't think instant replay needs to go that far. It is a tough situation, this time a guy missed a perfect game, but, you know, that is part of it." Even Detroit manager Jim Leyland, who was not shy about protesting Joyce's call -- both when he made it and after the conclusion of Galarraga's one-hitter, conceded "the human element of the game."

"It's going to remain that way forever. I think it should," Leyland said. "I'm sure somebody is going to say, if they had a replay on that play, the kid would have had a perfect game. Somebody will say something about that, but not me. That's just the human element. It's a good element. The umpires do a great job. There's no question about that. They are whole lot right more than they are wrong." *

*Parts of this story were taken from articles published on the web. Quotes taken from MLB.com.