I speak, of course, about Jim Joyce's blown call that cost pitcher Armando Galarraga baseball's holy grail: A perfect game. But I'm not going to hem and haw and rail against the lack of precision in umpiring - baseball is by nature an imperfect game where even the most basic elements (balls and strikes) are judgment calls with human error playing a big part. After playing the game for years and years, most ballplayers have an understanding for this imperfection and realize the futility of arguing calls. And ultimately, how often does one call by the umpire actually decide the fate of the game?
But, almost despite myself, I find myself annoyed by Bud Selig's decision not to overturn the call. There are three main reasons:
Firstly, the impact of the decision. It cost someone a perfect game, what would have been the 21st in MLB history. That's roughly one every 5-10 years, which might be surprising given the recent spate of PG's within the last month. This is basically the rarest event in baseball, one that brings even uncelebrated pitchers (like Galarraga) instant fame and immortality. Part of the beauty of baseball is the way individual moments can shine through the sea of unfeeling statistics to be remembered into posterity - Merkel's boner, Bobby Thompson's home run, Bill Buckner's epic cock-up (trademark), these moments are immortal despite careers that may not have made them so. And any perfect game pitcher gets to be a part of that immortality. Most bad calls can, at worst, decide an individual game, and while this is upsetting, it's just a different number in the W and L columns. Joyce's call decided immortality.
Secondly, Joyce acknowledged as soon as humanly possible that he had gotten the call wrong. I'm sure he wanted to reverse the call, but knew that it was impossible to do in the heat of the game without ruining the integrity of the umpires. It's one thing to accept the imperfection of baseball umpiring, and another to adhere stringently to it when all parties involved agree that a mistake was made.
Thirdly, and most importantly, the correct call would have automatically ended the game. In most cases, disputed calls happen in the middle of games, even in the middle of at-bats. These are impossible to retroactively change because by the changing of just one part of a game, one would be unable to tell how the rest of the events would be affected. Take, for instance, the dispute two years ago over C.C. Sabathia's botched no-hitter: a close play on a ground ball was ruled a hit, and not, as some believed, an error. This ended up being the only hit in the game, meaning that had it been ruled an error, the game would have been a no-hitter. But making the game a no-hitter would rely on assumptions. For instance, how could we be sure that if Sabathia knew for sure that he still had a no-hitter the pressure wouldn't get to him and force him to err later in the game?
Had the blown call occurred with even 1 out in the ninth inning, I would be completely against changing the call since we never know what would have happened on the next out under the new circumstances. But since the real call would have actually ended the game, there are absolutely no what-ifs to argue. We know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that it would have been a perfect game, and therefore, it would be fair to retroactively change the call.
But while Galarraga's lost place in baseball lore is sad, the real travesty here is that this ordeal is surely to result in more instant replay in baseball. Generally, the human error in baseball is beautiful, and keeps the game more pastoral and relaxed than the rigidly ruled game of football where replay is commonplace. And wouldn't instant replay ultimately weaken the umpires' authority, the very thing that Selig's decision is meant to protect?
Joyce and Galarraga have handled this whole situation admirably, and as gentlemen. They behaved with tact from the moment the error occurred up through when they shook hands as they exchanged lineup cards the day after. Bud Selig is the only one who isn't with the program - by so stringently adhering to the dogma of baseball, he is ultimately weakening the rule of law in the sport. Selfishly, he has let Jim Joyce bare all of the wrath of the fans, and refused to make a controversial but just decision that would have relieved some of that burden. Sure, it would have brought criticism to his doorstep, but Jesus-like, he should have taken the sin upon himself to save the men involved. That's, to me, the commissioner's job.
Selig definitely should not overturn the call. Once you have the commissioner of baseball overturning individual umpire's decisions, that opens up a huge can of worms. It really tarnishes the credibility of the umpiring. He should, however, use this incident as impetus to improve and expand instant replay. Every other major sport uses it to some degree. Make it like football - each manager gets a fixed number of challenges per game, and limit the types of plays that can be challenged.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would love to hear your thoughts on the oil spill and our president's response to it.
-Graessle