On the Other Foot
Jon Gruber says that “For a perfect game I say you give the pitcher the call on a truly close play”. Many people want Major League Baseball to overturn the blown call in Galarraga’s near-perfect game last night. What I have to wander about the Joyce blunder is this: suppose Joyce blew the call the other way, and the runner was clearly out by a full step, and yet was called safe? Should the pitcher be stripped of the perfect game? Seriously, there’d be some griping, but not nearly the outcry to reverse the call. You take the fact that a guy has a career best moment taken away by a blown call, and not just any blown call, the last out of the game. It’s a dramatic story, and had the call been blown in Galarraga’s favor, it’s nowhere near as dramatic.
It’s a big day for Galarraga. Maybe the biggest day of his career. I have to say though, he might end up better off now than had he been awarded the 3rd perfect game in a month, the 21st perfect game in over a century of MLB recordkeeping. Seriously, name for me just five of the 20 pitchers who’ve pitched a perfect game. People won’t forget Galarraga’s name anytime soon. I heard some commentator on the news today claiming that Galarraga would lose $100K over this – nonsense. Galarraga proved himself a class act and if anything, he’s pure gold as a sports personality right now.
— Gordon Weakliem
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