Everyone and their dog is weighing in on this, making an appeal to the man to makes the decisions [sorta] in the majors to do the right thing.
The man who led the majors through a strike that nearly killed the game and the steroid decade dit "non". It will affect the integrity of the game.
Even the Prez weighed in, cut and paste from The Canadian Press:
White House spokesman says he hopes Major League Baseball reverses ump's call
WASHINGTON - First the umpire blew the call.
Now, in the view of the White House, so did Major League Baseball.
Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs weighed in Thursday on the story that had baseball fans talking: umpire Jim Joyce's muffed call that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. Galarraga on Wednesday night almost had the rare feat secured - 27 up, 27 down - except Joyce incorrectly called a runner safe on what would have been the final play of the game against the Cleveland Indians.
Replays showed that Joyce got the call wrong, which he later acknowledged after the seeing the video himself.
Said Gibbs: "I hope that baseball awards a perfect game to that pitcher."
Too late.
By the time Gibbs made that statement in his press briefing, the news broke that Commissioner Bud Selig will not reverse Joyce's call.
A reporter informed Gibbs, who responded: "They're not going to do it?"
Then he quipped: "We're going to work on an executive order."
Joyce apologized to Galarraga and hugged him after the game, and the pitcher accepted the words graciously. The two were back together Thursday before the next game between the teams, meeting at home plate as Galarraga gave Joyce the Tigers' lineup card. Joyce wiped away tears when he took the field.
"I think it's tremendously heartening to see somebody understand that they made a mistake and somebody accept the apology from somebody who made that mistake," Gibbs said. "I think that's a good lesson in baseball. It's probably a good lesson in Washington."
There have been only 20 perfect games in the storied history of Major League Baseball, which elevated the stakes of this one human error.
Gibbs said he had not talked to President Barack Obama about the matter. When asked if he was speaking on behalf of himself or the president in saying what baseball should do, Gibbs said to some laughter: "I'm speaking with the full weight of the federal government."
Be less of a fool Mr. Selig and do what is right.
WFDS
I disagree.
ReplyDeleteThe hand of god. The toe in the crease in OT. Orta safe at first.
Umpires blow calls. Life isn't fair. And sometimes you get the stinky end of the stick. I feel really bad for Galarraga, but I don't think that popular outrage suddenly gets to selectively change the past either.
I mean, if it had happened with the third batter and not the 27th would the outrage be as high?
If Cooperstown wants, they can put a notation about the imPerfectly Refed Game in the Hall. It would make for a heck of an exhibit.
But the blown call needs to stand there right alongside the rest of the long and inglorious history of blown calls that have cost others just as much, or even more.