Historic character, II: A motor city miracle

Imagine being Jim Joyce. 

In case you missed it, he's the ump that cost Detroit Tiger Armando Galarraga a perfect game with a blown call on the very last out.  And it wasn't a close call.  But he's also the ump that upon seeing the replay recognized the gravity of what he had done and apologized to Galarraga and his manager for something that could not be undone (my thoughts here).

Imagine being that guy, but it gets worse.  A team of umpires stays with two baseball teams for as many games as they play.  The umpires rotate positions from game to game.  Jim Joyce had first base, the location of the blown call, on Wednesday night.  Thursday he had homeplate.  What must it have been like for him to stand in the tunnel and steel himself for what he would received from the Detroit fans when he took the field.  Only the little old lady from Kalamazoo who would be attending her first baseball game ever would have no clue.  Surely, the bitterness in the bellies of the tens of thousands would have soured to a boil.

Au contraire!  When Joyce took the field, the Detroit faithful stood and applauded him.  Yes, you read that right, they clapped for the man.  No, they weren't tickled over the missed call.  They stood to honor the man for his humility in admitting a horrifying call AND for apologizing to those he'd wronged.

Can you imagine such a thing in Boston?  Howzabout the Bronx?  Not me.  Frankly, I would not have imagined it in Detroit. 

The fairy tale continued.  Tiger manager Jim Leyland would typically deliver his team's lineup to the homeplate umpire at homeplate before the start of the game along with the opposing team's manager.  Rather than go himself, Leyland sent the lineup in the hand of Galarraga.  Joyce wept at the dignity shown him by so many.  Who wouldn't?

Who'd-a-thunk that from the worst call in major league baseball history would come three of the most striking examples of character in sport.  The grace and forgiveness of Armando Galarraga.  The contrition and humility of Jim Joyce.  And the grace and mercy of the Detroit Tigers, fans in attendance last night, team, and manager.

Makes you want to head out to the ball park.

Historic game. Historic character

If you're not a baseball fan, would you hang with me for a couple of paragraphs?  Something--somethings--incredible happened yesterday and you should hear about them.

A perfect game in baseball.  Do you know what it is?  No, it's not the same as a no-hitter.  As phenomenal an accomplishment as a no-hitter is, a batter for the opposing team might get on base through a walk or by getting hit by an errant pitch.  You'll see pitchers toss no-hitters every year.  Not so much the perfect game.

In a perfect game, twenty-seven batters (three per inning) come to the plate and twenty-seven batters return to the dugout after striking out, grounding out, or flying out. 

Still don't get it?  Prior to the kickoff of the 2010 season, only eighteen pitchers have pitched a perfect game at the major league level.  Ever!  In fact, between 1968 and 1981, no MLB pitcher recorded a perfect game.  This year, heads swam because in the short span of three weeks, Major League Baseball saw two more perfect games thrown, one by Oakland A, Dallas Braden and one by Philadelphia Phillie phenom, Roy Halladay.  Two in one year?!  Wow.  What a season and we're just a third into it.

Then came last night.

Detroit Tiger, Armando Galarraga, tried to make it a trifecta.  Through eight innings, he sat down the twenty-four Indians that faced him (not a racist comment, by the way.  We do still have some sane organizations that understand Native American references are honoring and not insulting (i.e. the NHL and the Chicago Blackhawks.  The NCAA, on the other hand...). 

Then came the ninth inning. 

Indian veteran Mark Grudzielanek crushed Galarraga's first pitch into the gap in deep left center.  As baseball officianados say, you can't have a perfect game without a key defensive play.  The defender that came through for Galarraga was centerfielder Austin Jackson.  Mr. Jackson covered an uncoverable distance and made an uncatchable catch to salvage the perfect game through 25 of 27 outs.  Galarraga said afterward that seeing a teammate pour it all out to make such a play steeled him toward perfection.

Veteran catcher and batter #8 in the lineup, Mike Redmond, grounded out for out #26.  Up comes batter #9, rookie Jason Donald.  Understand, you don't want to be the team that has a perfect game thrown against you.  You want to be the one to break up the perfect game.  After watching a strike and a ball go by, Donald swung at pitch #3 and bounced it toward first base.  First baseman Miguel Cabrera slid to his right and, like any good fielding pitcher, Galarraga tore toward first to cover the bag.  Cabrera tosses, Galarraga catches (with his foot on the bag), and Donald arrives at the bag a bit more than a half-step late.  Perfect game!

Not.

Veteran umpire Jim Joyce stationed at first base called Donald safe, but I believe he was the only man on the planet who missed the call.  Even Donald, upon seeing that Joyce had ruled him safe, put his hands on his head in stunned disbelief.  Miguel Cabrera's hands were in the same you-gotta-be-kidding-me position.  The manager, Jim Leyland, protested rightly, longly, and loudly.  (If you haven't seen the play, here you go.)

The most surreal thing about the scene?  Armando Galarraga stood there and smiled.  Granted, the smile was in shock, but unlike 97% of athletes, he did not get in the face of the umpire and protest like a child forbidden to play his seventeenth consecutive hour of Wii.  He returned to the mound and got the 28th batter to ground out.

To his credit, Jim Joyce reviewed the video after the game and admitted he got the call wrong (a great take by Hall of Fame pitcher Curt Shilling here).  "I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay...It was the biggest call of my career, and I (blew) it."  He recognized the depth of his error, "I just cost the kid a perfect game."  He went on to apologize to Leyland and to Galarraga.  The latter noted the depth of Joyce's grief when he recognized that the umpire hadn't even yet showered before he came to apologize.

Jim Joyce said he deserved everything that was said about him on the field.  "I would have been the first person in my face," he said.  Then he noted, "He (Galarraga) did not say a word to me (on the field)."

Surely Galarraga harbored bitterness.  "No, nobody's perfect," he shrugged.

I beg to differ.  Armando Galarraga was perfect last night.  Twice.

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NOTE:  Commissioner Bud Selig, who would have the authority to overturn such a call, said he would not.  Of all the people in MLB that would like to see the call overturned, my bet is that none would love to see it overturned more than umpire Jim Joyce.