The Yankees may have won last night, but I was paying more attention to the debacle in Detroit than anything else. Squawker Jon and I watched the last inning of what should have been Armando Galarraga's perfect game, only to see it taken away by Jim Joyce's botched call.
I think Bud Selig ought to overturn that call. There is a precedent for this - the Pine Tar Game. I wrote a piece for The Faster Times arguing this. And the thing is, George Brett's bat did violate the rules of the game. Yet AL President Lee MacPhail still overturned the homer, citing the spirit of the game.
Anyhow, please read my article, and tell me what you think.
Also, earlier this week I wrote an article for The Faster Times about the silliness of the Florida Marlins selling Roy Halladay perfect game tickets after the fact. I hope Detroit doesn't do that with Galarraga's game!
What do you think? Tell us about it!
Thank you Lisa! As soon as I saw the replay I thought of the Pine Tar game. If it was done back then, do it now!
ReplyDeleteIn 1972, Milt Pappas of the Chicago Cubs was one strike away from a perfect game. He got a full count on the 27th and last batter, then threw a pitch right on the outside corner. But Bruce Froemming, then in the 2nd year of a career that would last a record 37 years (all of them incompetent -- in his last series as an ump, he refused to interrupt the Yanks-Indians ALDS game due to the bug infestation), called ball four. Pappas got the next batter, saving the no-hitter, but the perfect game was gone.
ReplyDeleteAfter the game, Pappas decided to take the high road, appealing to Froemming's ego, which was only slightly larger than his gut: "Bruce, do you know how many umpires have called a perfect game? You could have been one of them." Froemming said, "Milt, if I'd called that pitch a strike, I never could have lived with myself." Pappas lost the high road, and yelled, "How the hell do you live with yourself with all the other lousy calls you make?"
Jim Joyce admitted he blew it. This was the right thing to do. Anything that happened after that call can be wiped from the record books. Give Galarraga what he rightfully earned.