And Speaking of Sports...

Steven Horwitz

I have to make a couple of comments about the travesty in Major League Baseball last night.  The Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga was bidding for the 21st perfect game in baseball history (and the third this season - black swan anyone?!) and was down to the final out.  The ball was hit toward second, fielded by the first baseman who threw to Galarraga covering first for the apparent final out.  The umpire, a 22 year veteran generally acknowledged as an excellent umpire, inexplicably called the runner safe.  Replays show he was clearly out.  Result?  Perfect game denied, no-hitter denied.  And the ump, Jim Joyce, may not make it out of Detroit alive.

Stuff like this is why I love sports, even though I'm still devastated by this very human error.  Some thoughts:

1. The reaction by almost everyone after the game was really classy.  The Tigers bitched a bit, but didn't go off the rails.  The umpire admitted he just flat out blew the call.  No excuses, just "I screwed up and cost the kid a perfect game."  He also apologized personally to Galarraga.  This is an outstanding lesson in how to handle a huge public mistake:  don't try to cover your tracks, just admit you screwed up and apologize to those affected.  As frustrated as I am by the mistake, I totally admire Joyce for the way he handled it, and Galarraga too, who gracefully accepted the apology.

2. There will be calls for more use of instant replay in baseball.  I'm not sure how I feel about that as I do like the human element of the game. 

3. If I were Bud Selig, the commissioner, here's what I would do to try to serve some rough justice.  He can't overturn an umpire's call on the field, as that sets an awful precedent.  But what he could do, I believe, is have the official scorer for the game change the play from a hit to an error.  That would still deny Galarraga the perfect game but at least give him a nearly-as-cool no-hitter, and it would do so without overriding the ump's judgment call.  Just because the batter was ruled safe, doesn't automatically mean it was a hit!

4. Best comment on the whole thing was from an anonymous commenter at the Detroit Free Press website:  "Wow, was that Frank Drebin from the Naked Gun last night?" 

Sports can always be relied on to give us something to talk about at the bar.

Comments

[twitter.com/KipEsquire]

Charge an error to whom -- the first baseman (who clearly did nothing wrong)? How is that fair and equitable?

[Steve Horwitz]

If you were Galarraga and no other remedy was forthcoming, would you accept an error on that play to salvage a no-hitter?

[FC]

The human element in umpiring failed miserably. The other three umpires either did not see that the runner was clearly out or put group solidarity over the integrity of the game. All of them should be disciplined.

[Tom Dougherty]

Let's eleminate human error from the game. Solution: Televised Xbox360 baseball.