I am a Tigers fan, a Detroit Lions fan, and a Univ. of Michigan fan...now, if you decide not to read further, I'd understand. All of these teams (except for the Tigers) have been pretty much losers lately. I just wanted to discuss the situation that happened two days ago when the pitcher for the Tigers-Armando Galarraga, is one out away from a no hitter and the umpire called the runner safe...blowing the pitchers chance at a no hitter. If you understand baseball, it is all about tradition and history. But, since 2008 there have been changes with the increasing obsession with technology and now most sports get to have a call reviewed or challenged. In baseball the rules are that an umpire can check to see if there was a home run-whether fair or foul by watching an instant replay on TV. After Wednesdays game, I'm sure that will change.
In most sports, the player that the umpire or referee made a bad call on would do something violent-yell, hit, swear, etc and get kicked out of the game. But, Galarraga was a mature, professional that looked into tons of cameras and said "nobody's perfect." What a message to give Americans after being robbed of his "perfect" game. No hitters don't happened often. Until this season, there had never been three perfect games within the first half of a season. We had two already this year and Galarraga's no hitter would have been historical. I am sad for him. But proud of him too. I think the message about sportsmanship was clear both for the pitcher and the umpire who admitted to his mistake publicly. Who does that? No even our past presidents have admitted to mistakes so quickly after making one. The umpire Jim Joyce was a brave man, going out onto the field the next day to umpire the next Detroit game. Galarraga came out and handed him the lineup card and Joyce, with tears in his eyes, shook his hand. I know what you are thinking...how cheesy? how made for TV? And I agree...but, this also had meaning to us all because of the way it finally was a positive moment for sports. Even with the NBA playoffs looming and the gossip about where LeBron James is going to go next to play...this lesson felt bigger and more important to me. It is about apologizing if you do wrong, admitting your mistakes, and moving forward.
The commissioner is looking into extending the rules on instant replay for a situation such as what happened to Joyce's blown call and I agree that someone should overturn those situations. But what happens next...will baseball start reviewing pitches that aren't in the strike zone or whether or not a player is wearing his uniform correctly? Where do we draw the line? Or is the line meant to bend and stretch and pull?
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