Bronco Chase

I know that I am a couple of days late on this particular subject, but I need to add my two cents. I figured that I better do it now before any more days went by since it happened. Armando Galarrag's should-have-been perfect game!
The phenomenon of a perfect game in Major League Baseball is one that few people have the privilege or opportunity to experience. In fact, coming into the current MLB season, there had only been 18 of them in the history of the game. That makes sense. Think of what it takes to pull it off—27 batters come up to the plate and not one of them reaches base and all are retired in order, by the same pitcher! It seems that there is always some sort of help or back up by the 8 other fielders, usually in the form of an amazing catch by an outfielder up against the wall or a beautiful play for a ground out by the shortstop diving for the ball. As hard as a perfect game is to achieve, there have been 3 already this season. Well, it should have been 3. However, it will go into the record books as only 2. Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers got jammed by umpire Jim Joyce with 2 outs in the ninth inning Wednesday night. The botched call came when Cleveland Indian’s shortstop Jason Donald hit a grounder and appeared to have gotten to the bag a half a second after the first baseman had control of the ball. The crowd was ready to blow up. The Tigers were preparing themselves for an all night party in celebration of the 21st perfect game in Major League history, but Joyce ruined the moment and signaled Donald safe at first. The boo’s rang out from the crowd, and Detroit manager Jim Leyland did his best to argue the call, but all was to no avail. Duncan was safe. Galarraga proceeded to get the next out and the arguments continued with the umpires. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a player being called safe, even if it ends a no hit bid by a pitcher. Well, at least there is nothing wrong with that if the call is correct! The other 3 umpires supported Joyce, until they saw the replay after the game and realized that he was dead wrong. In the moment, Joyce said that he thought the runner had beaten the throw. It was not a purposeful act to ruin the moment. It was an honest mistake. Joyce’s apology was sincere, heartfelt, and refreshing. Galarraga and the Tigers were gracious, understanding, and appreciative of Joyce and his honesty. Life goes on. However, the missed call may have forever changed Major League Baseball as we know it. The sport has recently taken a lot of heat about their refusal to use instant replay in order to get calls correct. Using it to verify that home runs are home runs or whether they are fair or foul is not good enough. It’s not even close to good enough. It is understood that baseball is a sport for the traditionalists and that change is hard to take for its fans, but for the sake of history, it needs to be fixed. Look at the NBA, NFL, and the NHL and their use of instant replay to get calls correct. Their popularity has never been higher. For the most part, the umpires get the calls correct and it is unfortunate that one bad call overshadows hundreds or even thousands of good ones. But it is necessitated for situations like this; an almost perfect game with a bad call that shatters a young man’s chances of making history. A quick look at a monitor could have fixed the mistake and corrected history. It’s a time machine, the white out, or the backspace button. Come on Bud Selig! Be a proactive commissioner and make instant replay available for the umpires. The game needs it more now than ever. It is hard to market a sport that carries a rap for bad calls and big mistakes by those who regulate during the games, even one with such a rich history and tradition. Younger people, or the new generation, are being lost by the sport and the old school baseball fan is getting older. Soon there won’t be many true ball fans left. Baseball needs to catch up with the rest of the sporting world and appeal to the new generation of fans, or it is going to get left behind for good.