Imperfection At Its Finest: Bud Selig Should Not Reverse The Un-Perfect Game

Sorry, but the umpire admits that he blew it and the tape doesn’t lie. Also, it doesn’t change wether or not the game was won. At the very least it should instigate instant replay.

Yes, this adds another chapter to the unfortunate story that is umpiring in 2010. But still… I don’t think I want it to be as highly reviewed as football. That’s one reason I think football is so damn BORING. I like replay for HR calls. I’d even be game to seeing it expanded to close plays at the plate. But that’s it.

the man did throw a perfect game. Whether or not the ump called it right, it was still actually perfect. I don’t see why we should let an ump’s bad call get in the way – ESPECIALLY when he clearly understands that he blew it. If it were closer I could at least understand, but it was obvious. Ump was in a bad position, made a bad call – give the guy the game he deserves.

Umps really are trying over the last couple of years to make a case for instant replay, aren’t they? A simple NFL-like flag system would suffice. Unless you’re Joe West, in which case the extra few minutes it might cut into your nightly WoW time.

The umpires are not players on the field. They are an extension of the rules that are there to make sure that everyone knows what happened. Yes, umpire mistakes are a part of baseball but they shouldn’t be. If they could have some system that was absolutely perfect are you seriously telling me you would rather have fallable refs? That’s patently ridiculous.

Selig shouldn’t get in the habit of changing games after they happen, but he damn sure should consider making at least 1 exception. And hopefully institute further rule changes to further minimize umps being wrong and destroying the sanctity of the game.

I don’t agree with overturning the call, or amending scores or whatnot, but I would agree with the Selig announcing it as a perfect game. Then can be listed with the other perfect games.

If Selig reverses the call and gives Galarraga the 21st complete game in baseball history

Dont you mean perfect?

Oh, and I disagree completely. And I think reply should be implemented.

Screw the purists, we should have a consistent strike zone (electronically) and replay for questionable calls.

The “tradition” of bad calls should go the way of the dodo. A pure game of baseball would be the right calls and we have the technology to do it.

In 2009, three umps got under my skin enough to write their name on a peice of paper and throw it in a box to look at in the off season:
Jim Joyce, Bill Miller, and then Bob Davidson.

In 2010 my three pieces of paper to date are:
Dale Scott, Joe West, and Angel Hernandez.

Bring on the electronic ump system.
I could add a name to the box every night for just plain missed calls.

Link to Jim Joyce Bio;
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/umpires/bio.jsp?id=2536

However, Boy Howdy, do I ever disagree with this:

Jim Joyce was positioned behind first base to make the best possible call he could make. That is his job and that is what he did

That is his job, but that is most certainly NOT what he did. He @#$%ed that call. Absolutely @#$%ed it. It was absolutely brutal and that fact should not swept aside as “nobody’s perfect”.

His job was to make the best possible call he could make. That most certainly is not what he did. What he did was make the worst call he could make.

Who needs justice. A proven wrong is done, but because “it has always been that way” well we must not have justice. Hell how did we stop eating other people??

What bullcrap! Even if you do not wish to retroactively change a finalized game now, at least use the new technology of reply to prevent this crap from happening again. Justice is a good and fair AND NEEDED social concept.

I love the game because for whatever reason I like to watch nine guys hit a ball at nine other guys and run counter clockwise. Blown calls have nothing to do with it. Yes mistakes happen, balls are strikes, bases aren’t tagged and all sorts of other things, but I can’t say if umps could manage to get calls better with technology I’d love the game less.

seriously….mistakes are made every game…should they go back and review tapes of every one hitter? The Tigers won the game, Galarraga pitched well….a meaningless hit does not change that

Don’t change it because then other people will want things in the past and future changed. Let’s just move on.

We all want to have the “right thing” happen and award the perfect game. That being said, I don’t see how MLB can possibly reverse the call after the fact, obviously using video replay; it would set a huge precedent for the future. Perhaps MLB could put the perfect game in the record books anyway? A real cop out I realize, but it would be akin to the Maris asterik and altering the record does not alter the call or the game. Just a thought.
As to the possibility of changing the call, I don’t see MLB going down that path and I don’t believe they should. The only possibility is to change a rule to allow replay for the last out of a game.
Baseball is an imperfect game and every event on the field is subject to a call by the umpire; every out is called, every pitch is called, fair/foul, etc. This makes wide usage of in-game replay almost impossible as implemented in other sports. On the other hand, there is no clock in baseball and the imperferfections/human element is balanced by the fact that every batter gets 3 strikes, 3 outs, 9 innings… you all get it. When my 12 year old complains about a called third strike, I reply that he had 3+ other pitches to hit and another chance later in the game, assuming it was not the last out. That is why it could be possible to implement replay for the third out as last night.
If MLB reverses this call, without changing the rules or narrowingly defining the scope, they are opening a huge can of worms for the future. What happens when an umpire blows a call in a playoff game or World Series? If MLB does not inervene, could the affected team sue saying that MLB previously intervened? Wow, wouldn’t that be a black eye.