The Rules of the Game

Last night (02 Jun), Cleveland Indian shortstop Jason Donald grounded to the second base side of the infield. Detroit Tiger first baseman Miguel Cabrera moved to his right to cut the ball off while the pitcher, Armando Galarraga, ran to first base to catch the throw. He caught the ball and put his foot to the bag moments before the runner got to first. Instead of calling the batter out, first base umpire, Jim Joyce, called the runner safe. Replays clearly show the runner out. If Donald had been called out as he should've been, this game would've gone into the history book as the 21st perfect game. Instead, the blown call resulted in documentation of the game as a one-hitter.

Jim Joyce, after watching the replay after the game, asked to see the young pitcher. Once Galarraga was brought to Joyce's locker room, Joyce apologized for blowing the call. Joyce says he clearly thought the runner beat the throw until he saw the replay. He blames himself, as he should, for "costing [Galarraga] a perfect game."

Today, the commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, let the blown call stand. Instead of erasing a bad call, he will let the history books show a one-hitter vice a perfect game. Selig stated human error is part of the game and that he is open to reviewing possible rule changes for instant replay (instant replay is only used for homerun hits). But the game stands as called. Why could he not undue an obvious wrong?

Everyone involved has been a great sportsman about this travesty. The expression on Galarraga's face when he saw Jim Joyce call the runner safe is all you have to see to understand the professional this man is. His face went from absolute joy to disbelief to smug resignation. He never argued the call. He even defended the umpire after the game. Jim Joyce is considered one of the best umpires in the business. For him to break protocol and apologize to Galarraga says a lot about the man and his professionalism. Bud Selig stood by the call and the final score. Was he professional? Some would argue he did the game wrong. The twenty-first perfect game in the over 100 year-old sport was not to be because of a blown call - a call the umpire who made it even admits was blown. Where's the justice?

From the game standpoint, umpires are human. Their role is to fairly call the game as they see it within the rules established by Major League Baseball. Sometimes the way they see it is not the same as the players or the managers or even the fans see the game. There are numerous times when the umpires are at odds with everyone else on how they see a particular play unfold. That is an unfortunate part of the game. Just realize, the rules are the rules with the umpires being the judge. The managers make mistakes that cost their teams the game. The players make mistakes that cost their teams the game. The umpires make mistakes that cost a team the game. While this is undesirable, it is a fact and function of the game.

Television has brought instant replay which is used in some form in most sports to make the game more accurate. The belief is that by overturning obvious human error makes the game called the way the game was supposed to be called. Some of the new advances in technology showcase even the smallest of human errors. For example, most of the major networks have a strike zone tracker where a digital representation of the strike zone is displayed and compared with the umpire's call. Does this really make the game better?

What if Bud Selig had reversed the call? What precedent would he had set for the next generation of baseball? What would he be telling the fans of yesteryear where a same type of call, if television had been around, had the same result? Would we want to review footage (if it exists) of prior games to correct blown calls in those games? How many other calls would people want to be overturned after the fact?

Bud Selig made the right call. The umpire saw what the umpire saw and he called it that way in accordance to the rules of the game. He admits he was wrong but the game has ended so the replay has no bearing on the game as it stands. Mr. Selig opened the door that if Major League Baseball wanted to prevent this from happening in the future, the rules could be changed to allow a future umpire call to be overturned by instant reply during the game. Until the rules are changed, the rules of the game are the rules of the game. And Major League Baseball and all parties involved followed those rules.

What about empathy for the pitcher? Should we not have empathy for taking away that young pitcher's perfect game? We definitely can feel for him - he was robbed of a perfect game. With too much empathy, we ignore the rules for a particular individual in a particular event. This ignoring of the rules only benefits the one member while at the same time undermining the integrity of the rules. We do not need this type of undermining in sports or in our judicial system. The rules of the game are the rules of the game. If you don't like them, change them. Ignoring them only undermines ones integrity and does not benefit the whole.


Mike

References:

Beck, J. (2010). Missed call ends Galarraga's perfect bid. Retrieved 03 Jun 2010 from http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100602&content_id=10727590&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

MLB.com. (2010). Major league baseball statement. Retrieved 03 Jun 2010 from http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20100603&content_id=10760448&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb