Posted on 06/03/2010 8:49:00 AM PDT by ICAB9USA
NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball was still deciding Thursday morning whether to review the umpire's blown call that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game.
Commissioner Bud Selig has the power to reverse umpire Jim Joyce's missed call that came with two outs in the ninth inning Wednesday night in Detroit. Joyce ruled Cleveland's Jason Donald safe, then admitted he got it wrong.
Selig would likely consult with his top advisers before making such a ruling. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa says the call should be overturned.
Joyce was scheduled to be back at work Thursday afternoon, umpiring at home plate in the game between the Tigers and Indians.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
“The call should stand”.
Baseball is a game that teaches us about life. Life isn’t fair. A judgment call means what it says. Judgment, right or wrong. It’s part of baseball, it’s part of life. Leave it alone.
One problem with allowing reversal after the game is that it doesn’t work in both directions. In this case, the game would be over, so it would be no big deal. Let’s say, however, that runner was safe and was called out? Now the game continues the next day, or the next week if the league acts slowly. However, now you have different pitchers who are rested and ready. The game’s outcome could be quite different than it would have been had the right call been made in the first place and play continued. For balls and strikes, we could just use technology and do away with umps. For outs and fouls, sensors in the foul lines and poles and players’ gloves could do the job. Then we could just hire umpires to look for balks and the like. The game would be 99.9% perfectly called, and it would stink.
“If they reverse an umpire’s call after the game, then baseball as we know it is dead.”
This case is special enough that I think it is appropriate. This is why they need limited use of instant replay.
I see your point, but we don’t need baseball to teach us life. Life does that.
Justice should prevail.
If you are falsely accused of a crime, and visual evidence proves it, wouldn’t you want the call reversed?
Apples and oranges, Brett was caught using an illegal bat...the rules are very clear about that.
The umpire made a bad call, that's part of the game.........
"A good friend of mine used to say, 'This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.' Think about that for a while."
--Ebby Calvin LaLoosh
I’m amazed how many of you are unwilling to think outside of the box on this one.
Let justice prevail.
Rule 2 defines catch:
A CATCH is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a ball in flight and firmly holding it; providing he does not use his cap, protector, pocket or any other part of his uniform in getting possession. It is not a catch, however, if simultaneously or immediately following his contact with the ball, he collides with a player, or with a wall, or if he falls down, and as a result of such collision or falling, drops the ball. It is not a catch if a fielder touches a fly ball which then hits a member of the offensive team or an umpire and then is caught by another defensive player. If the fielder has made the catch and drops the ball while in the act of making a throw following the catch, the ball shall be adjudged to have been caught. In establishing the validity of the catch, the fielder shall hold the ball long enough to prove that he has complete control of the ball and that his release of the ball is voluntary and intentional.
He caught the ball at first.
During a game, not after it. Is MLB going to go back a reverse the call against the St. Louis Cardinals in game six of the World Series in 1985 and take the championship away that year from the Royals, too?
Instant replay of every call would result in four hour games at minimum. If instant replay is going to be expanded, it needs to be used the way it is in the NFL -- with managers allowed a limited number of challenges per game.
Actually, there was no penalty specified in the rules and in that case it falls squarely under the umpire's prerogative - it was a judgment call.
The umpire absolutely had the authority to do what he did and his call was correct.
I’m miffed at the botched call, but to overturn the call would set a horrible precedent.
The call was unfortunate ... but it's over. period.
love that movie!
It's apples and oranges, but not in the way you porptray it.
The call in the Pine Tar Game was a correct call, but it was overturned anyway.
The call in this game was completely incorrect - as even the umpire himself admits.
If the Pine Tar Game result could be overturned even though the officiating was technically correct, why can't this clearly incorrect call be overturned?
Agreed.
Yep, it’s ruining NFL football, yes I understand the need to make sure calls are correct, but it’s ridiculous how it ruins the flow of a game.
1. The kid did indeed earn his perfecto. I saw the ball 'move' in the glove, but it seemed to still be under full control -- the NFL worries a lot more about that issue than does baseball.
2. We do have a baseball precedent...the 'Pine Tar' game. That one was handled a lot less cleanly than this would be.
3. There are two stats that would be impacted by a reversal: (a) the 'hit' awarded to Jason Donald; (b) the out recorded by Trevor Crowe to (re)end the game.
Crowe wouldn't complain if there's a reversal - his batting average would increase as a result since he would never have batted. Donald's average would decrease, but he'll never have to answer questions about the 'tainted' hit for the rest of his life.
This is correctable - and probably should be done for the sake of the history involved. Had the blown call occurred in the fourth inning... or even the eighth... then you can argue that a change would impact the game's outcome. But not so here with 2+ outs in the ninth.
The commish should fix this.
It's unfair to pitchers in the past that threw no-hitters or perfect games that were lost due to a poor call by an umpire.
The umpire and the umpire alone has the authority to make a call on the field. Those are the rules of the game and the commissioner shouldn't be rescinding them.
But it would be like awarding somebody an Olympic Gold Medal after the fact, yes they get the medal, but it can never make up for missing out on being on top of the podium and hearing your anthem played.
The call needs to be overturned. This is a no-brainer.
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