Pitcher handles missed call with grace and compassion
The only saving grace to Armando Galarraga being robbed of a perfect game by a blown call was that after the mistake had been made the principal parties involved acted with a certain amount of grace.
The Detroit Tigers right-hander threw a perfect game on Wednesday night against the Cleveland Indians, but he won't get official credit for it, because first-base umpire Jim Joyce blew a call on what should have been the final out of the game.
With two outs and Galarraga on the verge of pitching immortality, Indians shortstop Jason Donald hit a grounder wide of first. Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera fielded the ball, and tossed to Galarraga covering first. Galarraga beat Donald to the bag. Cabrera's throw beat Donald to the bag. Donald was out. The perfect game had been completed.
But no, Joyce umpiring at first base called Donald safe. The perfect game had turned into the perfect storm. Instead of Galarraga's perfect game being remembered, an umpire's human error would be endlessly recalled.
To Joyce's credit, he directly owned up to the mistake.
"It was the biggest call of my career and I kicked the [stuff] out of it," he said. "I just cost that kid a perfect game after he pitched his [behind] off all night."
"I had a great angle and I missed the call. I really thought [Donald] beat the ball. At that time, I thought he beat the ball. After I heard from the Tigers, who had obviously seen a replay, I asked the guy in the room to cue up the play as soon as we got in here, and I missed it from here to that wall."
Joyce asked to meet with Galarraga after the game to offer him a personal apology. Tigers president/general manager Dave Dombrowski brought Galarraga from the Tigers' clubhouse to the umpire's room to meet with Joyce. Throughout this ordeal, Galarraga has demonstrated a level of dignity that was as admirable as his pitching had been. Another man might have ranted and raved for several weeks. Galarraga had to be extraordinarily disappointed, but he made no public show of outrage. And then he graciously accepted Joyce's apology.
"He understands," Galarraga said. "I give him a lot of credit for coming in and saying, 'Hey, I need to talk to you to say I'm sorry.' That doesn't happen. You don't see an umpire after the game come out and say, 'Hey, let me tell you I'm sorry.' He apologized to me and he felt really bad. He didn't even shower. He was in the same clothes. He gave me a couple hugs.
"I know nobody's perfect. What are you going to do? I was mad in the moment because I was nervous. I didn't know what to do. I was like celebrating. Then I looked at him.
"He apologized. He feels really bad. Nobody is perfect," Galarraga said. "What am I gonna do? His body language said more than a lot of words. His eyes were watery, he didn't have to say much. His body language said a lot."
Joyce, a 22-season Major League veteran, and, apart from this incident, a respected umpire, understood that he was going to be in for some serous criticism.
"I don't blame the Tigers for anything that was said after the game," Joyce said. "If I had been Galarraga, I would have been the first one in my face and he never said a word to me. I don't blame one person for their reaction."
One person who was in Joyce's face was Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who went out immediately after the call was made for an explanation/argument and resumed the argument after the final out. But later, Leyland cooled down and offered a helpful, healing perspective.
"That's the nature of the business, that's just the way it is," Leyland said. "The players are human. The umpires are human. The managers are human. The writers are human. We all make mistakes. It's a crying shame. Jimmy's a real good umpire, has been for a long time. He probably got it wrong."
The missed call was a real low point for baseball, an epic performance; a perfect game pitched by Galarraga erased by human error, an umpire's error. Both Galarraga and baseball were deprived of history and the injustice rankled.
And yet, the aftermath of human error included all the parties involved displaying some admirable human qualities. Joyce seemed to be truly penitent. Galarraga acted with consistent grace and dignity. Leyland had enough generosity of spirit to offer kind, consoling words for the umpire.
The human mistake would not be erased; the injustice would not be reversed. But the aftermath offered some displays of human dignity that reminded us not of a major mistake but of baseball's best traits.
Mike Bauman is a national columnist for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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