Wednesday night should have been Detroit's shining moment, a chance to bask in the afterglow of accomplishment, something the city and its residents have not been able to do in quite some time. Instead, it was a night of disbelief and anger, a night filled with threats to a woman and her children.
By now everyone -- baseball fans and nonfans alike -- have heard about the botched call in Wednesday's Tigers-Indians game at Comerica Park in Detroit. Pitcher Armando Galarraga, the Tigers and Detroit stood on the edge of history. Galarraga was one out from throwing the 21st perfect game in baseball history and the first ever by a Tiger. But Jim Joyce, a good umpire by most accounts, missed the call at first base, signaling the runner safe and snatching perfection from a career 20-18 pitcher who had recently been called up from the minors.
Detroit could have exploded, which seemed quite likely when Tiger players and coaches rushed Joyce after the game. In the umpire's clubhouse, Joyce realized his error and he apologized. Then he made the lonely drive down Interstate 75 to his home in Toledo, Ohio, where his wife and children had already fielded threats. On Thursday, baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced that the call would stand. Meanwhile, Detroit, the Tigers and the umpire had a love fest, a group hug, the shining moment that had escaped the night before. Galarraga took the lineup card to home plate. A misty-eyed Joyce accepted it. Each man gave the other a pat on the back. After Thursday's game, Joyce, Tiger manager Jim Leyland and others choked up as they talked about Wednesday's debacle and Thursday's redemption. The eyes of men, which a day earlier seemed to betray, welled with tears. A cleansing.
The disbelief and hatred spewed in the Wednesday night air had dissipated in the warmth of a Thursday afternoon sun. All seemed right again. The world had been set back upon its axis. And the performances of Galarraga and Joyce were recorded in our hearts, not the record books.
2 comments:
I was glad Selig diddn't overturn the call. What's done is done, though it was an all-star error. I was surprised that in a blame-everyone-but-me era, the umpire took responsibility for his mistake. And the pitcher handled the issue with grace. Looks like they'll be forever linked like Steinbrenner-Martin and Branca-Thompson.
On this one point I disagree with you, Reggie: This game will be in the record books, and baseball, somehow will honor this imperfect perfect game.
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