The Bobcat Nation

would just like to express my displeasure with MLB commish Bud "steriods are okay if you don't get caught" Selig. what i'm referring to is mr. selig's decision not to overturn the lousy call that ruined a perfect game. look, i love baseball and completely agree that human error is part of what makes it such a great game , but selig completely dropped the ball on this one. this was a unique situation. overturning the call would not have opened pandoras box nor would it have set a bad new SOP for MLB, nor would it have ruined the integrity of the game or it's umpires. getting the call right would have merely awarded a young man with what he clearly deserved; a perfect game. way to go bud!

just to play devil's advocate, what if jason donald hits for 55 more games....then does selig have to go back and reverse the reversal to award donald his record?

I think it probably should have been overturned, simply because Joyce admitted he blew the call. This situation was handled very professionally by Joyce, Galarraga, Leyland, and the entire Tigers organization.

Plus Galarraga got a new Corvette because of this. Can't complain about that.

If the game had been 14-3 Tigers, would you be calling for the same thing? Should he go back and reverse the call when Jeffery Maier (sp) reached over the wall giving the Yanks a homerun? How about a called ball four, that should have been a strike three to end a game that eventually was lost (which in the big picture of things is much more detrimental to a team than losing a perfect game)? The Twins had a blown call that same night that very well could have lost them the game (bet you didn't even know that, did you?), do you overturn that too? Where do you draw the line?

As much as I agree that it sucks that Galaraga lost his perfect game, life goes on. If you start overturning calls on games like this, where does it stop? You set a precedent for the future that calls can be overturned the next day, which would be as you said, opening Pandora's Box. To use an example that hits close to home for you, say a Red Sox player is called out at third when he should have been safe in a 3-3 game in the top of 9 with the Yankees. Next batter up, singles up the middle which would have scored the go ahead run, instead you have a runner on first with two outs, next batter flies out, no runs scored. The Yankees knock in a run in bottom of 9 to win the game, clinching first place for the Yankees in the AL East. How do you handle that? You've set a precedent that you can overturn calls so now what?

With all that being said, I give both Gallaraga, the Tigers and Joyce huge amounts of kudos for how they both handled the situation. Joyce will forever be known for blowing this call and you could see how it was tearing him apart. Gallaraga, who for me up until two days ago, i didn't know anything about, handled it with class all the way, even down to the sly little smile when Joyce called him safe. Plus he got a brand new corvette out of it.

catamaran wrote:just to play devil's advocate, what if jason donald hits for 55 more games....then does selig have to go back and reverse the reversal to award donald his record?

I was thinking about that, too. I would love to see Gallaraga get awarded his perfect game, but there are other implications as well. Catamaran points out the perfect example.

While I agree that the call was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY bad, it didn't impact the outcome of the game. The only thing that was impacted was a stat line.

I wonder how many many times Joe Dimaggio got the benefit of the doubt when a fielder bobbled a grounder? Or how many balls out of the zone were called strikes When Clemmens and Kerry Wood racked up 20 strikeouts?

While I feel bad for Gallaraga, and think he definitely deserved the perfecto, in the end it's just a stat.

Jim Joyce: Classy
Galarraga: Classy
Detroit Fans: Classy (ok, a day later but they came around)
Chevrolet: Classy (in case you missed it, Chevy gave Galarraga a new Vette)
Selig: Moron

I don't like Bud either but No WAY he should overturn that call. It would open Pandora's Box and if you don't like the rules then change them but you HAVE to live within the rules as long as they are in place. If you don't want this to happen again then approve instant replay. These guys blow calls everyday. They cost my Twins a win in Seattle the other day but that is part of the game and everyone wins a few and loses a few. It evens out over time. If you don't like it then do something about it but to overturn a call should never be an option. I don't care if it altered the World Series outcome!

It won't go in the record books.....


.....there are greater tragedies.

Back in the day games were played "under protest". If a manager felt there was some egregious infraction or violation he would "politely tell" (picture an unhappy Lou Pinella) the chief umpire that the game was being played under protest. The violation was then reviewed by the the Commissioner's office and a judgement would be rendered. Apparently that's no longer in the rule book.

I kind of agree with the commish.

coppercat wrote:Back in the day games were played "under protest". If a manager felt there was some egregious infraction or violation he would "politely tell" (picture an unhappy Lou Pinella) the chief umpire that the game was being played under protest. The violation was then reviewed by the the Commissioner's office and a judgement would be rendered. Apparently that's no longer in the rule book.

Well, the rule allowing protests still exist. However, games could never be protested on the basis of an umpire's judgment call. Games could only be protested on matters concerning rules. For example, the infamous George Brett pine tar game was protested by Dick Howser and the Royals because the ruling in question concerned the misapplication of a rule, and not a judgment call.

I have mixed feelings about this particular situation, but I agree that Selig is a tool. In my opinion he has done many things that are more egregious than this particular ruling....the man who never met a gimmick he didn't like. I hate that the All-Star game determines home-field advantage for the World Series, I'm not a huge fan of interleague play, I think the first round of the playoffs should be best of 7, and having different rules for the two leagues (the DH) is absurd, expecially with regular-season interleague play.