The Umpire Is Not The One To Blame

There is a furor raging now over the mistake of a baseball umpire. Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga, who started this season in the minor leagues, was pitching a great game the other night. In the ninth inning Galarraga (pictured) had retired 26 batters in a row. If he got the next batter out, he would accomplish that rarest of baseball feats -- the perfect game. There have only been 20 perfect games pitched in Major League history (and none by a Detroit pitcher), so Galarraga was on the verge of making baseball history.

But it was not to be, because the first base umpire called the next batter safe at first. Galarraga pitched a shutout, but the perfect game was gone. What caused the furor was the fact that video replays showed the umpire had called the play wrong. The batter who had been called safe at first was actually thrown out, and if the play had been called correctly, Galarraga would have had his perfect game. The umpire, Jim Joyce, even admitted he had been mistaken after viewing the replay.

Since the game, a lot of fans have called for Joyce's head. Many have demanded that he be fired and he has even received threats. A FaceBook page has been created just to denigrate the umpire. These actions are ridiculous. Although it is regrettable, this is not the first mistake made in baseball and will not be the last.

The umpire was trying to do his best and made an honest mistake. It happens. Joyce was devastated that he had mistakenly cost Galarraga the perfect game. He called Galarraga out of the clubhouse and tearfully apologized to him. He was not required to do that, but it was a classy thing to do. He had made a mistake (as all humans do) and he deeply regretted it.

In my estimation, Joyce is not the person to blame (if blame must be attached to this incident at all). Most other sports organizations know that officials are just human and every now and then a mistake will be made. That's why many of them have provisions for "instant replay" as a way to correct these honest mistakes. Baseball does not. They seem to view these mistakes as just part of the game.

All Major League games are televised, and it would be easy for the league to develop an "instant replay" provision to deal with situations like this. So far they have refused to do so. If blame must be attached to this incident, then that blame should go to the owners and leadership of the league who have refused to institute an "instant replay" provision. Honest mistakes will happen, and until the league has a way to correct them, they must just be accepted as part of the game.

Armando Galarraga understands this. The young pitcher accepted the umpire's apology and hugged him, putting the incident in the past. Then he told the media, "He (Joyce) feels really bad, probably worse than me. I give a lot of credit to that guy, to say he's sorry. I gave him a hug. His body English said more than the words. Nobody's perfect, everybody's human."

That's class. Now if the fans would just show that much class. A mistake was made. It's over. It's now time to move on.