Thank goodness you aren't in charge of anything in Major League Baseball. Drew Stubbs would be in the minors and Jim Joyce would be fired. Stubbs has been great in the 7 slot in the batting order and its obvious from Gallaraga's and the Tigers reactions that they don't feel the same way about Joyce. As a matter of fact as recently as 2006 Joyce was ranked as the 2nd best umpire in the game by the PLAYERS. It was a horrible call--it just happened to be at a horrible time. If it happens in a 10-2 game no one notices it except the people on the field.

 

4 years ago? 4 years ago Ken Griffey Jr. was still hitting 30+ HRs a year. 4 years ago my grandmother could do her own yardwork still...A lot can and does change in a 4 year span. As I said in my first or second post in the thread, the perfect game situation is meaningless. How can a professional umpire miss such an obvious easy call? What if this game was meaningful? What if he makes this kind of "mistake" in a game 7 of the playoffs and the other team ends up winning? How in the world does a professional umpire watch that happen and come to the conclusion the runner was safe? They don't.

Here's a great story about today's Tigers game, a game in which Joyce was behind home plate-

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Armando-Galarraga-receives-a-Corvette-consolatio?urn=mlb,245508

First off, the infamous pine tar game of 1983 was overturned because of a misinterpretation of the rules. Not a judgement call. The game was protested and the protest upheld.

 

Second, overturning this call sets a dangerous precedent.

 

While we're at it, let's strip Kansas City of the 1985 World Series title and award it to St. Louis because Don Dekinger obviously blew the call at first with Todd Worrell and Jorge Orta.

 

We also need to award Milt Pappas of the Cubs a perfect game instead of a no-hitter in 1973 because with two outs and a full count, Bruce Froemming called ball four on a pitch that video shows was a strike. Pappas lost the perfect game but retired the next batter for a no-hitter.

 

In 1996, let's reverse the call when Jeffrey Maier reached over the outfield wall on Derek Jeter's fly ball at the fence when it was clearly interference. Changed the whole complexion of the game and perhaps the playoff series with the Orioles.

 

And it doesn't stop with baseball. The Brady sack that cost the Raiders in the 2002 playoffs that spawned the "tuck" rule and Phil Luckett blowing the coin toss on Thanksgiving 1999. None of these were reversed.

 

It's called the human element in sports.

 

 

The Brady call was correctly ruled. I don't think they should change the call now. I think they should change the rule to allow more replay so they can get the call correct. The technology not only is there, but it's already being used. I think they can't use it for balls and strikes, but every other call can be changed. The playoffs last year had terrible call after terrible call and a lot of them could have been changed quickly and easily. How much more of a delay could it be to do a review than to have a manager argue a call for a couple minutes?

Gallaraga (sp?) is a classy dude. He took this whole situation about as well as someone could.

4 years ago? 4 years ago Ken Griffey Jr. was still hitting 30+ HRs a year. 4 years ago my grandmother could do her own yardwork still...A lot can and does change in a 4 year span. As I said in my first or second post in the thread, the perfect game situation is meaningless. How can a professional umpire miss such an obvious easy call? What if this game was meaningful? What if he makes this kind of "mistake" in a game 7 of the playoffs and the other team ends up winning? How in the world does a professional umpire watch that happen and come to the conclusion the runner was safe? They don't.

 

He's still one of the most highly regarded umpires in the league by managers and players by all accounts.......but what do they know, right? I'm sure your opinion is more valid.

It was much closer then you are making it out to be. If you watch the replay from the outfield camera angle it shows it to be have been much closer then pic above.

 

Thank you. It was a close call indeed. While the call certainly appears to be wrong, it was close. Even in slow motion, it was close.

Thank you. It was a close call indeed. While the call certainly appears to be wrong, it was close. Even in slow motion, it was close.

 

I can't disagree more. In terms of a bang bang play at first, that isn't close.

4 years ago? 4 years ago Ken Griffey Jr. was still hitting 30+ HRs a year. 4 years ago my grandmother could do her own yardwork still...A lot can and does change in a 4 year span. As I said in my first or second post in the thread, the perfect game situation is meaningless. How can a professional umpire miss such an obvious easy call? What if this game was meaningful? What if he makes this kind of "mistake" in a game 7 of the playoffs and the other team ends up winning? How in the world does a professional umpire watch that happen and come to the conclusion the runner was safe? They don't.

 

What's a bigger waste ... Drew Stubbs wasting a roster spot of Jim Joyce wasting an umpire roster spot?? You are way out in left field here IMO.

Looks like Selig is not going to overturn the ruling and award a Perfect Game. The right decision in my opinion.

IMO the 1st baseman should never have even tried to make a play on that ball. Allow the 2nd baseman to do his job and it's a perfect game, no controversy.

Would you be 100% for overturning it had he been called safe and was clearly out? Would you then be for taking the perfect game away?

 

If he were obviously out, then I'd be all for it. You can call this the human element all you want, but this one was not even close - and it happened to be the one play that took away a perfect game.

 

Let's not forget that the other members of the umpire crew saw this as well. Maybe they could've talked about the call, said "hey it was a blown call" and reversed it?

 

I do find it funny that the batter hustled down the line like Pete Rose, then acted disgusted when he "beat out" the throw.

If he were obviously out, then I'd be all for it. You can call this the human element all you want, but this one was not even close - and it happened to be the one play that took away a perfect game.

 

Let's not forget that the other members of the umpire crew saw this as well. Maybe they could've talked about the call, said "hey it was a blown call" and reversed it?

 

I do find it funny that the batter hustled down the line like Pete Rose, then acted disgusted when he "beat out" the throw.

 

He did that because that is the right way to play the game. It would have been disrespectful to the game, the players, the fans and the pitcher to not have hustled down the line.

He did that because that is the right way to play the game. It would have been disrespectful to the game, the players, the fans and the pitcher to not have hustled down the line.

 

Hustle is one thing, he looked like Usain Bolt. He could have slowed a little. I'm not saying he should have, but don't go full force and then act like you're upset when the ump calls you safe.

 

JMO

:thumb:

 

I still can't understand how a professional ump can miss a call like that on accident. No, I don't think he did it on purpose, but I'm thoroughly convinced he isn't fit to be a major league ump after this.

 

Everyone in baseball, from Gallaraga to Leyland to the commish and so on have talked about what a good ump Joyce is. He made a mistake. It happens. He admitted it and quite obviously felt horrible about it. Joyce is human and made an error. He is not the first and will not be the last. The ONLY reason this is getting so much play is because the error cost Gallaraga a perfect game. How many balls/strikes are called wrong once you see the slo mo replay? It happens in every game. If anyone who has ever officiated a game in any sport truly believes they have never made a mistake, they are delusional. Just because he missed a call doesn't mean that he is unfit to be an umpire.

If he were obviously out, then I'd be all for it. You can call this the human element all you want, but this one was not even close - and it happened to be the one play that took away a perfect game.

 

Let's not forget that the other members of the umpire crew saw this as well. Maybe they could've talked about the call, said "hey it was a blown call" and reversed it?

 

I do find it funny that the batter hustled down the line like Pete Rose, then acted disgusted when he "beat out" the throw.

 

Let's say that he was safe by 2 steps but the ump called him out and Gallaraga got his perfect game. Baseball goes back and reveiws it, overturns the call and rules it a hit and takes away the perfect game. Now what? That means there's a man on first with only 2 outs and the game is not over. Do you now have both teams come back the next night to finish the last out? The fact remains that baseball does not have replay for a case like this. You can't pick and choose the plays you want to reverse. You either reveiw every play of every game or none.