hypotheticlee speaking

So last night umpire Jim Joyce blew an obvious call with 1 out left in the 9th inning which took away the perfect game and no hitter that Tiger’s pitcher Armando Galarraga would have had. The umpire felt awful and apologized after the game, an apology which the pitcher accepted.

Kudos for Galarraga, who has been the most levelheaded and sane person in this whole ordeal, you do not see that level of sportsmanship even from most veteran players.

This really sucks…a lot, but here is why it’s not as big of a deal as most people are saying.

The victim here is one man. A young pitcher who had the chance to do something that only 20 other player had ever done before, even though it would have been the 3rd time in about a month.

In my opinion this list breaks down into two categories, memorable pitchers, and not. That being pitchers who you would know their name for other reasons (good or bad), and those who aside from this achievement are basically forgotten. 18 pitchers from 1900-present who I feel when baseball history is/or has been written will remembered or forgotten:

Here are my two lists:

Known:

• cy young
• don larsen
• jim bunning
• sandy koufax
• catfish hunter
• dennis martinez
• kenny rogers
• randy johnson
• roy halladay

Unknown:

• addie joss
• charlie robertson
• len barker
• mike witt
• tom browning
• david wells
• david cone
• mark buehrle
• dallas braden

That’s an even 9-9 split and I know some of those you could argue one way or another, my point is, throwing a perfect game does not mean you will be a legend.

Better this call be blown then one in the playoffs that might cost a team the championship, and crush the spirits of 20+ men, not just one.

The position of umpire is subjective in it’s very nature, so this will happen, it is one of the reason we love and sometimes can’t stand the game, and it is here to stay. The nice thing is you’ve got a game almost everyday, so lets not dwell and let’s just play some ball.