Baseball's History

It's hard to express how wrong and unjust this call was. Tim Kurkjian on it:

More than any sport, baseball is one about history. So when a terrible call like this is made it is a stain upon the sport. A stain not because Galarraga will not get the credit for throwing the perfect game that he did, but because what actually occurred was not recorded. In other words, the record is illegitimate, though it is presented as such. Which brings us to the obvious conclusion that baseball needs extensive instant replay. Jerry Crasnick's response to that:

It's a worthwhile debate, but consider this for a second: How gratifying would it have felt if Joyce's botched call was followed by a trip to the replay booth, a five-minute conference, the umpiring crew emerging from the tunnel and Joyce throwing up his right arm with an "out" sign.

Yes, Galarraga would have had his perfect game, on paper, but that single transcendent moment of celebration is something that can never be retrieved. In baseball or any other sport, winners don't get mulligans on euphoria.

Who cares? Yeah, the celebration wouldn't have been what it would if Jim Joyce got the call right, but he didn't. Jim Joyce made a mistake. The right thing, the just thing would be to correct that mistake, for Galarraga's sake, for Joyce's, and for baseball's. Everyone knows what actually happened. The umps need to be able to get these calls right instead of ruining perfect games. That's why the changes need to extend beyond instituting replay.

Bud Selig should correct the record to reflect the truth and award Galarraga his perfect game. If it were a bad call in the fifth inning I wouldn't argue this. If it were a bad call on the second out of the ninth inning I wouldn't argue this. The fact that Joyce made the erroneous call on the last out of the ninth inning changes everything. In basketball, instant replay is required in the last moments of big games when a tough call is made. The same is true of football. The efforts of the refs are directed at making sure what really happened is what is reflected in the call. Where is that in baseball? All I hear about is keeping the games running smooth and on time. Well keeping the flow of the game has robbed the game of history. Baseball needs to stop being quaint and start adjusting to modernity.