Galarraga In A League Of His Own

It's only been done 20 times. Twenty-seven up, 27 down. Perfection on a baseball diamond. Baseball immortality.


But something even more extraordinary took place on Thursday afternoon in Detroit before the start of the Tigers-Indians game.


In this day and age, where athletes throw tantrums, hissy fits, and display all kinds of immaturity on the field/court/ice (enter type of playing field here), Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga demonstrated unprecedented class that will go down in baseball lore.


A day after the Tigers pitcher had his perfect game taken away by an errant call by umpire Jim Joyce, Tigers manager Jim Leyland gave Galarraga the lineup card to present to the umpires at home plate before the game -- a task usually assigned to a member of the coaching staff.


Galarraga didn't complain. He didn't sulk. He didn't blame anyone for this most unfortunate situation.

Rather, he met the umpiring crew at home plate, presented the lineup card to Joyce, who was to call balls and strikes that day.

He shook the hand of the man who took perfection away from him.

Joyce, overwhelmed by this entire ordeal, shed tears during the exchange.

Galarraga could have etched his name in the history books with such Hall of Famers as Cy Young, Don Larson, Sandy Koufax, and Catfish Hunter who attained perfection in their time.

Instead, it was just another one-hitter in June over the course of a 162-game schedule.

He may never come close to a perfect game again in his career...and he was one out away.

When it's so easy to be so bitter, he took the high road, which may make him more famous in baseball history than if had thrown the perfect game.

This story will be told in the years to come as the ultimate display of sportsmanship in any sport. Little Leaguers will get sick of the references to Galarraga when they don't get their way.

It will be the epitome of being a good "sport."

Tigers fans had every reason to boo Joyce one day removed from his imperfect call -- heckle him for the next nine innings -- make him feel worse than he already does...and it would have been justified and fully warranted for what his error cost them. They could have witnessed history...could have been a part of it.

But they didn't. And for that, THEY deserve recognition.

We've all been wrong. We've all messed up before. We've all been there. And in one collective, classy act, a boisterous standing ovation, they let Joyce know that.

Quick, name the other perfect game this season not by a guy named Roy Halladay?

See you don't remember that kid Dallas Braden in Oakland.

But you will remember Armando Galarraga.

Baseball introduced instant replay in August of 2008. It can only be used to determine if a home run is fair or foul, whether the ball actually left the playing field, and whether the ball was interfered with by a fan. That's it.

Baseball purists are against the use of replay because they feel that it will slow the pace of the game and have every umpire call second-guessed.

They advocate limited replay to preserve the "human" element of officiating the game.

Now the exchange between Joyce and Galaragga at home plate on Thursday...it doesn't get any more human than that.