It was a perfect setting: A warm late spring evening. Tigers on the tube. My son Jakob’s 17th birthday. The boys and I are watching history unfold. Armando Galarraga is one out away from becoming the 21st pitcher to pitch a perfect game (no hits, walks, hit batters, errors). A moment that fathers and sons, Tigers fans, and a city would share forever.
If you haven’t seen the play, a ground ball in the hole at first was fielded by Tiger’s first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who threw it to Galarraga covering first. Replays show the batter was out by half a step. A typically large margin in this “game of inches”. It was- indeed- a perfect game. But it wasn’t. Umpire Jim Joyce called the Cleveland batter safe.
He blew the call, and I was irate. How does a 23-year Major League vet miss that call? It’s one thing for the Minnesota Twins to steal a division title from the Tigers on the 163rd game of the season. They earned it. It still hurt… but they earned it. This was worse. It was just plain wrong. Galarraga earned the perfect game, and it was ripped from him.
This morning, it is a national story. Every major network, website, and radio station is covering every angle. My e-mail and Facebook account was slammed with comments (and condolences) from friends and family.
This morning, the world is talking about one man’s mistake. Even though it’s just a baseball game, and there are far worse acts of malevolence around us unfolding with ignorant bliss, everybody is weighing in on Jim Joyce’s blown call at first base.
This morning, I too want to be angry with Jim Joyce. I want to blame him, blast him, and berate him. But I can’t. Not anymore.
Jim Joyce blew the call, and he knew it: "I'm sorry”, he said, “I had a great angle and I missed the call… I took a perfect game from that kid who pitched a perfect game. It was the biggest call of my career and I (missed it).”
Reports from the umpires’ locker room said that Jim Joyce was inconsolable. He has apologized to Tiger’s manager Jim Leyland, understood why the Tiger players were upset with him, and when he took the time to tell Armando Galarraga how sorry he was, Galarraga hugged him, then said “I give a lot of credit to that guy, to say he's sorry… nobody’s perfect.”
How do we not see a parable here? A living parable. About forgiveness, grace, kindness, and gentleness. It begs to be unpacked, even down to the irony-dripping proclamation “Nobody’s perfect”. Perhaps for another day…
This morning, however, I will be content to settle my silly emotions, to gain perspective, and to see in a simple hug how much brighter the world could be if I, for one, practiced what I preached.
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