Baseball, Character, and Perspective
I love baseball. It parallels, in so many ways, the human experience. When umpire Jim Joyce missed a critical call at first base this past week that cost Detroit Tiger’s pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game, it renewed debate about video replays in baseball, whether umpires should be able to change after the fact, and about whether baseball commission Bud Selig should step in and fix the mis-call.
A no-hitter is important to a pitcher. A perfect game is so rare, it has happened only twenty times in 135 years of major league baseball. The oddity of this call is that there’s no dispute about it. The only argument is about the tradition of umpires not changing their minds. No one, but no one, would argue that Galarraga doesn’t deserve his perfect game. But this story ultimately goes way beyond baseball.
After the game, umpire Jim Joyce and Detroit Tiger’s pitcher Armando Galarraga met at the plate to shake hands, reminding us all about the real purpose of sport, about the virtues of sportsmanship and about human decency and civility.
Joyce apologized afterward, and after his team’s initial explosive anger, Galarraga’s post game comments and smile neutralized the situation. Even the crusty umpire teared up as the crowd applauded, “Everybody makes mistakes.”
Galarrga responded, “I’m sure he didn’t want to make that call… He felt really bad… When the other umpires were long gone to the showers, Jim was still sitting there saying, ‘I’m so sorry…’”
The experience reminds us to lighten up, maintain a sense of perspective, have more respect for each other, bring strength of character to everything we do, and be a little more patient in all our connections. We are all doing the best we can.