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BUT...
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This *Perfect Game*:
Good Came from Bad
of TheColumnists.com
The perfect headline for the *perfect game* was “Good Came from Bad.”
It was heartening to see that everybody acted well in the celebrated case of the *perfect game* last week. After umpire Jim Joyce made the horrific call that deprived Armando Galarraga of a deserved 27 up, 27 down perfect game, we saw these reactions:
. After seeing a replay of the
play in which he erroneously called runner Jason Donald safe
on what would have been the 27th consecutive out, Joyce immediately
admitted he was wrong and went over to the Detroit Tigers clubhouse
to apologize to Galarraga.
. Galarraga
did not go into a tantrum in the immediate aftermath of the call
he must have thought was wrong. He showed a rueful smile. Then,
after the apology, he showed grace, forgiving Joyce with the
words, “Nobody’s perfect.”
. Detroit
manager Jim Leyland, a classy guy, showed class by having Galarraga
take up the line-up card to the umpires before the beginning
of the next day’s game. That further showed compassion in
what could have been an epic sore-loser incident.
. A
comic note was provided the next day by a Detroit fan who showed
up with the sign, “28 up, 28 down” a reference to the
fact that Galarraga ended the game by retiring the 28th Cleveland
batter.
I admire Joyce for admitting he was wrong and apologizing immediately. That is so refreshing a change from what we have seen in the public arena for so long. We have had lies by government and industry leaders in the face of two wars and a catastrophic oil spill. We had a disgraced president shilly-shally over the meaning of the word, “is.”
President Obama, who has had a tough time lately, at least provided an example for Joyce when he admitted his administration had made mistakes in the oil spill development, He actually took some of the blame. Yea for him and Joyce.
Now about that *perfect game*. I have put asterisks around the noun because I believe this is one time that the much-abused asterisk should have a positive connotation. There never was an actual asterisk attached to Roger Maris’ 61-homer achievement, but a ridiculous stance by baseball commissioner Ford Frick questioning Maris’ achievement suggested this.
The asterisks for this *perfect game* will make it stand out as a sui generis (one of a kind) game. The other 20 perfect games were swell, but this one has a unique place in the history of baseball. It also pairs Galarraga and Joyce forever; no doubt they’ll be making television and card show appearances together for the rest of their days.
The other “good” about the incident is that it ought to lead to baseball taking its head out of the dugout and finally agreeing to the use of instant replay in such situations. Baseball already uses instant replay to judge whether balls landing in the stands near the foul line were fair or foul. This would be a more significant use of the technology because “safe” or “out” calls are usually more crucial.
Baseball need only institute a set of rules for measured use of instant replay the way the National Football League does. It would allow replays on only certain calls and limit the number of challenges each manager can make. It would slow up the game, yes, but pro football gets away with such delays when its paying customers are freezing their tushes off in the stands during such waits.
Incidentally, the much-put-upon Commissioner Bud Selig landed on the “good” side this time by not reacting hastily to the agitated immediate cries for justice. He did not reverse the call. Most baseball purists agree this would have violated baseball tradition and opened up a can of worms about action on previous controversial calls.
And finally, to get back to the asterisk.
Maybe a dagger or the equivalent should be placed next to the
home run totals of Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa to question their
better-than Maris single season home run totals because of the
questions about their use of performance-enhancing drugs.
* * *
ABC put on a schlock
telecast of the Belmont Stakes. The ABC main telecast repeated
features used on the earlier ESPN pre-Belmont show. The shots
of the race featured so many camera switches, it was hard to
get a read on particular horses. ABC waited a long time to provide
a replay of the race, and showed only one, when the cavalry-charge
finish by Drosselmeyer and Fly Down catching First Dude demanded
more looks. And race-called Tom Durkin had one of his rare bad
days, seemingly discombobulated in following the leaders at the
end. Nobody’s perfect.
* * *
The flap at the
French Open over Venus Williams’ ridiculous see-through
dress in which she was constantly pulling up the straps at her
bodice brought to mind one of the great characters of tennis.
He was Teddy Tinling, the flamboyant, six-foot-three, bald, openly
gay guy who designed the tennis dresses of most of the top women
players from the 1940s through the 1960s.
It was Tinling who designed the delicate lace panties dress of Gussie Moran in 1949 at Wimbledon that shocked the too-easily-shocked tennis world of that time. Williams’ dress had a cheap sex quality to it at a time when feminists have lobbied so hard for a woman like Williams to be appreciated for her tennis talent, not as a sexual object.
©2010 by Stan Isaacs. The Stan Isaacs caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The illustration is a staff artist's interpretation of a news photo from silive.com. This column first posted June 7, 2010.
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