Jim Joyce, Armando Galarraga, and the almost perfect game

June 3, 2010

Maybe Tom Hanks got it wrong. Jimmy Dugan, his character in the 1992 movie A League of Their Own, famously remarks, “There’s no crying in baseball!” Thursday afternoon, just one day after umpire Jim Joyce mistakenly called Cleveland baserunner Jason Donaldson safe at first with two outs in the ninth—tragically taking away a perfect game from Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga at Comerica Park—Joyce had the job of calling balls and strikes behind the plate in the last of a three game series between the AL Central opponents. Joyce walked on to the field before the game, hanging his head a bit as tears streamed down his cheeks. Red-eyed and weeping, he shook Galarraga’s hand, took the Tigers’ lineup card from the 28-year-old righty, and gave him a pat on the shoulder. The emotional reunion was better than perfect; it was beautiful.

For almost all of us who love, cherish, and appreciate baseball, throwing a perfect game is tops. The phenomenon of not allowing a single player to reach base has happened just 20 times in 141 years of Major League Baseball. The men on the mound who achieve perfection are guaranteed instant sanctification. But what happened Wednesday, while simultaneously showcasing and embodying all that the sport has come to symbolize, absolutely transcends the confines of a ballpark or a record book. It represents all that makes America and its citizens great. It was perfect in its imperfection. It was inherently human. It encapsulated the spirit and character of the people who lay claim to the land of the free and the home of the brave. It was regretful, remorseful, real life with the possibility for redemption. It was failure and success, scorn and forgiveness, sad and joyful, right and wrong, all mixed into one moment.

It is the example fathers and mothers playing catch with sons and daughters in the backyards of our nation ought to encourage their young ballplayers to aspire to; do your best, admit when you’re wrong, and live your life with the same class and dignity Armando Galarraga and Jim Joyce showed on the diamond. The incident in Detroit and its aftermath has inspired me, renewed my faith in the innate goodness of people, helped me accept and understand our intrinsic flaws, and strengthened my love for what I consider to be the greatest game on earth. America’s game.

So maybe, along with our peanuts and Cracker Jacks, our Charlie Hustle’s and Dizzy Dean’s, our double plays and double switches, our infield singles and walk-off home runs, there is room for a tear or two at home plate—after all, it’s only human.