Behind the Galarraga 'Perfect Game' Headlines

Baseball pitcher Armando Galarraga, the Detroit Tiger denied a perfect game by an umpire's missed call, is back into the normal routine.

National praise for Galarraga's sportsmanship, although hugely widespread, may have fallen short of the mark.

The Galarraga story focused on the point that after the game, and the following day, he forgave umpire Jim Joyce. There's another aspect, however, that onlookers largely missed. In the heat of the moment, in those stunning seconds after Joyce called the "safe" signal, Armando Galarraga did not yell at the ump, or stare at him, or jump up and down, or remonstrate in any way. He simply took a rueful expression, went back to the mound, and got the final 27th out for an official one-hitter.

Tigers Manager Jim Leyland, first baseman Miguel Cabrera and others made up with Joyce the following afternoon, but not before they had shouted him down the night before. Most reporters opted to use other post-game quotations from Joyce, once he had seen his faux pas on instant replay, but several had the insight to include this gem: "I don't blame them a bit for anything that was said. I would've said it myself if I had been Galarraga. I would've been the first person in my face, and he never said a word to me."

Again, "He never said a word to me." Not even at gut reaction time.

It hasn't been an easy career for Galarraga. He was drafted out of Venezuela at age 16, in 1998, but he didn't make the big leagues until 2007. He was so lousy last season, and this spring, that the Tigers sent him back down to the minor leagues from March until early May.

Galarraga may never become a great pitcher, or even better than average, but he's been holding steady. After the denied perfect game on June 2, he pitched a combined 23 innings in his following four starts and sacrificed 10 runs. That's an improvement over his past performance. Furthermore, observers will note in the inning-by-inning grind that he doesn't argue with umpires over called balls and strikes.

Meanwhile, Bob Knight and John McEnroe are featured in television commercials that make humorous light of their abusively temperamental reputations. In the NBA finals, stars such as the Lakers' Kobe Bryant and the Celtics' Paul Pierce seemed to argue virtually every foul called against them, and then were described as carrying themselves in a first-class manner.

Armando Galarraga's main lesson may be that he forgave Jim Joyce, but there's also a lesson in the fact that he doesn't argue in the first place.

SOURCES

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/06/02/umpire-jim-joyces-blown-call-costs-armando-galaragga-perfect-ga/

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http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100608&content_id=10940614&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=det