There's been a lot of debate ever since last night that Major League Baseball should step in and change the out call from last night's Armando Galarraga near perfect game. It was announced earlier today that Bud Selig and MLB were reviewing the situation. One that, in my opinion, should not be reversed. Bad precedent and such.
Selig, though not coming right out and saying it, agreed. He released this statement a short time ago.
"While the human element has always been an integral part of baseball, it is vital that mistakes on the field be addressed," Selig said in a statement. "Given last night's call and other recent events, I will examine our umpiring system, the expanded use of instant replay and all other related features."As usual, Selig and MLB is being reactive rather than proactive. But I do agree with not overturning the call.
No perfect game, but Galaragga did receive a brand new Corvette from GM (Selig would have given him one of the used cards from his dealership) before today's game. He also brought out the lineup card to the umps and had a nice exchange with Jim Joyce. The ump was in tears as fans applauded.
Here's some great video from a fan at last night's game.
photo courtesy of nytimes.com
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I disagree; Mr Selig should have overturned the call and make right Galarraga's perfect game. In my opinion it would set a GOOD precedent, not a BAD one. If you believe our culture evolves for the better, than our sport inherently will evolve for the better (i.e. introducing Jackie Robinson and breaking the racist barrier). We all enjoy the benefits of technology; we're smart enough to create it, we'll be smart enough to use it judiciously. For example England uses it for their Cricket games. 2 reviews are allowed per game. If you're wrong on the review you lose it, otherwise you keep it for another time. We can copy that or create our own, but create we will.
ReplyDeleteIf Bud Selig won't use his power to overturn the very last out of a "perfect game", that EVERYONE, including the umpire who admitted it, knows was blown, then I can't think of a more "good" precedence than this one. The "bad" predence excuse is weak; Mr Selig just wants to close the case rather than to seriously address the use of technology appropriately. We'll just have to wait until a brave man becomes commish.