Should Bud Selig Overturn Jim Joyce's Call?

[ctownboy]

For those who say that if the ruling were changed for this game then they might also ahve to go back and change things like the 1985 WOrld Series, I say WRONG!!!!

Even though they had the technology for replays back then, there was NO RULE in the books concerning the use of instant replay. Now, however, there IS a rule for use of instant replay (concerning Home Runs) and since there has been precedent set for changing outcomes of games based on those replays, it is MUCH easier for Selig to make this (correct) change.

The reason he doesn't is because he does NOT have the balls to do it.

In 1993, the Commish's Office ruled that steroids and other PED's were against the rules but the Players Union didn't agree. Selig had a LONG time to stand up to the Union but DIDN'T. It took Congress getting into the act before the Players Union budged and made the playing field mroe fair again.

Selig is against instant replay. So when a call like this comes about (one that HAVING instant replay would keep him from having to rule on) he wusses out and just says no to changing a ruling.

SPINELESS!!!

Now Galarraga never gets into the record books as having thrown a perfect game and Joyce has to forever live with people reminding him he screwed up.

Don Denkinger and his Wife was interviewed about the missed call in the 1985 World Series and they talked about the hate mail and threatening phone calls they received afterward, some more than a year after the incident happened. They also talked about people remembering him blowing the call years after it happened (when they met him in person).

Heck, ESPN is bringing it up NOW, 25 years after it happened.

David

[calvindog]

The easy route would be for Selig to reverse the call as that is what the public is clamoring for. Selig did the right thing here.

[JP]

Denkinger's call was nothing like this one, to me. That world series play was bang-bang. This one was BANG (pause a beat or two) bang. A no doubt out. I think Galarraga, Joyce, and the fans of baseball would like to see this reversed. So if no one loses out, why not switch it now?

[nolemmings]

The easy route would be for Selig to reverse the call as that is what the public is clamoring for. Selig did the right thing here.

Now I know I've had too many beers, as I agree with this poster 100%. Agreeing with Selig and Lichtman at the same time is enough to shake one's self-assuredness to the core.

[ctownboy]

A doctor not giving pain medicine or additional treatment to a dying patient might be the easy thing to do but is it the RIGHT thing to do?

A defense attorney telling his client to plead guilty as fast as he can might be the easy thing to do but is it the RIGHT thing to do?

Selig not having the balls to make a controversial decision is easy but is it right?

Honestly, WHO is hurt by him overturning the call?

The pitcher gets his perfect game.

The Umpire gets a load of regret (and threats for himself and his family) off his shoulders.

The Umpires get a break and some good PR (after having a REALLY crappy couple of weeks).

Sure, the batter loses a hit BUT, if you watch the replay, after he crossed the bag even HE was shocked he was called safe AND even he admitted, after looking at the tape, that he was Out. He also said that with the game the way it was and on a close play, he didn't expect the Ump to call him safe. So it sounds like if the call were reversed, the batter wouldn't have that big of a problem with it.

To recap, Selig ahs the power to change the call but not the balls to do it.

If changed, the pitcher would get his perfect game, the outcome of the game wouldn't change and the Umpire would get some relief.

Also, NOT changing the ruling just gives more kids reason to NOT like baseball. They can see an injustice has been done (yet Major League baseball, I am SURE, will continue to barrage them with messages that say to "do the right thing"), yet when it comes to the powers that be doing "the right thhing" they don't.

Also, it gives minority kids in urban areas something else to think about as far as being discriminated against. Gallaraga has a foreign last name and speaks with a Latin accent. How many kids do you think are out there now feeling that his skin color and nationality had something to do with Selig NOT overturning the call? I say quite a few. Just think about what guys like Milton Bradley, Torii Hunter and a few others have recently said about racism and discrimination in the Majors. Just look at the hype that surrounds the Civil Rights game every year.

The kids see what MLB is trying to project yet hear what some of the players are saying and see a disconnect. So, whether they are right or not, some kids probably feel if the pitcher's name was John Jones and he was a white American, then Selig would have reversed the call.

David

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by ctownboy

Also, NOT changing the ruling just gives more kids reason to NOT like baseball. They can see an injustice has been done (yet Major League baseball, I am SURE, will continue to barrage them with messages that say to "do the right thing"), yet when it comes to the powers that be doing "the right thhing" they don't.

Also, it gives minority kids in urban areas something else to think about as far as being discriminated against. Gallaraga has a foreign last name and speaks with a Latin accent. How many kids do you think are out there now feeling that his skin color and nationality had something to do with Selig NOT overturning the call? I say quite a few. Just think about what guys like Milton Bradley, Torii Hunter and a few others have recently said about racism and discrimination in the Majors. Just look at the hype that surrounds the Civil Rights game every year.

The kids see what MLB is trying to project yet hear what some of the players are saying and see a disconnect. So, whether they are right or not, some kids probably feel if the pitcher's name was John Jones and he was a white American, then Selig would have reversed the call.

David

So you're playing the race card....on this??? Here's some advice: don't. You really do a disservice to the people you are claiming to try to help with this argument.

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by ctownboy

Also, NOT changing the ruling just gives more kids reason to NOT like baseball. They can see an injustice has been done (yet Major League baseball, I am SURE, will continue to barrage them with messages that say to "do the right thing"), yet when it comes to the powers that be doing "the right thhing" they don't.

Also, it gives minority kids in urban areas something else to think about as far as being discriminated against. Gallaraga has a foreign last name and speaks with a Latin accent. How many kids do you think are out there now feeling that his skin color and nationality had something to do with Selig NOT overturning the call? I say quite a few. Just think about what guys like Milton Bradley, Torii Hunter and a few others have recently said about racism and discrimination in the Majors. Just look at the hype that surrounds the Civil Rights game every year.

The kids see what MLB is trying to project yet hear what some of the players are saying and see a disconnect. So, whether they are right or not, some kids probably feel if the pitcher's name was John Jones and he was a white American, then Selig would have reversed the call.

David

Or they can see the maturity, dignity, and respect for the game that Galaragga displayed.

He did look shocked and in disbelief over the call, but he didn't go into an expletive laced tirade directed at the umpire like some might have.

He went back to work and finished his job, the job that he is paid to do.

At the end of the day he went home, knowing that he did his job well. He went home knowing in fact that regardless of what the record books say and whether he receives formal recognition for it or not, that he did pitch a perfect game. He went home knowing that he did his job the absolute best that it could be done. He knows it, and everbody with an interest in baseball knows it, as do many with no previous interest in baseball.

Originally Posted by calvindog

So you're playing the race card....on this??? Here's some advice: don't. You really do a disservice to the people you are claiming to try to help with this argument.

THANK YOU!

[doug.goodman]

I am in favor of giving him the perfect game.

I am opposed to replay.

This is not a slippery slope, and it does not set a precedent.

Next time the 27th out of a perfect game is botched, and everybody including the runner and umpire are in agreement that it was botched, that will be the next time that a ruling of changing this outcome could be used as a precedent.

But, as timzcardz says, the fact that it won't go in the record book does not change what he did. If I had been at that game, I would have left ready to die happy, knowing that I had seen a perfect game, with an extra out thrown in for good measure.

Harvey Haddix and Ernie Shore were probably getting bored talking to each other, now they can be a threesome.

Doug

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Now I know I've had too many beers, as I agree with this poster 100%. Agreeing with Selig and Lichtman at the same time is enough to shake one's self-assuredness to the core.

This turn of events does not bode well for you.