“Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes” Confusius
Like a lot a sports fans I’ve been watching the trauma and drama unfold over the blown call by umpire Jim Joyce that spoiled the perfect game thrown by Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga.
It was a very unfortunate incident. Perfect games – where 27 batters come to the plate and 27 outs are recorded with no hits, walks or errors – are very rare. There have only been 20 in all of recorded major league baseball history. The fact that Galarraga wasn’t the 21st came due to the last batter being called safe at first when all the replays showed that he was clearly out.
But this little piece of trivia is not what has me intrigued enough to blog about it. What has transpired between the cast of characters since the game ended is what’s worth noting.
First was Galarraga immediately upon the runner being called safe. Since he was covering the bag on the grounder hit down the first base line he was within a couple of feet of the umpire Joyce. Rather than putting on some spectacular display of theatrics we’ve all become accustomed to with today’s athletes he smiled (in disbelief to be sure) and walked back to the mound to pitch to the next batter.
Next was the umpire Jim Joyce. Since there is no replay for situations like this in baseball he had no choice than to go with “what he saw”. But afterwards he watched the replays and knew he’d blown the call. So, he went to the Tigers locker, asked permission to come in and face-to-face apologized to Galarraga, manager Jim Leyland and the rest of the team. Then he went out and faced the media and said, “I blew the call and cost that young man a perfect game”.
Then manager Jim Leyland afterwards said, “We’re all human and make mistakes, he’s a good man and a good umpire and should be left alone”.
The next day the same umpiring crew was present with Jim Joyce being scheduled to be behind home plate. He was given the out to not umpire that day but refused saying “that’s my job”.
What then happened is Leyland had Galarraga take the line-up card out during the pre-game ceremony, the two pitcher and umpire shook hands then the rest of the Tigers came up and gave Joyce a slap on the back.
So, a potentially difficult player/umpire/fan situation was totally defused by simple acts of sanity. And it all started with the two people most affected – the pitcher and the umpire – doing the right thing. Galarraga acted like a pro and Joyce acted like the good man everyone says he is. No whining, no theatrics, no sniveling, no acting persecuted, no blame shifting, no hiding just a mistake made, regretted and apologized for.
How many business (and personal) situations should be handled this way. How much easier would life be if more difficult situations were handled like this one?
It all started with the person who was the most affected handling himself professionally. But from what I’ve read about Jim Joyce – who’s considered one of the best umpires working – he probably would have done the same thing regardless.
How about you?
It was a very unfortunate incident. Perfect games – where 27 batters come to the plate and 27 outs are recorded with no hits, walks or errors – are very rare. There have only been 20 in all of recorded major league baseball history. The fact that Galarraga wasn’t the 21st came due to the last batter being called safe at first when all the replays showed that he was clearly out.
But this little piece of trivia is not what has me intrigued enough to blog about it. What has transpired between the cast of characters since the game ended is what’s worth noting.
First was Galarraga immediately upon the runner being called safe. Since he was covering the bag on the grounder hit down the first base line he was within a couple of feet of the umpire Joyce. Rather than putting on some spectacular display of theatrics we’ve all become accustomed to with today’s athletes he smiled (in disbelief to be sure) and walked back to the mound to pitch to the next batter.
Next was the umpire Jim Joyce. Since there is no replay for situations like this in baseball he had no choice than to go with “what he saw”. But afterwards he watched the replays and knew he’d blown the call. So, he went to the Tigers locker, asked permission to come in and face-to-face apologized to Galarraga, manager Jim Leyland and the rest of the team. Then he went out and faced the media and said, “I blew the call and cost that young man a perfect game”.
Then manager Jim Leyland afterwards said, “We’re all human and make mistakes, he’s a good man and a good umpire and should be left alone”.
The next day the same umpiring crew was present with Jim Joyce being scheduled to be behind home plate. He was given the out to not umpire that day but refused saying “that’s my job”.
What then happened is Leyland had Galarraga take the line-up card out during the pre-game ceremony, the two pitcher and umpire shook hands then the rest of the Tigers came up and gave Joyce a slap on the back.
So, a potentially difficult player/umpire/fan situation was totally defused by simple acts of sanity. And it all started with the two people most affected – the pitcher and the umpire – doing the right thing. Galarraga acted like a pro and Joyce acted like the good man everyone says he is. No whining, no theatrics, no sniveling, no acting persecuted, no blame shifting, no hiding just a mistake made, regretted and apologized for.
How many business (and personal) situations should be handled this way. How much easier would life be if more difficult situations were handled like this one?
It all started with the person who was the most affected handling himself professionally. But from what I’ve read about Jim Joyce – who’s considered one of the best umpires working – he probably would have done the same thing regardless.
How about you?
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