Comment & Debate
Jeff Passan. “It’s the perfect time to expand replay.” Yahoo. June 2, 2010: “In the eyes of everyone who saw the replay – television’s, not baseball’s – Galarraga pitched a perfect game. It was a 28-out perfect game, to be specific, as he retired Trevor Crowe(notes) for the final out amid the cacophony at the stadium. Fans were mad. They had every right to be.
Joyce stole history.
“I just cost that kid a perfect game,” he said. “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay.”
He feels awful, of course. He should. He screwed up. Even though it wasn’t malicious, intent doesn’t matter. His job is to get the call right. He didn’t do his job.
Replay would’ve. Joyce would’ve been able to laugh it off afterward – saved by something with better eyes than him. He and Galarraga would’ve laughed about it. The perfect game would’ve been legitimate, not something to which baseball fans assign a personal asterisk.”