It’s now known as the missed call heard round the world. It will live in infamy for all of the wrong reasons. In a way it is the simple statement about all that ails America’s pastime. A game wedded to statistics like none other, no longer seems to care what is true and what isn’t. It was a PERFECT game. Naw. Even if the Ump blew the call. Bonds holds the home run record even if he did do a bunch of steroids. Baseball has become a sport devoid of integrity. In this case, Those numbers that baseball clings to, the ones that make their world go round, just don’t add up.
Category: Drew's Views, Hardball
12 Responses to MLB’s Mr. Magoo Moment
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That could be any NBA offical, and hell yea that is a perfect cartoon!!!!!!
For what it’s worth, I thought Mr. Joyce showed a LOT of integrity by owning up to his mistake, apologizing to Mr. Galarraga, and facing the media. Plus, he went back to work today in Comerica Park when it would have been understandable (perhaps even encouraged) if he had wanted to take the day off.
Baseball has its problems, certainly. The guy missed the call – a HUGE miss – but let’s remember that he is human, and he’s man enough to stand up to all the criticism (the fair AND the unfair) that has come his way. I give him all the credit in the world for that.
I realize that you’re talking about the Game of Baseball rather than just this individual with the comments about lack of integrity, but I wanted to make a point about the man behind this incident. Good cartoon – swing and a miss on one important point in your commentary.
Good Morning from Omaha,
Great cartoon, Drew. MLB does have its problems and Bud Selig is one on them. Woody has a column about his ineptitude this morning that goes into how Bud has missed a lot of things. the real story after the missed call is how both the ump and the pitcher both handled the situation, like gentlemen.
I don’t know if the pitcher will ever get another chance at a perfect game and the ump’s name will live forever when a mistake is made but sometimes things happen for a reason.
with all the bickering going on in the world these days, its nice to see that the only ones upset are the ones that are not directly involved in the situation. If the player isn’t torked off and if the umpire has said his piece and Bud, who seems oblivious to anything going on in his game, won’t change the outcome then I guess its time to move on. The “pure” game of baseball is long gone. The dh rules, steriods etc have long since changed the game in the name of marketing, like a box of soap. Its no longer “america’s pastime”. Its more of a diversion until the football season starts. Now that is sad! Although baseball has always been a bit of a time waster anyway. I love going to the games but still can’t sit through one on TV. Kind of like the NBA.
Strive for excellence, nothing but your best.
Gene
Good morning from MN.
I’m in the very outside the norm by my reaction was that everyone else’s reaction is completely and totally overblown. The ump made a mistake and that’s it. The runner was clearly safe and the ump admitted he was wrong. That’s good enough for me.
The whole getting upset because “he ruined a perfect game” is beyond silly to me. I didn’t see the game, but just based on how the world works, I’m guessing if you went back and looked in detail at every play you’d find another call that the pitcher got that he shouldn’t have (or a play that was close that could have been called either way) and thus his “perfect” game would have been gone anyhow. Maybe the ump called “strike 3″ when it should have been ball 4 or something like that, especially since the strike zone isn’t exactly the most clearly defined thing in the world.
To use a USA hockey ad campaign, “Relax, it’s just a game” (check out their ads, they’re brilliant).
Bud had a “perfect” chance to correct this but all we found out was that selig is German for spineless.
It was great to see a baseball umpire owning up to his mistake and his geniune remorse afterwards.
‘”I just cost that kid a perfect game,” Joyce, an umpire since 1989, admitted after the game’
Joyce went on to berate himself and offered no excuses. It turned a bad situation into a good one and maybe Galaraga will have his own place in history rather than being included in the 20 other pitchers who threw a perfect game.
However, Bud Selig is a chump.
Though the call was wrong, it makes you wonder….Why has there been three perfect games (two of them official) in the past month? Bad hitting? Great pitching? Wider strike zone? Dumb luck? All of the above?
Dear Mr. Litton,
I KNEW the moment I heard about the blown call you’d do a cartoon on it. Sometimes I’d try to imagine the general concept of what you would do but in this case I would have never thought of using Mr. Magoo. Then again that is why you’re the cartoonist and I’m just a fan of your work.
If there has been one thing good to come out of this it is the fact that the umpire after the game did not try to hide or refuse to speak to the media. He “manned up” (I believe this is the right phrase) to his mistake. Not only the fact that he “manned up” but regretted what he had done to the pitcher. It is one of the few times an apology came out that didn’t sound like a bunch of crocodile tears. My only hope is that the fans in general don’t go nuts and try to take revenge on him. That is a genuine concern of mine.
Thanks, Drew! I hope that all parents use this incident as a teaching tool for sportsmanship and respect in all aspects of life. Hopefully this wont open the door for more instant replay in baseball. I like the humanness of the game.
Wow everyone. Great insightful comments by all. I should have said this in the post but I do admire the way that Joyce has handled this. Everyone involved actually has dealt with it in a very classy way. Even Selig, who really has his hands tied in this thing. He can’t reverse the call for fear of an all-out mutiny with the Umpires Union.
Hilarious!!!!!!!!!