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Armando Galarraga Didn’t Have a Perfect Game in 2010 and Can’t Have One Now by Changing MLB History
Changing the past simply doesn’t work in sports
On June 2, 2010, Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Armando Galarraga threw the game of his life. Facing the Cleveland Indians, he methodically faced the first 26 batters and retired them all. Batter number 27, Jason Donald, hit a weak dribbler to first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who flipped the ball to Galarraga to narrowly nip the runner to complete the perfect game. Except it wasn’t a perfect game. Veteran umpire Jim Joyce, who shortly after the end of the game admitted he was wrong, signaled safe. The game ended on the next batter with Galarraga not having credit for a no-hitter or the perfecto. A decade later, he is seeking to have that changed in baseball’s official record, but despite the injustice that can’t happen.
Joyce was a terrific umpire, working in the majors for nearly three decades. Although he was very open about blowing the perfect game call, even going so far to say he “kicked the shit out of that call,” his realization came too late to change history.
As quickly as the following day, Galarraga and Joyce made a small cottage industry of the positive way they handled the matter. The pitcher delivered the next game’s starting lineup to Joyce…
