Selig Not Blowing This Call

Jim Joyce had every right to be emotional yesterday as he took the field following his blown call the night before that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galaragga a perfect game. It was great to see Galaragga and other Tigers players supporting Joyce and comforting him before yesterday's game in a perfect demonstration of class and sportsmanship. Umpires blow calls - it's part of the game. It's part of what makes baseball great. And that's why Bud Selig's decision to not overturn the call is the correct one.

The human element is a sacred aspect of the game of baseball, deeply rooted in the traditions of the sport. No other sport relies on the human element so heavily, which is what makes baseball unique among the many sports we enjoy watching and participating in. If Wednesday night's call is overturned, that decision would destroy the credibility of umpires, and thus the human element. It would be an act of rewriting history. Selig can't go back to every blown call and reverse them just because they were missed. Blown calls happen. They are part of the game. This one just happened to be at the most inopportune time possible. Nevertheless, Selig's decision should stand in the name of tradition and consistency.

I'll deploy the same argument to challenge the notion of further instant replay being brought into baseball. It would make me sick to see a day where calls like Joyce's were determined by technology. It's bad enough we have the technology in place for home run balls down the foul lines. But imagine if it gets to the point where we have technology ruling balls and strikes? I shudder to think about it. The game won't be human anymore if instant replay is allowed to pervade that deeply into the heart of baseball.

Even though Jim Joyce's call Wednesday was the wrong one, Bud Selig's call yesterday was the right one. A blown call by Selig would set an unwelcome precedent for future in-game calls to be reversed at the will of the Commissioner or whoever else is in charge of overseeing them, and would open the doors for instant replay to invade the game of baseball. If Selig hopes to retain his dignity and integrity as Commissioner, he will continue to uphold this decision, lest he ruin baseball's own dignity and integrity.