MLB's First Imperfect Game

The runner is out.  A perfect game is in the books.  The Detroit Tigers celebrate a specially historical win.  The fans roar, having witnessed history they can brag about to friends and family forever, and can pass the story down.  Armando Galarraga gets the 21st seat in an exclusive club that has added two players already this year.

All of this would have been real nice, wouldn't it have?  It would've, but Jim Joyce will probably be remembered more for ruining this than anything else in his umpiring career.  On the biggest play of his career so far, he made a clear mistake.  This kind of failure, never seen with more on line, is calling aggressively for Instant Replay.

This play was shown live on ESPN including in the Buffalo Wild Wings I saw it in, and this allowed Buster Olney, Tim Kurkjian, Karl Ravech and other analysts of the like begin breaking it down instantly.  From almost all analysts on ESPN the next few days, it was agreed upon that there the chances of not instituting instant replay on these calls also are tiny to none.  A call of this magnitude, with Hall of Fame officials lurking and everything, cannot ever happen again.  Change the circumstances for a minute.  What if Galarraga was just going for a complete game against some NL team in the World Series in Game 7?  What if the tying run is on 3rd with 2 outs and this play happens?  And if the runner is safe and the other team ends up falsely winning, the effect on the game of baseball would be disastrous.  Like legitimately the worst call in the history of professional sports.  You may be thinking, 'Oh, well the odds of a blown call then are about one in a billion,' but then again you wouldn't have guessed such a clearly blown call would occur when it did in the Galarraga Imperfect Game.

Instant Replay is definitely the way to ensure blind spots like this never happen again.  Some baseball traditionalists call for the 'human element' to the umpires and like seeing the 'umpire personalities.'  That could still be achieved by allowing the umpires to their own calls on balls and strikes.  Players and managers aren't allowed to argue balls and strikes states the rule book, and that has sent more than a few managers to the clubhouse for the remainder of the game.  Why not make it easier and keep that rule?  Calling balls and strikes is more like clockwork than base calls; there is a consistency that makes it a safer bet to be the right call.  Pitchers and hitters over time have had to adjust to the strike zones of certain umpires.

Instant Replay in baseball can't be like it is in football, but more like basketball.  If a team was given, say, two plays they can replay per game, then any close play when you're down to your last out will be challenged just to give it a shot at getting any further chance.  This will bother umpire Joe West, who made headlines with comments about how Yankees-Red Sox games take way too long.  The umpires should review the play if there is any uncertainty whatsoever, which with good umpires shouldn't happen too often.  The maximum time for review is three minutes, and TV contracts for Major League Baseball should universally now include the right to go to commercial during the review.  This will increase TV revenue across the league.  The umpires can review such plays as fair-foul calls, home run calls, safe-out calls, etc.  The umpires aren't allowed to review balls and strikes, catcher's inteference, and other minor calls.  This is how Instant Replay should be instituted in Major League Baseball.