Associated Press photo
By Dan Nied
The biggest mistake I ever made came during my first year as a professional sports reporter.
When the brother of an athlete I covered died tragically, I went to the funeral as a representative of my newspaper. I came home and wrote what I considered to be a beautiful and emotional eulogy that was published the next day.
Only problem was I used the wrong name.
See, the name of the deceased was Adam. Throughout my piece I mourned the passing of his very much alive brother Andy. I received a slew of angry phone calls. I didn’t sleep much the next few nights.
Everyone makes at least one huge, unfixable mistake in their life. When that happens, all we can do is apologize, admit our humanity and try to live with it.
And that is why I must, as a lifelong Tigers fan who was furious on Wednesday night, offer my forgiveness to umpire Jim Joyce.
Joyce, of course, became instantly famous when he obviously blew the final out of what would have been a perfect game for Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga. Joyce may have been the only person in the world who thought Jason Donald, the Indians final hope for a base runner, was safe at first in the ninth inning Wednesday. But Joyce’s opinion was the only one that counted.
Galarraga was completely robbed of a perfect game. Everyone knows it today, including Joyce.
The umpire said as much after the game, according to the Associated Press account:
"It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the (stuff) out of it," Joyce said looking and sounding distraught as he paced in the umpires' locker room. "I just cost that kid a perfect game.
"I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay."
When he made the call on the field, Joyce stood by it, even as boos soared down from the stands at Comerica Park. After Galarraga sent the next batter down, effectively recording the first 28-out unofficial perfect game in Major League history, several Tigers players had to be restrained from going after the goat. Tigers manager Jim Leyland emphatically made his case, tossing expletives in Joyce’s face.
The umpire had to stand there and take it. Soon the replay would show him how grand a mistake he made. No doubt his heart would sink to the floor.
Joyce’s quote will live on as much as his blown call. His words show a man who just realized he now has to live with a 1,000-pound weight on his shoulder. They show a man who knows he single-handedly cost Galarraga a place in history and the fans of Detroit a reason to be proud of their baseball team. They show a man who feels remorse.
That remorse is respectable. Everyone in the world must know how Joyce feels.
It would be easy to vilify Joyce because he cost us a chance to see history -- not just the 21st perfect game in MLB history, but also the third of this still-young season -- and became the bad guy in a feel-good story.
But vilification would be selfish and disingenuous. We can fire off vitriolic comments all we want, but in the end we have to accept Joyce’s humanity because it lives within all of us.
Sometimes the blame game is easier when the target is vague enough that we can make up our own villains. This time, we know exactly who the culprit was. But it is tough to come to terms with the fact that an honest man who is, by all previous data, an excellent umpire just screwed up.
It flat out sucks that Galarraga didn’t get the perfect game he earned. (And there is no word other than "sucks" to describe it.) But ultimately we must forgive Joyce because he did the best he could. He thought Donald was safe and it is his job to make snap decisions. He did his job. He just got it wrong.
After the game, Galarraga said Joyce spoke to him and apologized. Galarraga said the two embraced and the pitcher held no hard feelings.
That reminded me of my mistake. I’d like to say the family called to assure me they weren’t offended. Instead they simply ignored it. They obviously had bigger things to worry about.
But I like to think the family understood that I was just trying to do my job. I just got it wrong.
And hopefully they ultimately forgave me.
Just like we should all forgive Jim Joyce.
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