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The whole sports world has been talking about what should have been the final out in the Detroit Tigers / Cleveland Indians baseball game the other night in which Tigers’ pitcher Armando Galarraga was denied a perfect game due to a blown call by first base umpire Jim Joyce. Joyce, after seeing the replay, admitted he blew the call and was distraught after the game. Indians’ player Jason Donald, called safe at first on the blown call, said on Thursday after seeing the replay that he indeed was clearly out. Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland, as he should, argued the call vehemently right after it happened. Joyce apparently apologized to both Galarraga and Leyland after the game, and Leyland commented that he felt bad for Joyce since he was a top veteran umpire who just made an honest mistake. The most amazing reaction to the call came from Galarraga, who initially had a shocked look on his face when the call was made, then just smiled impishly at Joyce and continued the game. Afterwards Galarraga was a picture of class and dignity, saying he felt bad for Joyce and that he had just made an honest mistake, and that he could harbor no ill will against him especially after Joyce personally apologized to him after viewing the replay and realizing his mistake.  “It takes a real man to do that”, said Galarraga. In another class move, in Thursday’s matinee game Galarraga took the lineup card out to Joyce (the home plate ump for this game) and shook his hand (see picture above). It moved Joyce to tears. My problem with the entire situation is the fact that Joyce was put in the position he was in, that baseball has no replay system to help the umps correct mistakes. This is 2010 and the argument of baseball purists to keep the “human element” in the game is ludicrous.  Commissioner Bud Selig put a limited replay system into place for last season’s playoffs after a couple of questionable calls, in typical fashion, after the fact. Other than balls and strikes calls there is no reason not to have the ability for umpires to have a complete replay system. It wouldn’t hold up the games any longer than today’s incompetent pitchers who walk too many batters and go to full counts on almost every hitter. That’s another change baseball needs to implement – returning to the old bigger strike zone to make hitters swing the bats and speed up the game that is putting fans to sleep and boring a whole new generation of young fans away from the sport. But getting back on the topic, this whole episode showed 2 things – that in today’s world of spoiled, arrogant athletes it’s refreshing to see that a player and umpire can handle a major misunderstanding with class and grace, and that the fact the whole thing happened at all is another piece of evidence that Bud Selig is the worst commissioner in the history of major league sports.