Imperfection Perfected

On Wednesday night a bad call was made in a baseball game... there are hundreds of bad (and good) calls made daily in my favorite sport, but this one cost a young man a chance to kiss the sky. As usual in this democratic country of going off half-cocked, armchair experts threw hands up in disbelief and called for heads to roll over something they hadn't cared about before.

Although I the initial call was completely egregious, for Selig to go back and use the "power of the commissioner's office" and change the call would have been a precedent setting mistake. Come late September what call does he make in a game where a controversial play decides a game between two teams in the playoff race?.. How do you tell a team that won a game on Tuesday to go up in the standings, that the "bang-bang" play of a runner stealing 3rd, or a runner was "out of the base path" ... it is all a nasty can of worms.
I pray this will open the eyes of other "baseball purist" (as myself) that there is a need for some form of limited instant replay (remember it took the Yankees get screwed on a homer to really get the ball rolling on the now instituted home-run replay rule)...

(it is funny to me that on the same evening this happens, my beloved Chicago Blackhawks were involved in a Stanley Cup final's game which saw two replays, one of which went back 2 minutes in game play to award a goal. 11 years ago the Stanley Cup was incorrectly decided on a goal scored that using replay today would have been disallowed... but that mistake allowed for today's rules)

Joyce's very sincere mea culpa and Galarraga's outward smile go a long way in making this okay for me, but I hope a ball from the game is signed by both and a plaque is put in Cooperstown explaining the moment that helps to digitalize America's Pastime.