The human element in baseball By Jerry Feitelberg June 4, 2010     Much has been written and discussed about the blown call by Umpire Jim Joyce that cost Armando Gallaraga a perfect game in Detroit. Umpires make bad calls all the time. The worst fear is that the bad call will cost a team a win in the World Series as happened to Don Denkinger in the 1985 Series. That called changed everything and the Royals went on to defeat the Cardinals. Forget about all the good calls that Denkinger made during his career. He will always be remembered for the blown call in that series. Jim Joyce will also be remembered for the blown call. Joyce has a reputation as a good guy and he showed that he had the courage to admit that he made a mistake. He believed that the call was correct at the time but when he saw the replay he realized that he misses the call. Gallaraga, for his part, accepted the decision and accepted what happened. Gallaraga knows that he pitched a perfect game but it will go into the books as a one hitter. Tiger manager Jim Leyland argued the call to no avail. Would have a conference with the other umpires changed the call? Probably not as Joyce was in position and felt he made the correct call. Should the commissioner have overturned the ruling on the field? No. The rules do not allow it and it would have set a terrible precedent. Will baseball adopt use of instant replay? Maybe. How would it be structured? Football allows coaches to challenge calls but if the call is upheld, the team loses a timeout. How would baseball penalize a team if the call were not overturned? How many challenges could be made during the game? Balls and strike calls could not be challenged. Instant replay is used to make correct calls on home run balls. We must remember that umpires make judgment calls every day and they are very good for the most part but they do make mistakes. Time has come for baseball to use technology to get the calls right.

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