After seeing Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay throw the 20th perfect game in Major League history 5 days ago, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarrage was on the verge of making history by begging the 21st pitcher to throw a perfect game and be the 267 pitcher to throw a no-hitter until the bottom of 9th with 2 outs away. With 2 outs away Jason Donald hit a weak ground ball over to first baseman Miguel Cabrera who threw over to the pitcher Galarrage who was covering first base and what everyone thought was a perfect game Donald was called safe. When you go back and look at the replay on ESPN.Com its clear to say that Donald was out by a foot step and umpire Jim Joyce blew the call that he makes 9 out of 10 times. "I cost the kid a perfect game. I saw the replay and I missed the call, I'm sorry. Worst call of my career." said Joyce. All Galarrage did was look at Jim Joyce with a smile and say are you kidding me? The next batter he got out on a ground ball and what could have been 27 up, 27 down, was 26 up and 28 down. He wouldn't get a no-hitter all he would get was a complete game shutout on 88 pitches thrown. Armando Galarrage could have joined Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay who have thrown perfect games this year and could have made history by begging the 3rd pitcher to throw a perfect game in one season that has never happened before and could have been the 21st pitcher to throw a perfect game and the 267 pitcher to throw a no-hitter. But thanks to Jim Joyce that didn't happen and the talk and buzz around Major League Baseball is now should instant replay be used for calls like this and not just for home runs or should it stay the way it is now? After seeing a call like this it makes you think that instant replay should have an effect to the game now. Armando Galarrage stayed perfect through 8 2/3 innings pitched until that call was made and all he had to say was "nobody is perfect and everyone is human and we all make mistake and if I was him I would be unhappy with myself but there's nothing I can do. It is what it is and I'm happy that he was man enough to say I'm sorry to me. I respect him for that and hopefully I'll get another chance at this again." So Galarrage who stayed cooled and calmed was indeed perfect but wasn't perfect on Wednesday night.
On Wednesday one of the all time greats Ken Griffey Jr. retires after playing 22 years in the big leagues and would put him 5th on the all-time home run list with 630 career home runs joining the list with Barry Bonds-762, Hank Aaron-755, Babe Ruth-714, Willie Mays-660, and now Ken Griffey Jr. joins that list. Griffey also retires with 1,836 career RBI's, 13 time All-Star, 10 time Gold Glove Winner, and won the 1997 AL MVP Award. Griffey never won a World Series and you would think he did when he played with the Mariners back in the early 90's when they had Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson and he never won a World Series. The best part of his career is that he never use steroids during his playing days and if injuries didn’t cost him his career he would have been the one to break the home run record and be the all-time home run king without a doubt and in my book and I think to every sports writers book he is a first ballot Hall of Famer. He was just a great player all around he could hit, run, steal, catch, throw, everything you could ask for in a player and after 22 years in the big leagues it was time to hang up the jersey. Griffey played 13 years with the Seattle Mariners, 8 years with the Cincinnati Reds, and 1 year with the Chicago White Sox. He ended his career in Seattle the place that he calls home and probably the place that will retire his jersey number 24. The kid who brought life to the North West side of baseball is retired as one of the all time greats.
This is Beyond History, This is Beyond Baseball.
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