Armando Galarraga comes up short of SI honor

by Kurt Mensching on Nov 30, 2010 7:06 PM EST in Detroit Tigers News

I don't know if they announce who finished in second place in the Sports Illustrated Man of the Year honors, but it's easy to imagine it was Armando Galarraga. In Michigan, our sports heroes seem to be stuck in a period of being good, but not quite good enough.

The Red Wings failed to repeat as Stanley Cup champions when they fell a victory short in 2008. Michigan State finished runners up in college basketball that same year after being the talk of Ford Field. (And more recently, the Big Ten football tri-champ with the toughest schedule will likely be left out of a BCS Bowl bid). The Tigers finished a game short of a division title two seasons ago. Austin Jackson and Miguel Cabrera finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP voting this month.

And of course, you know all about Armando Galarraga, who was not only good but great while umpire Jim Joyce was not good enough, costing Galarraga his rightful perfect game.

So it should surprise nobody when SI named Drew Brees the Sportsman of the Year, while Galarraga had to accept that just being nominated was honor enough.

Ah, but what a nomination, written by Sports Illustrated's best writer, Joe Posnanski.

Joyce would handle his mistake with great dignity. But the real hero was Galarraga. He did not argue with Joyce on the field. He just sort of smiled. He retired the next batter, Trevor Crowe, and finished off the game as a one-hitter (making this, in the minds of many, the first 28-out perfect game in baseball history). And then he went into the clubhouse and told reporters that he was very proud of the way he pitched. When asked about Joyce immediately afterward, he said that Joyce should not worry about it, that everybody makes mistakes.

I feel sure that long after I have forgotten the details of the Braden perfect game and the Halladay perfect game, I will remember Armando Galarraga's grace in the face of a baseball injustice.

I think Galarraga will be alright.

And you know what? We'll be alright, too. We're lucky our teams are so competitive on a nightly basis -- well, other than those football teams in southeast Michigan anyway -- and it's only a matter of time before we get that payoff we so crave.

Tweet Comment 9 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Thank you Tigers!

Armando- You handled the issue of the blown call in your perfect game with a grace and poise that is never seen in professional sports- in this era or any other.

Austin & Miguel- You were tremendous this season. The future of the Tigers have a strong nucleus to work around and once the team hits its stride, nothing will stop the Tiger’s.

The additions of VMart & Benoit should help the Tigers get to the post season.

by Detroitfantc on Nov 30, 2010 7:27 PM EST reply actions

Glad i got to watch the game

I live in Ohio now so i don’t get to watch that many Tigers games but was blessed to watch Gallaraga’s perfect game.I thought the commisioner should of over turned it but he has no class.Im 52yrs old now and that was a once in a lifetime game being a Tigers fan.I hope Gallaraga can return to his winning ways like the first year he pitched for us.

by swish330 on Nov 30, 2010 7:47 PM EST reply actions

for those of us in the Tigers' diaspora...

…thankfully that game was against the Indians, and a majority of Ohioans got to see it.

not only did i also get the chance to watch that game, but i was so stunned that i didn’t change the channel off of STO (Sports Time Ohio). after Indians’ games, there’s a sports talk show with this guy who’s typically a loud-mouthed jerk that doesn’t often listen to the reason or statistics of his callers. but he was very deferential to ’Mando and absolutely agreed that it was a 28 out perfecto, defending him against a handful of ridiculous callers.

it was interesting to see that about half the Indians fans thought it was a perfect game – the rest hung their hats on the “ball was moving” theory. but it was an amazing game to watch.

by GreatGooglyMoogly on Nov 30, 2010 11:36 PM EST up reply actions

Yup, it all turned out pretty well.

You’d better believe I was cheering pretty loudly at the Stewart/Colbert rally in DC, when Armando was given a Medal of Reasonableness (via videotape) — I was wearing a Tigers t-shirt, natch.

Posnanski’s right, though… people will remember Armando’s game long after they’ve forgotten the details of Braden’s and Halladay’s.

by frisbeepilot on Nov 30, 2010 8:35 PM EST reply actions

Is there a video of this?

I want to see it.

Terrence J. is feeling a bit fishy...

by Trout Jefferson on Nov 30, 2010 9:37 PM EST up reply actions

I was at that game and it was the most surreal

baseball moment I can remember watching, ever.

President & Founder of the "Bring back the Big Tilde in 2k11" Campaign

by Detroitchik on Dec 1, 2010 8:55 AM EST reply actions

2nd 2nd 2nd

We’re Larry Doby. Anyone remember Larry Doby?

You remember Jackie Robinson? Yogi Berra? Frank Robinson? The 1950s Yankees dynasty?

-Larry Doby was the 2nd African American to play in the MLB.
-He came in 2nd in the ‘54 AL MVP voting.
-And was the 2nd African American manager in MLB.
-And for most of the ’50s Doby’s Indians finished 2nd to the Yankees for the AL pennant

Every time the Tigers have a great feat lost to history because some swing of chance puts us second, I think of Doby. Like the 2006 WS, Magglio’s 2007 bid for MVP, Verlander’s almost-Cy Young season, Game 163, Cabrera and Jackson for MVP/RoY, and Armando getting Joyced out of the Year of the Perfect Game.

Being Dobyied is like the Darko after LeBron.

I wouldn’t count MSU as getting Doby-ied. If you do a game-by-game comparison, they’re a distant third. Another guy did a beat beat whom analysis for the whole conference, and had them tied on top in non-margin analysis, but way way back in the pack in marginal analysis — combining for a solid third for just the conference season. There’s nothing in the non-conference season that can make up that gap, or even move MSU forward. They are definitively third.

Getting upset over a sporting event seems kind of ridiculous, until you remember that the people who get upset over sports have a remarkable ability to not get upset over the position of the toilet seat, the state of the bed, or the current location of a pair of underwear.

by Misopogon on Dec 1, 2010 1:22 PM EST reply actions