MLB Needs To Allow Galarraga's Perfect Game

What am imperfect way to ruin a perfect game.

For those of you who don't know at this point, after Tigers SP Armando Galarraga had just retired 26 batters, Indians Jason Donald burned a worm towards first. Miguel Cabrera goes and gets it and throws it to Galarraga covering first. Galarraga clearly caught the ball before Donald reached first, but umpire Jim Joyce called the grounder a single and thus Galarraga lost his perfect game (which would have been the THIRD this season).

Joyce was adamant that he got the call correct. Until he looked at the replay and realized what a douche he is. Now he did apologize which is the LEAST he could have done. But the fact remains that Galarraga will never ever ever in his career be able to throw a perfect game.

Everybody knows Galarraga threw a perfect game and that Joyce got the call wrong. EVERYBODY. So you know what needs to be done? MLB needs to change the scorecard so that Galarraga is in the record books.

This is just the back end of a long list of examples of why baseball needs to get with the 21st century and start using technology to dictate the rules of the game. They've already taken a big step by making home runs reviewable.

How many times do you hear this "They need to get the call right" and I'm a big proponent of this. If a pitcher throws a ball within what the rulebook calls the strike zone, that should be a strike. Every single time. It shouldn't be considered a "ball" because the umpire is a dick and won't give the pitcher the outside corner.

No other sport even comes close to being this stone age when it comes to their umpiring. Last night in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup, I saw the refs go back and review two "goals". On one play, it looked like Hjalmarsson made an amazing goal saving play, but upon review, the puck clearly went into over the goal line and the refs got it right and ruled it a goal. Even in football we give the coaches a minimum number of times to tell the refs to go back and review the play.

I watch baseball on ESPN's Gamecast a handful of times (especially during Torts class. I'm sorry professor but your class was BORING). Anyways, on my screen I see a red box for what the designated strike zone is, where the ball fell within the strike zone, and what the umpire actually called said ball. When I watch games on TV, I see a replay of what just happened. So why can't MLB use this new fangled technology?

There are two arguments that I just don't want to hear in contrast to this. I'm going to pull a Boerhs and Bernstein and tell you that you are just flat out wrong.

Argument One: But baseball is a game of tradition. The tradition is that there's a human element of umpires and they will inherently get things wrong. That's just part of the game. (Made by my co-worker today)

1) Baseball was started in the 1800's. They didn't even have freaking cars back then! If I hop in my DeLorean and went back to when the founders created baseball and showed them WiFi and Fangraphs, they would have seen how dumb umpires were and not put them in the game. 2) In every facet of society we have changed since the late 1800's. Our technology is different, our culture is different, our politics are different (well, maybe not here in Chicago), everything else is different and we want things to change. Except baseball. What kind of horse crap is that!? 3) We have rules in every aspect of life and when those rules are not followed, there are negative consequences. Yet umpires don't "follow the rules" often by flat out getting calls wrong. For example, when a player has a ball in play in his glove and touches the base before the runner who hit the ball reaches the base, that runner/hitter is out. So where are their negative consequences?

Argument Two: If MLB changes the rules to allow Galarraga's perfect game, then there's a slipper slope for MLB to change everything. (Made by someone on the Mully and Hanley show on WSCR today).

1) This is obviously a slippery slope argument and it's a logical fallacy. If in academia you shouldn't be allowed to make this argument, then you can't make this argument anywhere else. It doesn't go to the argument in question. This type of argument is the same ones Conservatives use today to justify banning gay rights (We allowed sodomy which in turns will allow gays to get marries which in turn will lead us to eventually legalize polygamy and beasteality). No doing X will not necessarily lead to Y. 2) What is so wrong if this does set a precedence of MLB changing the official scorecard? If any particular call by an umpire never should have been made to begin with, what's wrong with setting things right? If Jim Joyce had gotten the call correctly or MLB makes things correct, then the same outcome occurs.

All I want is to get things right. In football, if a pass is caught within bounds, then I want that pass to count. In basketball, if a player shoots the ball a millisecond before the shot clock winds down and the ball goes through the hoop, I want that basket to count. And if a defender touches first before the runner in baseball, I want the defender to be out.

I don't want something official because of a mistake; an untruth.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Right after I wrote this post, I read on ESPN that Bud Selig will not reverse the call. I know we're supposed to be P.C., but like Joe West, you're a piece of shit Bud Selig. Obviously not JUST for this, but way to be waste of life and space.