Detroit Tigers CTNW Fan Favorites #4
The blown call on Armando Galarraga's near perfect game was arguably the biggest story of the 2010 season. There was an Allen & Ginter Highlight sketch card commemorating the event but it edited out the umpire. There was no mention of the controversial call at all. That was the story. The call and the way Galarraga and Joyce conducted themselves afterward.
They acted with dignity and sportsmanship that is more common in the sport than we are led to believe. It is simply more interesting to show players showboating or smashing Gatorade coolers in the dugout. I'm just as guilty as anybody. I love a good bench-clearing brawl or watching the manager lose it and get kicked out after the ump makes a questionable call.
If this call hadn't been made with 2 outs in the 9th inning of a perfect game, Gallaraga and Joyce probably would have acted the same way, with dignity and sportsmanship. The difference is, we never would have known.
