Former Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga wants MLB to overturn blown call, recognize 2010 perfect game

Zac Al-Khateeb

Former Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga wants MLB to overturn blown call, recognize 2010 perfect game image

MLB will remember that on June 2, 2010, Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga faced 28 batters in a one-hit shutout against the Indians.

But anyone with a pair of working eyes — save umpire Jim Joyce, for one inconceivable moment — saw that Galarraga pitched what should have been MLB's 21st perfect game. Unfortunately, Joyce made the egregious error of calling Jason Donald safe at first base, despite Galarraga beating him by a full step. He would have been the 27th and final out of Galarraga's perfect day.

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Here's that moment, frozen in time, to illustrate just how bad that blown call was:

GalarragaNearPerfecto-ScreenGrab-FTR-040216.jpg

To his credit, Joyce — considered during his career as one of the best umpires in the game — immediately owned up to the mistake. He was quoted as saying, "I missed it. This isn’t a call. This is a history call, and I kicked the s— out of it." The next day, Galarraga handed the Tigers' lineup card to Joyce at home plate. The latter was visibly moved, and had tears in his eyes. The two struck up a friendship afterward, even pairing up the next month at the ESPYs to present the award for "Best Moment."

Now, nearly 10 years after that fateful blown call, Galarraga wants MLB to make an unprecedented move and overturn Joyce's miscall, recognizing his perfect game. Per The Athletic:

“I was like, what can I do to have a better finish to the story?” Galarraga said. “How can Major League Baseball give me the perfect game? Because it was perfect, right?

“Why not? Why wait for so long? I don’t want to die, and then they’ll be like, ‘You know what, he threw a perfect game.’"

FOSTER: MLB should give Galarraga his perfect game

That move, of course, is unlikely to happen. MLB is staunch — sometimes frustratingly so — in preserving its history as it was called. Fixing Joyce's error would set an uncomfortable precedent to revisit other notable miscalls (Game 6 of the 1985 World Series immediately comes to mind), potentially changing outcomes of games.

Still, Joyce joined Galarraga in hoping the league would overturn the call that many feel defines his career:

“I agree with (Galarraga),” Joyce told The Athletic. “I agree. Because he did it."

Zac Al-Khateeb

Zac Al-Khateeb Photo

Zac Al-Khateeb has been part of The Sporting News team since 2015 after earning his Bachelor's (2013) and Master's (2014) degrees in journalism at the University of Alabama. Prior to joining TSN, he covered high school sports and general news in Alabama. A college sports specialist, Zac has been a voter for the Biletnikoff Award and Heisman Trophy since 2020.