[With this year’s MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia less than two weeks away, I’ve decided to revisit one of my favorite editions of Resolution Strategies. Originally published in 2010, it explores timeless lessons about accountability, humility, forgiveness, and grace that remain as relevant today as they were sixteen years ago.]
On June 2, 2010, pitcher Armando Galarraga — then with the Detroit Tigers — did something very few Major League Baseball players have ever done. In fact, to his everlasting credit, he did two remarkable things that day.
The first was to pitch what everyone agrees deserved to be recorded as a perfect game.
The second — and, in my opinion, the more notable — was how he reacted to a glaring mistake by an umpire, a mistake of epic proportions that deprived him of his rightful place in the record books. Instead of arguing with the umpire, he accepted the call with perfect grace and equanimity.
A perfect game — one of the most rarely accomplished feats in professional sports — is defined as a game lasting nine or more innings in which no batter of the opposing team reaches base safely. Simply put, the pitcher must not allow a base hit, issue a walk, or hit a batter.
But that’s not enough. A perfect game also requires perfection defensively on the part of the pitcher’s teammates. A bobbled grounder, an errant throw, a dropped fly ball or third strike, obstructing a runner and catcher’s interference also ruin a perfect game.
We tend to forget, however, that a perfect game also requires perfection on the part of the umpires. As we were reminded on what should have been the 27th consecutive out of what would then have been only the 21st perfect game in MLB history, one bad call — whether on the base paths, the foul lines, or calling balls and strikes — will also destroy a perfect game.
For me, this imperfectly perfect game still had a perfect ending — one with lessons for everyone, especially those of us who engage in conflict resolution on a daily basis — because what was truly perfect on June 2, 2010 was the way two men confronted the reality of human imperfection and dealt with the ensuing conflict.
Robbed of his rightful place in MLB’s record books, Armando Galarraga never questioned the call, instead reacting to the first base umpire’s undeniable mistake with perfect calm and a quizzical “you’re kidding me, right?” smile that said all he needed to say.
After reviewing post-game videotapes that clearly established the batter had been out at first, umpire Jim Joyce promptly admitted his mistake, tearfully accepting responsibility and offering a heartfelt apology — publicly and privately — to Galarraga, who graciously accepted the apology and even gave Joyce a hug.
Accountability and contrition on the part of the responsible party; acceptance and forgiveness on the part of the injured party. A perfect reminder that nobody’s perfect, but if we respond to conflict the way Armando Galarraga and Jim Joyce did, there might just be a way to find a perfect ending.
As always, I would be pleased to assist you and your clients in the dispute resolution process. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of service.
Best regards . . .
Floyd J. Siegal
Postscript:
1. Armando Galarraga’s near-perfect game came during one of the most remarkable stretches in baseball history. Two perfect games had already been thrown that May. Had Jim Joyce made the correct call, Galarraga’s would have been the third in less than a month — an unimaginable feat, given that it took 130 years to record the first 18 perfect games.
2. Just weeks after his missed call, Jim Joyce was voted the best overall umpire in baseball in a 2010 poll of 100 active MLB players conducted by ESPN The Magazine, receiving 53% of the vote. The following spring, Joyce was again voted the game’s best umpire in a Sports Illustrated survey of 237 MLB players, leading all umpires with 35% of the vote.
3. Ultimately, the price that Armando Galarraga paid for Jim Joyce’s mistake — and the dignity and grace with which both men responded — helped pave the way for the expanded use of video replay, because the owners, managers, coaches, front office personnel, those in the Commissioner’s office, and, perhaps most importantly, the fans themselves — including many purists — came to recognize that the paramount concern is getting the call right. In the end, Armando Galarraga and Jim Joyce left their mark on Major League Baseball in ways neither could have imagined on June 2, 2010.