Umpire Jim Joyce: A Role Model?

Even if you're not a sports fan, there is a huge life lesson for all of us that comes from the world of sports in an event that happened last night.

Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers was on the verge of baseball history last night. He was one out away from pitching a perfect game--27 batters up, 27 batters down--against the Cleveland Indians.

At bat for Cleveland was Jason Donald, who hit a sharp ground ball wide of first base. The Tigers' Miguel Cabrera moved to snag the grounder and made the throw to Galarraga, who was running to cover first base. Galarraga caught the ball, stepped on the bag one step ahead of Donald. Game over? Perfection? Eyes went to the first base umpire, Jim Joyce, for the call.

Safe.

Galarraga slowly walked back to the mound with a smile on his face. Jason Donald put his hands on his helmet in disbelief. Tigers manager Jim Leyland came out to protest.

Galarraga retired the next batter to win the game. But it was then that seemingly all of Detroit--the Tigers' manager, players, and fans--rained their displeasure, bitterness, and anger on Joyce.

Afterwards, Joyce went back to the umpires' locker room and asked the locker room attendant to cue up the video of that play. There he clearly saw what he did not see the first time: Galarraga clearly beating Donald to the bag.

Jim Joyce was at a crossroads. He had a number of reaction options from which to choose. He could have avoided all contact with reporters; he could have adamantly stood by his call, even though he could see that it was wrong; he could have issued a public statement acknowledging his blunder and including a public apology.

Or he could have "manned up" and owned his mistake.

He chose the latter.

He left his locker room to make his way to the Tigers' locker room, asking to see Galarraga. When he did, he looked the pitcher in the eye, admitted his mistake, and expressed his sincere and profound regret.

Then he went to the media room for the postgame press conference. Using words that had to be bleeped out, Joyce publicly "owned" his blunder, acknowledging the fact that it cost a young pitcher a place in baseball history in the process. Listen for yourself.

Now understand something: plenty of umpires have made plenty of bad calls throughout history. And umpires never apologize for them. They either stand behind their bad call, or they issue some written press release acknowledging that they may have made a bad call.

I don't know about you, but Joyce's actions spoke volumes to me. To see someone make a mistake under such public scrutiny is enough to make one cringe. But to see the one who made that mistake come right back out and wear that mistake, calling it his own, right in front of multitudes of people who are angry and upset with his mistake, was bold. It was refreshing. It was a life lesson.

People are always looking for role models--especially kids. And contrary to popular belief, kids are not looking for perfection. They know all too well that no one is perfect. They know that they will never be perfect; they really don't expect adults to be perfect.

What they are looking for is a role model who will show them what to do when they make a mistake. So they need to see how to "own" their mistakes. They need to see an acknowledgement that a mistake has been made--and there is no one else to blame but themselves for it (as contrasted to too many in government positions who prefer to shift the blame over to someone/something else). They need to see how one goes about in doing everything possible to correct the problem.

Did Joyce's act have an impact on Galarraga? Check for yourself by listening to Galarraga's reaction to Joyce's gesture.

There have only been 20 perfect games in Major League history. This year, there have already been 2 perfect games, the first year that more than one perfecto has been thrown. This would have been the third.

Can you name all 20? Neither could I.

But can you name the umpire that stepped up and owned his mistake that cost a young pitcher a perfect game, and set an example for all of us to follow when we make mistakes on our respective jobs?

I can: Jim Joyce. Props to you, Jim.