Worst....umpire....ever

[83eh01]

[dc.]

Haven't seen it yet... but reading all about it. Unbelievable.

[BengalBilly]

I saw this live in an out take from the Reds @ Cardinals game on ESPN, and I have to say that was the worst call in the history of baseball. If anything should cause an MLB ump to lose his job, or at least visit an optometrist, that call would be it.

[millz58]

reference or link?

[Guest BallTMore]

reference or link?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmCNNxRg_Og

[Spen]

Thats heartbreaking......

[Spen]

Still thinking about this.....if there is any doubt at all in that situation you call him out. Even if you blow it, it goes away quicker than this will with much less hurt feelings.

 

The Tigers say they are considering it a perfect game, which is nice I guess but its not legit.

[cravnravn]

This is a classic case for Instant Replay.

[papasmurfbell]

I think this will force Selig's hand. There will be replay on just about everything.

[Spen]

As much as this was a horrible call, I still have mixed feelings over whether it should be over turned or even considered.

 

There is no way this will even make MLB consider replay, and nor should it. If they had replay in baseball the games could go 4-5 hours. The last two minutes of each half of football drag badly some days, imagine baseball.

 

Human error is part of the game, and probably always will be.

 

I'd rather see computer called balls and strikes before replay. (and I dont want to see that)

[papasmurfbell]

I say everything other than balls and strikes. I would go for a computer doing balls and strikes. It would not be that hard.

[Spen]

Random shrinking and expanding strike zones bother me most while watching a game, so I have thought the idea of a computer doing it. I agree, it wouldnt be hard at all. I still dont really think, deep down, that they should go to that.

[52isUnstoppable]

If I was that pitcher, im ordering a hit on that ump. Poor guy probably dreamed of throwing a perfect game in the big leagues his whole damn life. Odds are he will never be that close again. Completely sickening to see that call get blown.

[dc.]

A few thoughts...

 

First... Jim Joyce and Armando Galarraga have been so classy about this. They've been playing a 2 minute clip of an interview with Joyce over and over on Sportscenter and he is just plain, "I missed it. I kicked the shit out of it." No excuse. Lots of apology. Simply, I missed it. I feel awful.

 

Meanwhile... I do not think this will force replay either. You simply cannot invite replay of every close call. You just cannot. Even on those replays, there is a question of when the ball is 'in' the glove as opposed to close. I mean, it is clear enough that it doesn't matter - but it's not always clear. And it would just cause more drama and problems then help.

 

I also don't know if Bud can or should overturn it. Well, I know he can. I don't know if he 'can.' I don't know if he will. The fact that it's the last play of the game is the only reason it's even being discussed. But we always say "You can't rewrite history" about steroids and records and all that... are we supposed to just erase that last play from the box score? He hit, physically, but he didn't hit 'legally.' ???

[papasmurfbell]

It would not make the game longer but shorter. There would be no arguments about a call like last night. An ump in the pressbox calls down to say this is the call. Problem solved.

 

I have the human element argument with officials. More with football than baseball. A 300 pound DL is trying to tackle a scrambling QB then the QB slides at the last posible second and the lineman hits the QB. The runner knows if and when he will slide not the tackler who is in the motion of tackling and momentum is carrying him now. Last I knew players are human and are stuck with the laws of physics.

 

Bud should not change the call. "I'm sorry that it was called that way but the play must stand." What is done is done. You can fix the future.

 

I was watching Mike and Mike this morning and they went through a very extensive list of bad calls by umps over the last 20-25 yrs. They had to have had at least 15 off the top of their heads including Jeffery Maeir.

[dc.]

Homerun replay I am okay with... largely because the play stands alone. Homerun? Ok, the guy gets all the bases. Not a homerun (foul, catch)? Ok. The guy is out or back at the plate.

 

But what if there's a guy on third... liner sinking into centerfield... the centerfielder seems to trap the ball, no catch, runners advancing all over the place... replay: he caught it. Ok, the batter is out now. What about the guys who ran? What if they didn't tag? Do they still get to score? Are they out for not tagging? Back on their original base?

 

A single call impacts a series of events. It's not entirely like football where the replay usually occurs or needs to occur at the last part of the play. Or maybe to see if a guy stepped out of bounds after a play has run its course.

 

In baseball, if you 'let the play run its course' things look a lot different and they are not easy to "put back."

 

"I wasn't sure if he was safe or out... so I said safe, just to see where things wound up... now I know he was out, but all this chaos afterwards... what happens to it? I guess we should just reset the ball at the 10 and call it first down. No, wait, wrong sport."

[cravnravn]

Let Balls and Strikes alone, cant be reviewed, just like our inadvertant whistle in football, but for fair or foul or safe and out use it.

 

Whats strange is, the play wasnt close, you mean those other Umps didnt see it and couldnt have overturned Joyce? especially the home plate ump.

Edited June 3, 2010 by cravnravn

[papasmurfbell]

Umps don't like to go in behind a one of their own and change his call. It isn't about being wrong or right just cover his ass.

[Spen]

No over turn of the call.

[papasmurfbell]

It is the right call.

[Spen]

I agree.

[dc.]

Other umpires are not allowed to overturn unless given permission by the original umpire whose call it was. If Joyce were to ask another umpire, it would have been a silly move. He had the best view of that play, he believed his call. He was wrong, but he believed it.

 

Meanwhile, while it wasn't THAT close... it was within half a step. At first glance I couldn't tell definitively.

[83eh01]

Other umpires are not allowed to overturn unless given permission by the original umpire whose call it was. If Joyce were to ask another umpire, it would have been a silly move. He had the best view of that play, he believed his call. He was wrong, but he believed it.

 

Meanwhile, while it wasn't THAT close... it was within half a step. At first glance I couldn't tell definitively.

 

True. I couldn't tell either at first, but I thought for sure he'd be called out

[BengalBilly]

Wow...here's where this thread goes weird. Players of the MLB just voted Joyce as their top umpire, and despite what I said before about him, I believe they're right in this decision. He immediately came out and admitted he made a mistake. It appears the players of the league still respect him. They play the game, I just watch. What they say goes with me, especially in this case.

 

More Love For Jim Joyce: Players Say He’s Baseball’s Top Ump

 

We’ve been over the Armando Galarraga-Jim Joyce saga extensively, most recently here. But the good publicity coming Joyce’s way in the wake of the almost-perfect game just keeps on coming, this time in the form of a survey of 100 current MLB players concluding that Joyce, his high-profile mistake notwithstanding, is the best umpire in the game.

 

53 percent of players surveyed named Joyce on their list of the top three umpires in the game – the closest was Tim McClelland, named on 34 percent of ballots. CB Bucknor “won” the dubious honor of worst umpire, with the infamous Joe West coming in right behind.

 

It’s worth noting that overall, players didn’t seem to think umpires are performing too badly. 65 percent of those surveyed gave them at least a passing grade, with 45 percent giving out either a “A” or “B” overall grade.

 

ESPN took the survey after Joyce’s missed call, so one could argue all the support for him was based on his name being in the news, but one player’s (anonymous) comments don’t make it seem that way:

 

“The sad thing about the Galarraga game is, Jim Joyce is seriously one of the best umpires around. He always calls it fair, so players love him. Everyone makes mistakes, and it’s terrible that this happened to him.”

 

Other number of note from the survey: 22 percent of players favored instant replay for calls on the bases, 36 percent favored it for fair/foul calls, and 13 percent thought commissioner Bud Selig should have overturned Joyce’s call. In other words: wow, players don’t like replay at all.

 

But they sure do like Jim Joyce. And because they do, this survey is just one more chapter in an overall story that has to be warming the hearts of fallible humans everywhere – we all make massive screwups, even the best of us.