Granholm plans to recognize perfect game

Submitted by van on

I generally avoid  politics here, but apparently Governor Granholm plans to introduce a resolution honoring the (28 out) perfect game. 

 

http://baseballmusings.com/?p=52382

 

Indirect link, because the original's from the Freep.

icefins26

June 3rd, 2010 at 10:11 AM ^

Hey -- it's over.  I agree he got robbed but GOOD LORD he won the game and pitched a masterpiece.  I have never heard so much bitching in my life about a call that was all about an individual achievement (rare and sacred, yes).  They won the game!  Yes, he got robbed but look at how Galarraga is handling this -- a class act. 

NMU Blue

June 3rd, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^

Galarrage showed an absolute ton of class in how he reacted initially and what he said after the game.  Jim Joyce missed that call, but he did a tremendous job of being a man and owning up to the mistake.  You don't usually see them do that and he was pretty emphatic about it.  I'm not sure I would have the stones to go on national television and mea culpa.  Both men can take some solace in that, although it would be much more helpful if Selig would grant the perfect game.

 

On a side not, and to stay on topic, after all these years... Granholm finally gets one right.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

June 3rd, 2010 at 10:18 AM ^

It's not an individual achievement.  Perfect games are credited to a pitcher but they require 8 other players to play perfectly as well.  Just see if Austin Jackson's teammates think he had nothing to do with it.

And there's more history here than in a World Series.  Those happen every year.  More than a hundred of those championships have been awarded.  Just 20 perfect games have ever been thrown.  Galarraga is being classy about it but that shouldn't stop anyone from taking up the cause.  The last thing you should do is send the message that if the pitcher makes a scene and refuses to forgive, it should be pursued, but classy reactions go unrewarded.

van

June 3rd, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^

Outside of the Joyce controversy, the image that sticks with me most is the dugout after Jackson's catch. He was playing incredibly shallow but somehow caught up with the ball right before the wall and the dugout exploded. I remember Bonderman (among others) jumping up a down. 

 

It's an individual marker, but it's a team event. It clearly meant a lot to the whole team; look at Inge right afterwards as he drops to the ground.

4godkingandwol…

June 3rd, 2010 at 12:04 PM ^

... Tell that to Austen Jackson, Cabrera, Inge, Avila, etc... All of whom had a big role in the outcome and will talk about this game for the rest of their lives.  When they are old and sitting with family, they will point to a very, very short list and say "I played in that game.  I contributed to this line."

 

MGoBender

June 3rd, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^

This may cross the politics line...

What the hell does Jennifer Granholm have to do with this?

“He was robbed,” Granholm said of Armando Galarraga’s one-call-short of a perfect game Wednesday night. “But I’ll declare it a perfect game.”

Well, Jennie from the Block is gonna declare it perfect?  She thinks she can just do that?  She thinks that'll mean anything?  No, it means jack shit.

BillyShears

June 3rd, 2010 at 10:57 AM ^

Aide 1: Hey, Governor, turn on ESPN

*turns on ESPN*

Granholm: Oh wow. Poor kid. I know it's just symolic but we should recognize him somehow. Write me up something and I'll sign it in the morning.

Aide 2: Okay.

 

 

That's 5 minutes. At the most. You really think Granholm is sitting there agonizing over every word? Give me a break. You guys are way too cynical.

MGoBender

June 3rd, 2010 at 11:03 AM ^

I think the point is that it is empty validation.  Granholm is the Governer of Michigan.  How exactly does that position give her the power to rule on an athletic event governed by Major League Baseball?

If she wants June 2 to be remembered as Armando Galaragga day, fine.  But she can't declare it a perfect game (unless Selig does, which now seems less of a distant possibility).

BillyShears

June 3rd, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^

I don't think she, or any other rational person believes that she is ruling on an athletic event governed by Major League Baseball. No one is suggesting that. What she is doing is a nice gesture, nothing more.

The point I was originally responding to was that (paraphrased) "She has better things to do with her time". This takes 5 minutes. The comments are the same nonsense that we hear (from both sides) every time any president takes a vacation. "What a selfish bum. Fix the economy. They took our jobs!!! Har, Har, Har."

Section 1

June 3rd, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^

People regard them as clever, as interesting conversation-starters, whatever.  It's no crime of course, that she'd do this.  Everybody  knows she's just having fun and rallying the voters around common ground.

But when I heard the audio of her delivering it, I just thought it pathetic, much like her remarks at this year's Michigan Commencement.  She's so syrupy, with such a ghastly record of non-acheivement in everything else that really is serious, that it loses all capacity for being funny or clever.  She has less than zero capacity for comedy.

By the way, in the interest of complete political evenhandedness, I heard Mike Cox interviewed by our own Frank Beckmann on WJR this morning laughingly announce that the AG's office "will sue Jim Joyce."  It was very nearly as pathetic as Granholm. 

SysMark

June 3rd, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^

I don't live in Michigan but do pay attention to what goes on there.  She is turning out to be much more of a politician that I would have expected.

joeyb

June 3rd, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^

I don't want to start a new thread for this, so I'll just post it here. I don't really follow baseball, but since no-hitters are so rare, does throwing one basically get you into the hall of fame?

Space Coyote

June 3rd, 2010 at 10:40 AM ^

But batters are still allowed to reach on walks, errors, and so on.  A perfect game is exponentially rarer.  Still, that wouldn't get you automatically in the hall.  Maybe the ball would go there, but the pitcher wouldn't go there just for that.  The hall is more of a career as a whole thing, where as a perfect game is a career defining moment.

Clarence Beeks

June 3rd, 2010 at 11:31 AM ^

Your point is right on the money.  The perfect game is incredibly rare.  It's incredible to me that there were only 18 perfect games EVER going into this season.  Before this year there were never two perfect games in the same season.  Last night's would have been (will be) the third this YEAR.  That's amazing.

david from wyoming

June 3rd, 2010 at 11:45 AM ^

No, but it was without a doubt the crowning achievement of galarraga's career. For a who-dat type of player that only Tigers fans would recognize on the street, a perfect game would have put him in the annals of baseball lore.

van

June 3rd, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^

Most of the greatest pitchers in baseball history never through no-hitters, let alone perfect games. It's quite unlikely Galarraga ends up being inducted into Cooperstown, but I'd like to see the Hall of Fame announce their plans to honor his feat.

Harvey Haddix pitched arguably the greatest game in baseball history and lost (12 perfect innings before losing in the 13th). It's technically not a no-no, but the hall of fame museum rightly honors it as a special, historic event. A young, tiny Pedro Martinez threw nine perfect innings against the Padres in 1994 before giving up a double in the 10th. Again, the HOF includes this in their exhibition of no-hitters and almost no-hitters. I'd love to see the HOF announce their coverage of the 28 out (almost) perfect game and include it in this cluster of special, historic games.

artds

June 3rd, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^

Just as in any sport, the only thing that gets a player into the Hall of Fame is being CONSISTENTLY great.

Anyone who makes it to the highest level of their professional has the ability to turn out a great performance on one or more occasion. But its consistency that separates the great ones from the good ones.

So throwing a gem, by itself, wouldn't cut it.

SpreadGuru

June 3rd, 2010 at 12:21 PM ^

the fact that Whirlpool announced that they are moving all of their production jobs out of Michigan and into Ohio.  Forget dopey Resolutions that nobody remembers anyway and keep Michiganders employed!!!!!!!