Granholm plans to recognize perfect game
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.
Who cares...
Most Tigers fans.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It's a team achievement but it's classified by the individual.
... 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."
Recognized Verlander and Pudge when JV pitched a no-no a couple years back. The credit mostly goes to the pitcher-catcher combo, but it is definitely a team accomplishment.
We are talking about a perfect game, not some guy hitting his 150th lifetime homer. It is huge, and rare.
Honestly, I'm not sure most Tiger fans really care whether or not the governor passes a meaningless resolution about this.
For the life of me, I'll never figure out why douchebags like this continue with these stupid ass comments. Seriously, how fucking hard is it to move on and look at something else if you aren't interested?
A nice gesture, but I'd rather have it recognized by MLB.
4.5 more threads on this topic today?
Over
Six as of 8pm EST
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.
I agree with you but apparently not everyone else here does. Her reaction I think is honest outrage but it does seem a little much for the governor. Having said that the call itself was astoundingly awful and will live in infamy.
It's a brilliant political move.
Granholm is the worst Governor ever, I think any commentary on baseball by her is a joke. What about her cool cities initiative, that was a winner. Hey Jen, how about working on fixing one of the most broken states there is!
IIRC, it wasn't this broken before she took office.
Just raise taxes again. That seems to work.
This isn't about baseball or sports anymore, is it? Mgoboard, neg away.
Figured I'd get negged by tax-lovers.
Anyway, can we all agree that was an empty gesture by Granholm? She may as well declare Dontrelle's last start a perfect game.
as a college student i adore her....but that is solely because she pays me $200 for groceries each month....YEAH BRIDGE CARD!!!!
Doesn't she have better things to spend her time on? Politicians + sports = bad
Tell that to Barrack.
I believe Pres. Obama removed sporting-related issues from his political platform after this appearance.
just misspell the name of the President? That's pretty sad.
I'm Canadian.
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.
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).
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."
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.
...except that a politician would never say "It's just symbolic."
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.
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?
The Hall of Fame is based on career achievements, not single-game feats. However, the baseball from the game would have gone to Cooperstown if it had been a no-hitter (and perfect game baseballs get special display there).
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.
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.
it does not. The Hall of Fame is a recognition of your career achievements not an individual game no matter how amazing it was.
Let's hope this will help spur his chances, but IMHO he has a long way and a lot of years to go.
EDIT- Slow fingers, jmblue is right.
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.
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.
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.
Must be nice living in Fantasyland.
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!!!!!!!
why would anyone start a political oriented thread and then expect people to only talk about baseball?
This blows me away.