I am an avid sports fan; despite several intervention attempts by friends and family I still find most, if not all sports a valuable departure from the stresses of day-to-day life.  I must admit, however, that today’s athletes tend to be overpaid, selfish and occasionally even criminal.  That’s why I found great intrigue in the events and reactions to the MLB game between the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians on last Wednesday, June 2.  Let me set the stage for you….

A perfect game is an extremely rare occasion to say the least.  To quote Wikipedia, “Over the 135 years of Major League Baseball history, there have been only 20 official perfect games by the current definition. For comparison, more people have orbited the moon than have pitched a Major League Baseball perfect game.”

This past Wednesday night a perfect game was nearly executed if it were not for a blown call on the final out of the game.  A close play at first base involving the pitcher, Armando Gallaraga, was called incorrectly in favor of the runner by first-base umpire Jim Joyce.  But that’s just where the drama started…..

The grace and composure shown following that event was incredibly real and uncommon at the same time.  The pitcher, having every right to complain and argue, simply smiled and walked to the mound.  The umpire, upon seeing instant replay of his blown call after the game was moved to tears and apologized immensely not only to the media but also personally to the pitcher.  And the Detroit Tiger fans honorably provided the umpire with a lengthy standing ovation at the beginning of the next game.

It’s not very often that the reaction to the action speaks louder than the action itself.  In this case, however, I believe many people, both sports fans and haters alike, were left pondering their own responses to such an event.  I applaud Armando Gallaraga and Jim Joyce for personifying grace, humility and forgiveness in the midst of the public and scrutinized arena of sports.  May we learn from their examples ……..