tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post8432817693262759958..comments2023-08-18T04:37:47.001-04:00Comments on Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie: Yeah, we can close the ballparks now.Kelly Sedingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704114189919711467noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post-57162440289995640522010-06-07T14:05:40.750-04:002010-06-07T14:05:40.750-04:00Hey, I was a Cubs fan the year of the Bartman ball...Hey, I <i>was</i> a Cubs fan the year of the Bartman ball!<br /><br />And though I was heartbroken along with everyone else, I did try to keep <i>some</i> sense of perspective. It's still sports, not war. Threats of violence against Bartman, for instance, were totally out of place.<br /><br />If baseball is important because it's part of the stuff that makes life worth living -- and I won't dispute that -- then its too important to "close all the ballparks" over a blown call and a misrecorded statistic. Galaragga's achievement is, in my view, no less inspiring or historic for being mis-recorded in the record books -- there are still plenty of correct accounts out there on record as well, for current fans and future historians to see, and know what he actually did. <br /><br />And the stats aren't really the point of the game -- I'd go out on a limb say even the scores and wins and championships aren't the point. The point is, y'know, cheering alongside tens of thousands of people you've never met because you love your city, the hard luck stories and the Cinderella stories of the players, the circus catches, the collective "ooh" at an almost-home-run, and the collective joy of the real thing, I dunno, just the human drama of it. Since this story does not lack for drama, why should we shut down ballparks over it?Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06090852893009703643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post-9065737498575545602010-06-04T16:41:17.227-04:002010-06-04T16:41:17.227-04:00I'm with Mary - the minute, in any sport, the ...I'm with Mary - the minute, in any sport, the commissioner can unilaterally change calls we don't like, after the fact - for any reason - it's all over and the floodgates start. Before long they'll be a similar situation and the expectation will be that we change what happened. Umpires make wrong calls all the time - either we review after or we don't; we don't get to choose when we want to because it makes a good story.Tosy And Coshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11466315384515717261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post-66320740086992071952010-06-04T11:46:39.853-04:002010-06-04T11:46:39.853-04:00Actually, to M.D. Jackson's point - I think th...Actually, to M.D. Jackson's point - I think the popular decision WOULD be to change the ruling. I'm really ambivalent. Obviously, I better poll the masses.Roger Owen Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05298172138307632062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post-87716758958908270822010-06-04T09:17:29.794-04:002010-06-04T09:17:29.794-04:00I do not watch baseball and have little interest i...I do not watch baseball and have little interest in it. (My country has only one team and they are based out of the City Us Westerners Love to Hate). Nevertheless your post was so well written and precise that you made me feel your outrage and made me wish that I had been a baseball fan, despite all the game's faults.<br /><br />The decision sounds typical of management in this day and age. You have summed up not only what is wrong with baseball, but what is wrong with the way the world is being run from the boardroom to the Oval Office (or The Hill, in my country).<br /><br />No one is brave enough to make the right calls anymore because they are afraid of the Court of Public Opinon's backlash. Do something, even the right thing, and a thousand knives await you, ready to eviscerate you for your bad judgement.<br /><br />It seems to me that those in charge, of Baseball and most other things, are becoming woefully good at seeming to do something 9not specified, of course) but, in fact, doing nothing.M. D. Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13820831338678743992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post-60303641917132906122010-06-04T07:57:32.787-04:002010-06-04T07:57:32.787-04:00Baseball is still my favorite sport, and I think t...Baseball is still my favorite sport, and I think this is a great baseball story. Galaragga will still go into the history books (I've actually got baseball history books), and it'll be a an even better story to read than those other 19 perfect games, because it'll be a heartbreaker, but still a triumph, the only "28 out perfect game."<br /><br />As for Selig -- I think I agree with him. Sure, this particular time it's the last out of the game. But what if next time it is, as you say, the first out in the inning, or occurs earlier? If we wash out that blown call for Galaragga, but we can't do it for the next guy, to whom it happens just slightly earlier, how fair is that? I mean, I know it <i>has</i> happened to some other guys. I've seen near-perfect no-hitters where the only guy on base got there by taking a few "balls" that were clearly strikes. Galaragga's fame is already greater, and will certainly outlive, that of all those other pitchers who were robbed at earlier points in the game. He's lucky and unlucky at the same time.<br /><br />Besides, y'know, it's just a game, right?Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06090852893009703643noreply@blogger.com