Just Freaking Perfect

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During the summer months every evening is like a little party for me as there are baseball games on from 7 PM through two in the morning if I was so interested. Last night, I was watching the Yankees and keeping an eye on the other games when I saw that a young pitcher from the Tigers, Galaraga, was going for a perfect game. Being a baseball fan, I was intrigued.

ESPN cut into the game in the bottom of the ninth, and I'm sure everyone saw the outcome. The ump, Joyce, blew the call.

As I thought about that kid and the fact that he is just a journeyman pitcher, I considered that he lost a chance at immortality. The blown call was surely infuriating.

Back at the Yankee game they were talking about overturning the decision and awarding the kid his perfect game. That's when I remembered the only game I ever worked as an ump.

My brother Jeff's little league team was being coached by my buddy John. I decided to be sort of a second coach to mentor the players. We were all of 16 or 17 at the time.

Game 1 - the ump didn't show. I'm standing on the sidelines when John discusses the problem with the other manager. After a bit of discourse, they allow me to ump.

"You can be fair even though your brother is on John's team, right?" the other manager asked.

Uh, maybe not.

In the very first inning a guy on my brother's team hit a drive down the right field line.

Okay, to be fair: it was my brother, Jeff.

"Fair ball!" I screamed.

Jeff raced around the bases as everyone in the park started screaming at me.

Had I missed the call?

I turned to look at John. He had to bury his face to hide his laughter. The other coach ran out to scream at me. I laughed too. He went nuts. The ball was at least twenty feet foul.

"Worse call I've ever seen," John said after the game.

Until last night that is...

This morning I heard the poor ump crying. I listened to the pitcher be as graceful as a man can be when something is torn away. I heard people cry about needing instant replay, and in the middle of it all, I thought about it being a life lesson.

We all make mistakes. The ump owned up to it. The pitcher forgave him. The sun came up today. The games started new this evening. There will be more blown calls, and we'll get around it. Perfection is difficult. Isn't that ironic?

And I laughed my ass off thinking of how bad an ump I really was.

I swear I didn't make that call because it was my brother racing around the bases.

Honestly.

Wink. Wink.

Comments

John said…
I don't remember if we won or lost, but I do remember stifling that laugh! Great call!
04 June, 2010
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