Baseball Fan Jim Babwe’s email submission to Baseballisms.com reprinted with permission. Jim honors the Perfect Game that got away, in his own words …. We are honored that he chose to share them with the Baseballisms community.
A Ballad for Armando Galarraga
Pitching for the Tigers,
Armando Galarraga and Detroit
were leading Cleveland three to zip–
inning number nine.
He needed one more out
in this last frame.
One more out
would mean
a perfect game.
What happened next?
You won’t believe it.
An umpire blew the call.
The runner he’d allowed on base
became a source of shame.
Change the ruling.
Right the wrong.
Charge the umpire with an error.
Fix the book. Make it right.
Mistakes like this one
don’t belong.
The next day Galarraga
brought the line-up to home plate.
Classy, sad–understanding what he’d wrecked–
the ump shook hands with Galarraga.
Fix the scorebook. Make it correct.
Forget the glamor and the glitter.
Fix the book. Make it right.
At least give Galarraga credit
for throwing a no-hitter.
Change the ruling.
Right the wrong.
Charge the umpire with an error.
Fix the book. Make it right.
Mistakes like this one
don’t belong.
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