Umpire's Bad Call Costs Pitcher Perfect Game
GRIFFIN: So close. An almost perfect game ruined by a bad call. That was last night. Today, this could have been a tense moment. Detroit Tigers' pitcher Armando Galarraga brought out the starting lineup to the home plate umpire, who just happened to be umpire Jim Joyce. Yes, the same Jim Joyce. He got applause and boos and a handshake from Galarraga. Joyce admits he just missed the damn call -- that's what he said -- and cost Galarraga a perfect game last night. Check it out. A perfect game right before the bottom of the ninth, two outs. This hit, that's when it happened. Clearly, the guy was out. Jim Joyce had a beautiful line on the play. He just got the call wrong, as you can see by instant replay there. He called the runner safe. Obviously, he was out. How could this possibly happen? Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said mistakes on the field need to be addressed. He's looking in to it. Let's talk to a former MLB umpire. You know, this is a name just about everybody knows, Rich Garcia. He's on the phone with us now. Rick, thanks for joining us. You've been in big games, you've been on World Series. You've also called a couple of perfect games, as I recall. And you've been involved with some tough calls. What's your take on what happened last night?</s>RICH GARCIA, FMR. MLB UMPIRE: Well, it's just an unfortunate incident that happens. That's just the way the game of baseball is. That's what makes baseball the greatest game in the world. That's -- you know, it's part of history, and part of the beauty of the game is our mistakes.</s>GRIFFIN: But, Rich, put me in the situation where Jim Joyce is right there. He's in the right position to make the call. He's clearly looking at the play. Is he seeing something differently, or is he emotionally caught up in the moment which affects his judgment?</s>GARCIA: Well, I don't think emotion had anything to do with it, because I believe if emotion had anything to do with it, he would have called the guy out, because you would probably lean more to calling the guy than calling the guy safe. So, I don't believe it has anything to do with emotion. It had just something to do with life. That's just the way life is.</s>GRIFFIN: Yes.</s>GARCIA: These things don't work out for you all the time. I can tell you one thing. I know that he was the most hurting man in the world last night. I can tell you that.</s>GRIFFIN: Well, he was clearly crying today when he was out on that field getting that lineup card, and he had to wipe away a few tears, because he's obviously still feeling the effects of that. But a couple of things can happen now. Bud Selig apparently is reviewing this, could overturn this. Let me ask you first about that. Is that a good idea?</s>GARCIA: Well, you know, when you ask a question like that, is it a good idea, you know, what the commissioner of baseball is doing, that's a hard question to answer, because, you know, I'm not there. You're not there involved in the meeting. You're not there. Some of the things that might come up -- personally, I -- you know, personally, I think that anytime you get involved in changing a -- some kind of a judgment call, I think you're going to run into a little bit of a problem. But, of course, there might be some other circumstances that I don't know about that might grant it to change it. I don't see any advantage to changing this, myself. I don't see a -- I don't see a situation where --</s>GRIFFIN: Right.</s>GARCIA: -- you know, this -- a perfect game, a no-hitter, is a game within a game.</s>GRIFFIN: Yes. Yes.</s>GARCIA: You know, the game is whether you win or lose. It's not whether you win by one run or 10 runs or one hit or no hits.</s>GRIFFIN: All right.</s>GARCIA: A game is whether you win or lose.</s>GRIFFIN: Rich, let me bring you in on something else the commissioner said. And I think we've got his tweet over here. "Given last night's call and other recent events, I will examine our umpiring system, use of instant replay and all other related features." Hey, they've been talking about these replays for a long time.</s>GARCIA: And do you know what? They're going to continue to talk about them. I mean, the -- you know, the way that we have today, everything that you have today to see games, there's so much exposure to the umpires, there's so many channels, sports channels. And like I told a girl that gave me a call, I mean, CNN is a news channel. It's not a sports channel. It's CNN channel, and here we are talking about baseball in a news channel. So, it's exposure. It's overexposed. The umpire situation is overexposed.</s>GRIFFIN: Well, Rich, let me just ask you, what's the matter with having replays? The game, as traditionalists say, we can't have replays, we can't change the game. But, come on, this game started when there wasn't even</s>TV. GARCIA: Well, why don't we just get anybody to do your job?</s>GRIFFIN: Well, anybody can do my job.</s>GARCIA: No, I don't think so. I disagree with you. I think you've got to be trained to do your job.</s>GRIFFIN: But it hasn't hurt the officials or the professionals officials in football. Has it?</s>GARCIA: Well, that I don't know. I don't -- I can't compare the Major League umpires to football officials. I don't think there's that even a close resemblance to officiating as an NFL official compared to a Major League umpire, who goes out there every day, spends six months of the year out on the road traveling everything days, going in and out, out of hotels, eating in different restaurants all the time. These guys work once a week.</s>GRIFFIN: All right.</s>GARCIA: So I don't -- you can't compare -- there's not another officiating group that you could compare to Major League umpires.</s>GRIFFIN: And just for the record, you're saying no to instant replays, right?</s>GARCIA: No. I'm not saying no to instant replay. I think the instant replay situation that we have today works. I think it's great. I wish in 1996 that they had that. But they don't have it. They have the</s>GRIFFIN: Yes. OK.</s>GARCIA: You get involved in judgment, and you've got a tremendous, tremendous scope that you've got to deal with.</s>GRIFFIN: Rich Garcia, thank you so much for joining us. Rich mentioned the 1996 wish that there was some replay, and I'll tell you about that in a second. There's no doubt about it. Last night's call at the close of the Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga's perfect game bid was a bad one, but it's not the first controversial call. I've got a list that still causes the blood to boil in many of you out there. What are the top three best -- or I guess you could say worst bad calls? Here they are. No. 3: 1972 Olympics. The undefeated U.S. men's basketball team leading the Soviet Union 50-49. In the final seconds of the game, the ref's bad call led to time being put back on the clock twice, allowing the Soviets to score a basket at the buzzer. That cost the U.S. the gold medal. No. 2: Rich Garcia remember this one, because he was there, the Yankees/Orioles game in 1996, where 12-year-old Jeffrey Mayer (ph) reached over the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium, catching a Derek Jeter fly ball just a split second before Baltimore Oriole Tony Tarasco. The catch tied the game and allowed the Yankees to come back for the win. And No. 1: The hand of God goal during the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal. Diego Maradona rises up between two defenders and punches the ball into the goal. The ref never saw it, and the goal remained. The goal led to Argentina beating England. Well, by this time tomorrow, President Obama will be back at the oil disaster, trying to avert a political one. Wolf Blitzer has been tracking the fallout and the White House policy on future drilling. That's ahead.