ESPN’s E60 on Armando Galarraga’s perfect game, which was not due to a wrong decision by referee Jim Joyce … (+)
There are rare occasions when a documentary does more than just retell the story. ESPN’s E60, 28 Outs: An imperfect story With the story of Armando Galarraga’s perfect game, it redefines a moment that was never one and makes us rethink whether a historic injustice should be righted.
The documentary tells the story of a seemingly insignificant game between the Detroit Tigers and the then-Cleveland Indians on June 2, 2010. As in some of baseball’s most historic moments, the player at the center was not a major star, but someone in the rotation who worked his way up to something bigger. Look at Don Larsen; a mediocre pitcher who has the honor of throwing the only perfect game in World Series history.
What makes Galarraga’s near-perfect game so exciting is that it hinged on the game’s final out – number 27 – when first base umpire Jim Joyce overlooked the ruling on a ground ball play by Jason Donald and called it a safe instead of an out, which would have resulted in Major League Baseball’s 21st perfect game. At that point, there was no instant replay of decisions on the base paths. The Galarraga game sped that up.
If ESPN had decided to just tell the story of Galarraga’s near-perfect game, it would have been fine. E60 reporter Jen Lada interviews nearly everyone involved, including Galarraga, Joyce, but also over 30 players, coaches, fans and MLB executives, including Commissioner Rob Manfred. Be it MLB Vice President of Umpires Mike Port, former Tigers manager Jim Leyland and former General Manager Dave Dombrowski, longtime Tigers radio announcer Dan Dickerson and several Tigers fans who were at the game. Also included are Galarraga’s teammates at the time in Detroit, including Brandon Inge, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Alex Avila, Ramon Santiago and Austin Jackson. Cleveland personnel interviewed at the game include players Travis Hafner and Jason Donald, former manager Manny Acta and former first base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. The only ones missing are former commissioner Bud Selig and Miguel Cabrera.
But what does 28 Outs: An imperfect story so compelling—aside from the well-documented sportsmanship between Joyce and Galarraga following the missed call (the next day Leyland sent Galarraga to give Joyce the lineup card, whereupon Joyce burst into tears so much he said he couldn’t read it) is that the entire E60 is bookended by a study from a Monmouth University law class that examined the history of MLB’s overturning decisions—including the infamous Pin Tar incident involving George Brett—in such detail that their 60-plus page report sent to the Commissioner’s office found its way to Manfred, who responded in a letter to the class.
As is often the case in sports, there is no happy ending. Even though Joyce said he missed the call, Donald knew he was out, overturning the call would not change the outcome of the game, and there is precedent for overturning calls, such as awarding Brett’s home run in the Pine Tar game, then-Commissioner Selig and now Rob Manfred refuse to overturn the call and award Galarraga his well-deserved perfect game.
Ultimately, the documentary highlights the problems that league commissioners often face. Both Selig and Manfred say they are concerned about “opening Pandora’s box” by overturning the decision, but neither gives examples of how that could happen in today’s world, when decisions like Joyce’s would be invalidated by instant replay. Instead, for Selig then and Manfred now, “we have to be careful of the unintended consequences that we may not see.” Ironically, the documentary comes at a time when the game is changed by a pitch clock and there is now talk of rules requiring starters to pitch at least 6 innings under certain rare conditions, ignoring the unintended consequences — pitcher’s arm health seems to be accepted based on data, but whether that data is really enough to say with certainty will only be known for several years. To add to the story, when asked if Manfred would personally overturn the decision, he said he would.
28 Outs: An imperfect story could still change the course of baseball history. Rob Manfred has announced that he will retire at the end of his term in 2029. No one should hold their breath, but it’s possible that his successor could right the wrong.
28 Outs: An imperfect story, Premieres Sunday, August 18, at 4 p.m. on ESPN, then streaming on ESPN+.
