There are many kinds of heartaches. There’s the kind of heartache one gets in a failed relationship. Then there is the kind of heartache when someone steals something valuable from you. I was reminded of both of these recently.
By all accounts, Jim Joyce is an excellent umpire who has an impeccable reputation in major league baseball. He recently stole something from Detroit Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga when he blew a call on the 27th out of a perfect baseball game on a call at first base.
It was a gut-wrenching scenario that makes your heart ache for Galarraga, who handled the disappointment with all the grace and charisma of a champion. Not only did he never once complain about the call, he instantly forgave the remorseful Joyce, who manned up and admitted that he blew it at the game’s conclusion.
Suddenly, I felt good about life again. Galarraga had every right to go to his grave as a bitter victim of someone else’s mistake. He was cheated out of a gem that has only happened twenty times in the entire history of the game of baseball. But he forgave the apologetic Joyce on the spot.
Baseball’s Bud Selig is the one to fault in this situation. He has done as poor of a job with instant replay as he did with the so-called steroids era. He may go down in history as the worst commissioner baseball has ever had.
Selig is beholden only to the owners for whom he works. I have no problem with that, baseball cheated this young man, not to mention history. This is just one more example of how Selig has been asleep as the switch. Do the game a favor Bud; have a Budweiser and retire. You’ve outlived your usefulness.
This could have easily been corrected when the game allowed for limited use of replay a number of years ago. Your heart has to ache for this young man who was so graceful and honorable in the manner in which he handled the ump’s blown call.
It took the umpire Joyce only one glance at the replay monitor just seconds later to realize that he had made a mistake. Human error is an accepted part of the game.
Baseball is one of the only sports that are inherently unequal. No two stadiums are alike. No two umpires are alike. There is nothing equal at all about the sport, and this fact is an accepted part of the grace of the game.
Still, your heart has to ache for this young man who was robbed of his place in history. Today, he is the only man ever to pitch a perfect game with 28 outs, rather than 27. Perhaps he has, in fact, sealed a more important place in history because of it.
That is one kind of heartache. The other kind that’s on my mind this week has to do with a young man and a young lady who recently got married in Orlando, Florida at a wedding my wife and I attended.
The parents of this young lady did not approve of the young man, so they did a very selfish thing- they boycotted her wedding.
What they have done is foreclose on any future relationship with not only their daughter but also their unborn grandchildren. How selfish can people be? How can they break their daughter’s heart on what should be the happiest day of her life?
The wedding started about 20 minutes late. I could not help but wonder if the young lady was prayerfully hoping that her dad and stepmother would make a last second entrance. Sadly, the stepmother’s corsage lay in the same forlorn spot that it was placed in the vestibule of the church.
My heart ached for her all day long and yet she handled the rebuke with just as much grace and dignity as Galarraga, who was robbed of his place in baseball history. She even thanked her parents and spoke humbly and honorably about how much they meant to her, despite their absence.
I hugged her at the reception and complimented her on the elegant way she conducted herself. She may have been a young woman with little or no life experience to speak of, but her maturity and poise spoke volumes.
Still, my heart aches for two young people a half a country away from each other, both of whom were cheated out of their moment in the sun.
