After 2010 blown call, Tigers' Galarraga could still have perfect game | Letter
One Freep readers says tolerating injustice in baseball is a "slippery and dangerous slope."
On June 2, 2010, Armando Galarraga, the 28-year-old starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers , was robbed of a perfect game by an umpire who grotesquely blew the game’s final call . Yet Galarraga remains victimized by the stubborn indifference of major league baseball. No, he did not wind up in a foreign prison or an emergency room, but justice still matters.
All the time. When we tolerate injustice, it is a slippery and dangerous slope. And this one is bad precedent, if not worse.
On the surface, sports are obsessed with fairness: instant replays, in-game challenges, flagrant fouls, and video reviews. But they also have a stubborn affinity for unjust behavior. For starters, many sports have a checkered history with racism.
Black players were banned from the major leagues until Jackie Robinson’s debut. And, apparently, the National Football League blackballed quarterback Colin Kaepernick for his peaceful kneeling protest over racism and police misconduct . Other examples have filled volumes.