Let the Fans Vote on Perfect Game

So here’s what I would have told Bud Selig if he made that 3 AM call to me Wednesday night for advice on how to handle the situation surrounding the blown call that cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game.  Okay, even if Bud would have called me, he probably would have waited til 10 AM or so.  But I would have been up…  Or send me an e-mail.  Or hint at communication via an indirect tweet.  Just please don’t Facebook poke me, Mr. Selig…

But he did not call. I am not one of his inner circle of trusted advisors, nor do I pretend to have such qualifications. So this hypothetical conversation would have been a monologue to my dial tone at best:

You’ve got people clamouring all over the world to use your divine Commissionerly powers to reverse the call and grant the kid his perfect game.  In over 135 years of Major League Baseball history, there’s only been 20 officially recorded.  So it’s not like implementing instant replay is gonna help out Galarraga for when he pitches his next one!  (If he does throw another, then perhaps we need to put a little more pep in hitters’ post-steroid diets…)  Point is, Galarraga worked an incredible outing, the dream of every pitcher’s career, and all you have to do is sprinkle a fistfull of Commissioner Dust to grant him credit for it!

Curt Schilling makes a spot on compelling case in his ESPN article for reversing the call.  Then again, Hal Bodley’s column praises Selig’s ultimate decision to let the call stand, which in vague statements seem to have been based on the integrity of the game, countless ramifications, blah blah blah…  Yes, if it were me, I’d reverse the call, but I understand why the Commissioner would not want to do so.

Okay, so people want you to reverse the call.  Other people will stand behind your decision to let the call stand, if you so decide.  You’re expected to decree one way or the other.  Well, let’s think outside the batter’s box here…  Either way, you’re not changing the outcome of the game.  You’d erase, at most, one hit and the following at bat.  I know you’re really keen on playing protector of the game and all its sacred rules, but when all is said and done, it’s just a game.  Games are supposed to be fun, and we’re all feeling pretty icky right now.  So you don’t want to be the one to open some Pandora’s Box of calling into question every past play or future play with any degree of officiational slop.  Fine.  Where does it start?  Where does it stop?  But, look, you’re still in charge.  It starts and stops where you says it does!  Here’s my proposed solution in the "best interests of baseball"…

I’m not sure Bud has the time for these kinds of long-winded phone calls.  But I’m long-winded.  Even when typing.

Let the fans decide!  Not every decision needs to be made with the wave of a royal sceptre.  This is a game, and it’s fun for the fans, and it can be made even more fun for the fans if you give us an opportunity to clear away this icky feeling Wednesday’s game has left in all of us.

The saving grace as been Galarraga’s and Joyce’s superlatively classy handling of the situation, which has given us at least some warm fuzzies to grasp onto.

And, you know, there is still plenty of debate whether overturning the call would be good or bad for the game, so you never know what fans will decide.  But the brilliance of this move would be that it would draw fans closer into the game, perhaps attract more fans.  In contrast, making a yea or nay ruling doesn’t really provide any meaningful interaction.  Hey, fan voting works for American Idol — why not America’s pasttime?

With the All-Star Game coming up, you’ve got the perfect forum for implementing a vote.  Seventh-inning stretch, fans text in their votes in using their cell phones.  The resulting poll decides whether to overturn the call and grant Galarraga a perfect game, or let the call stand as officiated.  Heck, this even gives fans a reason to stay tuned to the game, even if it’s a blowout, or all their favorite players have already completed their appearances.

I wouldn’t need to translate that as revenue to Mr. Selig.

Is this going to instigate some horrible precedent that will ruin the game of baseball?  I really don’t think so.  A blown call on the 27th out of a perfect game?  That’s happened ONCE in the history of baseball, and no one alive will likely see it again.  This solution does not really get the Commissioner into the business of overturning plays and whatnot, so there’s no worry of a man-made Earth-eating black hole here.  If such an issue is solved by a big to do involving fan voting during the All-Star game, it seems highly unlikely that it would be abused. And with a greater role of instant reply being considered as a result of this, it’s possible that we won’t find ourselves in this situation in the future. This is a ONE-TIME action for ONE EVENT that did not determine the outcome of a game or series.

Fans happy.  Integrity of the game preserved.  Commissioner, with a stroke of brilliant leadership, looks like a freakin’ genius.  Galarraga (probably) gets his rightfully-deserved perfect game, and if he doesn’t, it’s because the fans spoke after careful consideration and with settled emotions during the All-Star Break.  So even if no perfect game is granted, Selig saves face by allowing us to decide and needn’t bloody his hands.

Seems like a perfect solution to me.  Why not? Has Lee MacPhail weighed in on this controversy? Seeing as he already set a relevant precedent in a game that DID affect the outcome of a game?