On Two Joyces and the Elephant

"Safe!" - Jim Joyce, Umpire
"A man's errors are the portals of discovery." - James Joyce, Writer
"Do not carry with you your mistakes. Do not carry your cares." - The Buddha (in the Elephant verse of the Dhammapada)

The dharmaspoon guy has too short an attention span for baseball, but all he has heard about from his co-workers since Thursday has been talk of a bad call by the veteran umpire, Jim Joyce, at a Major League Baseball game between the Tigers and the Indians that resulted in the Tiger's pitcher, Armando Galarraga being "Robbed" of a perfect game (one in which not a single member of the opposing team was credited with a hit), which is pretty rare and kind of a big deal.


Following the game, the umpire was able to watch a video of the call and admitted it was a bad call, and apologized to Galarraga. Footage of the umpire in the aftermath of the game showed a humbled, sad man who showed remorse over the mistake. Scheduled to umpire the following day for the same two teams at the same stadium, he showed up to a mostly supportive crowd (although had to endure some booing). The pitcher came out and publicly shook Joyce's hand and patted him on the back. The game went on without a hitch.


For fans of baseball, no doubt it would have been a beautiful thing for the Tigers to have their first perfect game, but for people everywhere, what a great example has been set for how to conduct yourself after a mistake has been made. First, there's Joyce, who admitted he was wrong, apologized, and then showed up the next day and did the best job he could do. Next, there's Galarraga, who accomplished something great in the sport, yet will not be officially recognized for it, yet handled his disappointment with dignity and grace: in the immediate aftermath, he actually just smiled and then walked away. Finally, there are the majority of the fans, who recognized that Joyce represents our basic humanity, that despite our best efforts, we sometimes make mistakes.