An Imperfect Game

There are many more important things going on in the world than the question of how a baseball game ended last night in Detroit.  This morning we met at Cuzi to talk about the perceptions and the reality behind Israel’s clash with activists aiming to provoke a violent response.  Over the last weeks we have talked about the unprecedented natural disaster occurring in the Gulf and how to formulate a response according to Jewish values.   However, while paling in significance in terms of its outcome, the account of how one of the most experienced umpires in the league accidentally turned a perfect baseball masterpiece into a jarring example of imperfection teaches rare lessons that may help us reflect on the more important things in life.  Either way it’s a damn good story.

The simple facts are that a young pitcher named Armando Galarraga was one out away from a feat that had been done only twenty times in baseball history – retiring all twenty seven batters to face him in nine innings without a single one reaching base.  A perfect game.   What should have been the final out started as a weak ground ball to the right side which was scooped up by the first baseman and thrown into Galaragga’s glove as he stepped on the bag apparently before the runner.  Everyone reacted as if the game was over and the feat had been accomplished, except the umpire, a man named Jim Joyce, who was emphatic in calling the runner safe.  Not long afterwards, following the anticlimactic official last out, Jim Joyce was emphatic a second time.  “I just cost that kid a perfect game” he said after a video replay clearly demonstrated that the runner was well behind the throw.  Biggest call in my life and I kicked the [***] out of it!”  Perhaps as amazing as Joyce’s passionate confession, was the reaction of the “kid” forty years his junior who simply smiled, shook off the disappointment, and finished the game. Later, in a private moment with the still rattled umpire, Galaragga forgave him and said without irony, “Nobody’s perfect” 

What makes this moment so tantalizing and so frustrating is that there is no dispute over the facts of what really happened and yet somehow we are powerless to the change the record to reflect the “truth”.  The Umpires declaration creates reality in the baseball world.  This incident then is completely unlike most controversies when there is extreme difference of opinion as to what transpired and no one authority  to which to appeal.  Usually such controversies lead not to the hugs and tears of Joyce and Galaragga, but instead to bitter feelings and lifelong grudges. 

Such a more typical controversy is actually described in the portion of the Torah we read this week which tells the story of an ill-fated small party of scouts sent by Moses into the Land of Israel to spy out the land. All but two of the scouts return with a negative report, lamenting that although flowing with milk and honey, the land is full of giants and devours its people.  Only Caleb, credited with personal fortitude, and the future leader Joshua resist the scouts pessimism and speak favorably about the mission ahead.  They however are outnumbered and the results are catastrophic.  The people weep in fear and G-d threatens to destroy them for lack of faith.  Moses, however appeals the play and succeeds in averting the worst.  Instead, the people’s punishment will fit the crime: they will wander in the desert for forty years until almost the entire generation dies out leaving only Joshua and Caleb to see the land again with their own eyes.

The true tragedy of the episode of the spies is a mirror image of the true beauty of the Imperfect Game.  The spies, tasked with being the eyes and ears of the people, put all of their authority and influence behind backing up the story they want the Israelites to believe.  The results clash with reality and sow widespread doubt and a bitter result.  In the game, the umpire having realized his eyes and ears have misled him, reacts by opening himself to all of the implications of his vulnerability. Joyce was genuine in his contrition and no carefully crafted statement or course of action would have been as convincing as his immediate tears and heartfelt apology. For his part, Galaragga did not milk the moment for pathos, but after a short time of stunned acceptance of his fate, moved on to demonstrate complete and palpable forgiveness. 

Human beings can not be perfect.  The best we can do on that score is measure up to our mission or set an artificial perfection like 27 outs in 27 at bats.  Human beings however can transcend perfection by breaking out of the static rules of the game and tapping into greater sources of goodness, compassion and righteousness.  That is what both the young pitcher Galaragga and the veteran umpire had the opportunity to do and delivered in the clutch.

And while this story has been covered on front pages, sports pages and everywhere in between here is a little bonus only available here:  Every number corresponds to a Hebrew letter and so any amount can be translated into a Hebrew word.  The technique, called gematria is used extensively by Jewish commentaries.  The number 27, the outs that must be recorded in a row for a perfect game, is the equivalent of the Hebrew word for purity or faultlessness (zakh).  But due to the strangeness of the situation, Galaragga had to record what amounted to a twenty-eighth straight out.  The gematria of that number is koach, strength.   Human beings are rarely if ever faultless, but at our best we do great things with our strength.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi MIchael