Jun
7
Sportsmanship At It’s Finest
Filed Under Baseball
As a youth league umpire for sixteen years, I know the pressure I have to deal with when I have a “wacker” at first. It’s never easy to call a kid out, especially if its a real close play. Usually it ends with a coach or the kids yelling about how I got it wrong.
Armando Galaragga of the Detroit Tigers was one out away from a perfect game and if you ask any sports fan including the umpire, he got it. Umpire Jim Joyce admittedly told the media and Galaragga that he “blew the call” that would have been the 27th consecutive out of the game.
Something very unusual happened next. Instead of Galaragga getting mad and flipping out at the umpire, he smiled at him and continued the game with no sign of anger and put out the next batter to record his first complete game of his career.
All youth athletes, coaches, and parents should take a page out of Armando Galaragga’s book. If a professional athlete can remain calm when things don’t go the way they want, then youth sports parents can surely do the same.
After the game after the umpire apologized for the missed call and all Galaragga had to say was that he knows “nobody’s perfect.”
Some of the best sportsmanship I’ve ever seen in professional sports.
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