Briggs: Toledo native Jim Joyce at peace, but he's 'all for' renewed effort to overturn blown Galarraga call

Dating to the bygone afternoon that a future Toledo high school teacher named Lee Richmond pitched the first “no-man-reach-first baseball game” — as he called it in 1880 before there was a name for such a feat — there have been 24 perfect games in MLB history.

Or is it 25?

If another Toledoan has his way, it is past time to amend the official count.

“Absolutely,” Jim Joyce said. “I’m all for it. If the commissioner can do that, I’ll sign the papers tomorrow. Send them to me.”

Yes, we are still talking about that .

I caught up with the good-guy former umpire ahead of a new ESPN documentary, 28 Outs: An Imperfect Story , set to premiere Sunday.

The film revisits the fateful day in 2010 when his missed call cost Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game, along with the ensuing debate — freshly renewed by an enterprising class of Monmouth University law students — that might be best summarized as Common Sense vs. Can of Worms .

Should MLB formally recognize Galarraga’s no-man-correctly-reach-first gem?

All these years later, it is a question that intrigues Joyce, 68, but does not haunt him.

Not anymore.

Life is too good, and so was his career.

In 30 big-league seasons, Joyce — who retired in 2017 — worked three World Series and three All-Star games, and was once voted the game’s best umpire in an ESPN poll of 100 players.

Now, the Central Catholic and Bowling Green State University grad is making up for lost summers at home in Portland, Ore., where he met his wife, Kay, as an ump in the Pacific Coast League and never left.

Their grandkids keep them busy, as does the garden — tomatoes, zucchinis, onions — and an upcoming house remodel. Joyce stays up on baseball through the occasional game on TV — he is just as interested in his BG Falcons, to be completely honest — and a monthly Zoom chat with his old ump buddies (“The Men’s Club”). He was especially thrilled to see Jim Leyland go into the Hall of Fame.

“That was awesome,” Joyce said. “I was able to communicate with him by text. That’s just a hell of an honor. So glad to see that.”

He is perfectly at peace, if you will.

Still, he has never run from anything, including the past, and, if you’re wondering, yes, he still thinks about June, 2, 2010.

“Every day,” Joyce said. “That’s the short answer. I don’t want it to be on my tombstone, but it’s something I think about every day.”

The good and the bad, but mostly the good.

I suspect you’re the same way.

It was unfortunate that Joyce cost an ordinary pitcher the most extraordinary achievement, his blown call at first base robbing Galarraga — a journeyman former Mud Hen who finished with 26 career wins — the first perfect game in Tigers history.

(Another Toledo connection: If the runner were called out, Galarraga’s 83 pitches would have been the fewest thrown in a perfect game since Cleveland’s Addie Joss needed only 74 in 1908. Joss spent his offseasons in Toledo, where he was the popular Sunday sports editor and columnist for the Toledo News-Bee. The Hall of Famer is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.)

But, of course, we’ll really remember what came next. What will live on are Joyce and Galarraga and their humility and grace, one man blaming nobody but himself, the other forgiving. It was a lesson in what it means to be human.

When Galarraga brought out the lineup card to a tearful Joyce before the next night’s game, it was one of the most beautiful displays of sportsmanship in baseball history. Joyce has a framed photo from that moment on his wall at home.

“You don't want to lose those memories,” he said. “I don't dwell on that day. It is what it is and you can't do anything about it. That’s OK. I’m OK with the way things have turned out. Do I wish it went differently? Absolutely, I do. But you have to make the best of a bad situation.”

As for formally updating the historical record, it’s a long-simmering debate that is back in the news thanks to … Monmouth.

Yes, Monmouth, the small New Jersey college from which the University of Toledo just hired new women’s basketball coach Ginny Boggess. (How many times must we remind you that Toledo is the center of the universe?!)

In a unique class project, the students sent an 82-page letter to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, citing legal and baseball precedent to argue that Galarraga’s performance should be retroactively added to the list of perfect games.

Two arguments stood out:

■ 1. An umpire’s ruling has not always been final. In 1983, for instance, Royals star George Brett was famously called out after an ump judged there was too much pine tar on the bat he used to hit a home run. American League president Lee MacPhail overturned the call, and the game was resumed the next month from the point of Brett’s home run.

■ 2. MLB is no stranger to revising history long after the fact. In 1959, Pirates starter Harvey Haddix tossed 12 perfect innings before losing the no-hitter and the game in the 13th. The outing was formally recognized as a no-hitter for ... 32 years, until MLB changed the definition of a no-no to a “game in which a pitcher or pitchers complete a game of nine innings or more without allowing a hit." Haddix was removed from the list of no-hitter-throwing pitchers.

In response, Manfred commended the students for their work, but agreed with the ruling of his predecessor, Bud Selig.

“As much as he or I would like to alter what happened,” he wrote, “a reversal of the true historical record of what occurred on the field, under the rules in place at that time, would open a Pandora's box of issues from the history of the game where past and future errors would constantly be vulnerable to scrutiny.”

My two cents: This case is unique enough that there is no Pandora’s box. This is recognizing an individual achievement, not revisiting a blown call with seismic ripples (see: Don Denkinger). And future errors? They can be fixed in real time by instant replay, which was implemented in 2014.

Ask me, and Galarraga’s game should be on the list of perfection.

At the same time, there remains an undeniable beauty in in its absence.

We may have forgotten names like Charlie Robertson and Philip Humber and Dallas Braden and Domingo German, all of whom are on the list. But baseball will always remember Galarraga precisely because he isn’t, the sportsmanship and humanity on display that historic afternoon transcending a single great feat.

Just as nobody is perfect — well, save for Galarraga and 24 others — there’s no perfect answer.