Adirondack with magine!
02.01.2010

Adirondack Header with magine
Michael Fox CPCC,
founder of  magine!,
is a professional
coach and trainer,
author and creative artist, whose work has been featured throughout
the world.
Nobody's perfect...
Well, almost nobody...

In the modern era of Major League Baseball--dating back to 1900--twenty "perfect games" have been thrown by pitchers. A perfect game in baseball is one in which a pitcher gets "three up and three down" in each of nine innings: no hits, no walks, no errors. Twenty perfect games out of nearly 400,000 games played.

The twenty-first perfect game in history--the third of this season alone--was tossed at Detroit's Coamerica Park just over a week ago, on Wednesday, June 2nd.

Well, almost...

You see, the twenty-first perfect game in history was lost, well, to human imperfection.

Tigers' pitcher Armando Galarraga retired Cleveland's first twenty-six batters. With two out in the top of the ninth inning--one out shy of perfection, the hometown crowd on its feet in anticipation of history--the Indians' Jason Donald squibbed an infield ground ball to Tigers' first baseman Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera fielded the ball and tossed it to Galaragga who was covering first base. Replays--inadmissible evidence in the Court of Baseball--bear witness that Galaragga and the baseball beat Jason Donald to first base. Inexplicably, however, first base umpire Jim Joyce ruled the runner safe. Galarraga's immediate reaction to the injustice: a tilt of the head, a casual smile, and nary a word of protest. Remarkable.

The game ended with a whimper one batter later when Galaragga retired Trevor Crowe for the final out.

Perfection is oh so overrated...

Perfection is, in reality, as much a result of serendipity as of skill; perfection is, perhaps above all, noteworthy for its scarcity. Of greater value, it can be argued, is one's reconciliation to imperfection, to frailty, to disappointment. Which brings us back to umpire Jim Joyce and pitcher Armando Galarraga...

Joyce, a veteran of twenty-five seasons, reviewed the call in the umpires' room and was crestfallen when he discovered his error. "I cost that kid a perfect game," he later confessed. Still in his umpire gear, he met with Galarraga and tearfully apologized. He invited the press to his dressing room and acknowledged his mistake.

The next afternoon, the Tigers and Indians met for the closing game of the series. The umpiring rotation put Joyce behind the plate for Thursday's game. Major League Baseball gave Joyce--the object of catcalls and, worse, threats against him and his family--the option of pulling out of the day's assignment. Joyce, however, declined the offer, stepped from the tunnel and on to the field in preparation for the game--uncertain of what awaited him.

Meanwhile, Jim Leyland--manager of the Detroit Tigers and an "old school" baseball man--had his entire team stand in front of the dugout and applaud Joyce and his fellow umpires as they stepped from the tunnel. How cool is that? The crowd took Leland's cue and politely applauded the men in blue. Then Leyland made an unusual move and sent a player in his stead to home plate to deliver the line-up card to Jim Joyce. He sent Armando Galarraga. There at home, a visibly moved Jim Joyce and Armando Galarraga shook hands and reconciled for all to see,.

In baseball, as in the Divine Narrative of scripture, nobody's perfect. Well, almost nobody. Baseball, as I have written previously, is an unfolding and unanticipated, sometimes indeed chaotic, drama of redemption--of reconciliation--a Homeresque story of coming home to the embrace of family. Armando Galarraga, Jim Joyce, Jim Leyland, and a supporting cast demonstrated that some things are better than perfection. And that, my friend, is almost...

Perfect.


Where are you driven by perfection?

How does it show up? What's the cost? Where's the need for reconciliation?

What's the lie?

Where lies the blessing?

Michael Fox
m�agine!

530/613.2774
P.O. Box 9144
Auburn, CA, USA 95604
In addition to personal and professional coaching,
m�agine! specializes in spiritual transformation coaching,
employing its proprietary models: Values, Vision, Voice and Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength
.
Michael's books include Complete in Christ,
Complete in Christ Spiritual Transformation Workbook, and Biblio�files.

Coaching fees are based upon a sliding scale. Contact us for details.

Limited scholarships are available for spiritual transformation coaching.
On the flip side, if you are able, please inquire about opportunities
to fund scholarships for those who cannot afford coaching fees.

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