It’s considered one of the most controversial sports stories in American history, we’re talking about former Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga’s almost-perfect game in 2010 before that infamous call made by umpire Jim Joyce. More than 14 years later, baseball fans are still debating the ending. Now, a new edition of ESPN E60 brings that story back to the forefront, this time with a University of New Mexico professor.
UNM Political Science adjunct professor Lawrence Jones plays a big role in the new hour-long documentary airing this weekend called "28 Outs: An Imperfect Story." The program will highlight a school project worked on during Jones’ Law and Society class in 2021 at Monmouth University. During the course, students compiled an 82-page report asking the Major League Baseball Commissioner to take a second look at that highly debated call and why Galarraga should be added to the records book as a player who pitched a perfect game.
“Mistakes can be made, but what happened in this game and why it ended up in our Law and Society class is not so much that the umpire made a mistake, but what happened after," Jones said. “This was an analytical approach, not just for students to give their opinions, but from a professional standpoint to analytically and constructively put together an argument to persuade the commissioner to recognize the perfect game.”
That document was sent to Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2022 who declined to overturn the call or grant recognition. However, he spoke to those students on Zoom a few months later about the situation and other aspects of the sport. From there, the project got the attention of ESPN. Jones said the network contacted him in 2023 to highlight the student's work. While Jones says he was surprised to hear ESPN called, he always knew it was an important story and would draw interest from anyone, baseball fans or not.
In 2010, Armando Galarraga was one out away from baseball immortality when umpire Jim Joyce's controversial call changed everything.
— E60 (@E60) August 11, 2024
Over a decade later, the debate rages on: Should Galarraga's name be etched in the MLB record books?
E60’s ‘28 Outs: An Imperfect Story,'… pic.twitter.com/3ahNO9XPUr
“In the Fall of 2021, the weeks leading up to it, I was thinking what our project could be that semester," Jones said. "I thought of the Galarraga case because even if you don’t follow baseball, there was so much more to that story in terms of history, precedent, law, culture, and social issues.”
According to Jones, a perfect game is one of the rarest accomplishments one could achieve in baseball with less than 25 players in MLB history to have done it. A 'perfect game' happens when a pitcher gets everyone out, nobody reaches first base. “He was one batter away from making history, on the verge of baseball immortality," Jones said. As reported by ESPN, Galarraga was one out away from becoming the 21st pitcher in MLB history to throw a perfect game when Cleveland’s Jason Donald hit a ground ball to first base and appeared out. However, Joyce ruled Donald was safe, costing Galarraga’s title.
“We are hopeful that if it’s a strong documentary and if public opinion supports the documentary, maybe it will give the commissioner another thought for reconsideration," Jones said.
According to ESPN, the documentary includes new interviews with Galarraga, Joyce, and more than 30 players, coaches, and fans. It will debut Sunday, August 18, at 4 p.m. ET ahead of the Yankees/Tigers baseball game on ESPN and streaming on ESPN Plus after.