Heard about Jim Joyce, right? He is the umpire who cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game…only twenty EVER in major league baseball…with a horrendous call at first base with two out in the ninth inning.
He’s gone from goat to hero. Sportsmanship and all that. I heard Matt Lauer thank him this morning for the “teaching moment” he gave us all. To be fair, Umpire Joyce did admit his mistake right away, took the abuse like the man he undoubtedly is, apologized personally to Armando and did not hide from fans nor media. A class act, even with his outdated Leon Redbone mustache; luckily, there are no pictures of him in his wife beater or we all might not think so nicely about him.
Like you, it did tug at my heart strings a bit, to see this experience unfold. I thought both prime players handled it well. Especially for the simple graciousness of Armando Galarraga. Maybe we are too accustomed to the behavior of John McEnroe, Serena and Tiger, so that when someone handles it like all of us would have, it makes news. Unfortunate, that.
But it did bring up an interesting question. Are there irrovable mistakes you make at work? Sure, umpires make mistakes all the time. We all make mistakes.
But how big can mistakes be and still be apologized away? (I am sorry, Louisiana, I should have been a bit more careful about that oil thing. But I do feel reallyreally badly about it.)
What is the responsibility of management? What is their symbolic act? I had to fire my best friend once because he took public credit for the significant work of another key person in the company. He apologized, too, profusely. For me, his was an irrovable mistake. Have you had similar situations?
Would firing Mr Joyce be better for baseball in the long run?
