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Jim Joyce regrets his now-controversial call from what would have been the 21st perfect game in MLB history and the 3rd on of the 2001 season.

Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers lost his bid for a perfect game Wednesday night with two outs in the ninth inning on a call that first base umpire Jim Joyce later admitted he blew.

First baseman Miguel Cabrera cleanly fielded Jason Donald’s grounder to his right and made an accurate throw to Galarraga covering the bag. The ball was there in time, and all of Comerica Park was ready to celebrate the 3-0 win over Cleveland, until Joyce emphatically signaled safe.

By displaying the incompetence of the "human element" of baseball in a gut-wrenchingly vivid fashion, Joyce cost Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga what would have been the third perfect game of 2010, and only the 21st ever, by executing one of the most egregiously blown calls since the infamous Don Denkinger safe call at first base in the 1985 World Series.

With two outs in the ninth, Galarraga found himself one out away from a perfect game. When 1st baseman Miguel Cabrera fielded a Jason Donald sharp grounder and tossed the ball to the pitcher on the bag, clearly ahead of the throw, celebration was about to ensue. But the euphoria quickly turned to complete dismay as Jim Joyce missed what he dubbed "the biggest call of his career."
Yes, Joyce has apologized. He feels terrible about costing Galarraga what would have likely been the high point of the pitchers' career. Bud Selig — using his sweeping powers as commissioner — could even overturn the call and award Armando the honor he rightly earned. But none of that changes what happened on the field. Nothing retroactive can return to the young pitcher the place in baseball history that was stolen from him. The only good that can come from this baseball atrocity is the possibility of it serving as a wakeup call to finally force the hand of Selig on instant replay. The purist be damned. There was nothing pure about what happened at Comerica Park on Wednesday night.

“I just cost that kid a perfect game,” Joyce said. “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay.”

“It was the biggest call of my career,” said Joyce, who became a full-time major league umpire in 1989.

Source : blogcritics.org, kydem.blogspot.