Some future commissioner will have the guts to change this, similar to Jim Thorpe being awarded his medals well after the fact (and after his death). Selig says he will now review the use of replay. I’ve said all along that replay should be used for ALL important situations (ball-strikes might be difficult, but I want this automated). Why do they always wait for a disaster in sports, which everyone knows will eventually happen, until they initiate or expand the use of replay? We have the technology to get calls right and have the players decide fairly who wins, and we restrict this–only homeruns in baseball, limited challenges in football, etc. What happened in this perfect game was easily avoidable and could have been dealt with at the time it happened.
People say the rules don’t allow this. Am I correct that a few years ago, right before a World Series game, Selig changed the rule and said that if the game was stopped in the middle by rain, even if less than 5 innings, it would be picked up from that point? My recollection is that he did this, not everyone was aware, and it was confusing. I happen to agree with this 100% and have always advocated this, but my point is the rule was changed last-minute to deal with the situation. I’ve also seen errors changed to hits and vice versa well after the game was over. This game could easily be rectified without affecting the outcome or almost anything else. What is more wrong–robbing a pitcher of a legitimately earned perfect game by overruling a bad call after the game when the outcome wouldn’t be affected or using replay during the game even though it’s not approved for that situation OR leaving the situation as it is? I maintain it’s much more wrong to leave it as is.