Quite a few will learn about him for the first time today, but not for the reasons discussed here as this isn't about Haddix's performance. It's about Major League Officials. The game ended after Milwaukee's Joe Adcock hit a ball over the fence with two men on. Hank Aaron was on first and mistakenly thought the ball had bounced over the fence for a ground rule double. Aaron touched second and headed to the dugout assuming that the game had ended. Once he realized his error and tried to return to rounding the bases Adcock had already touched third. The umpires conferred and determined Adcock was out, but Aaron's run would count.
Today people are asking for Jim Joyce's blown call at first to be overturned and they are meeting resistance from people arguing that Pandora's box will be opened, the human element is a part of the game and shouldn't be tampered with, the fear of a bad precedent and countless references to the 1985 World Series. If Bud Selig were to overrule the call he would not be changing the outcome of the game, but what he would be overruling the umpire on the field and taking a hit away from a batter.
So what does Harvey Haddix's game have to do with this? Well, the day after the game MLB officials decided that Adcock's hit was a double because of the baserunning error and took Hank Aaron's run off the board. The new final: 1-0. Here it is on Baseball Reference. That's Pandora's box. Oh, but it was 50 years ago and somehow baseball has managed to not turn into anarchy - outside of the NL East. So 51 years ago MLB officials decided to overrule the umpires on the field, take away a run, but not impact the ultimate outcome of the game. It also cost Joe Adcock a home run and a RBI. Yet, if Jason Donald's hit is taken away to correctly restore a perfect game that will be the bad precedent and the opening of Pandora's box? No, the bad precedent was set in 1991 when the Committee for Statistical Accuracy in Baseball led by then-Commish Fay Vincent decided not to award Haddix a perfect game.
The irony of the slippery slope, Pandora's Box crowd is that they claim to come at the discussion from the angle of being true baseball fans and historians. Not knowing about Henry Haddix is one thing, but regardless of what Bud Selig does here, it will be no pine tar incident, an incident that every baseball fan is familiar with and actually involved the Commissioner overruling the umpires and disregarding a rule. That's a serious precedent. Bud wouldn't be setting any precedent, he'd be setting the record books straight.
SI.com 50 years ago Harvey Haddix... (very good read)
Thursday, June 3
A Perfect Game Ruined: Take Pandora's Box and Shove It
Tuesday, February 17
Shackleford Files 009: Roid Rage
During a recent recording session Cleet and I discussed baseball and steroids. Often a topic used by sports radio hosts, to get through their day without having to do any work we weren't sure if people would want to hear our thoughts on the matter. But with Bud Selig's most recent comments, we decided to post. It's not a full podcast, but just the baseball discussion. Mr. Selig's comments started a little something like this, "I don't want to hear the commissioner turned a blind eye to this or he didn't care about it," Selig told Newsday in a Monday phone interview. "That annoys the you-know-what out of me. You bet I'm sensitive to the criticism." (ESPN) Perhaps his most egregious comment (in my mind) was this, "Starting in 1995, I tried to institute a steroid policy," Selig told Newsday. "Needless to say, it was met with strong resistance. We were fought by the union every step of the way." So, Bud you're willing to have a lockout in the name of money, but integrity falls a little lower on your list of priorities. Great precedent. You can download the podcast HERE.
Allow me to digress, for two quick questions. First, if steroids weren't such a widespread problem, would it have made Moneyball the quintessential way to assemble a baseball team? Second, baseball writers had to know what was going on, but with homerun chases and fans pouring back to the sport, it made them indispensable to their papers, so they were willing to ride the gravy train. Now, they sit in a position to play baseball gods with these player's careers and hopping on the high horse in the name of the game has become a standard practice. Should baseball look at having fans vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame? Perhaps two long-tenured season ticket holders from each team could be selected to participate in place of the writers, for the duration of the steroid-era voting. Just a thought, but if baseball wants to clean up it's image, everyone needs to be held accountable.
