On June 2nd, 2010, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was one out away from throwing a perfect game. If you don’t know how special throwing a perfect game is: only 20 pitchers had completed a perfect game in the history of baseball up to that point. 162 games (or thereabouts), for over 100 years, and only 20 pitchers had achieved this feat. Armando was about to be in some serious company if he could pull this off.
The game was against the now-renamed Cleveland Guardians, and Armando was seriously dealing. Out of his 26 batters faced, he threw 88 pitches, a low number of pitches in that day and age for a baseball game, and rightfully so. The 27th batter, Jason Donald, stepped up to the plate and hit a measly ground ball that was fielded by the first baseman, who, after running to his right to scoop up the ball, was able to lightly throw the baseball to Armando, who sprinted over and was now covering first base. The Detroit fans were about to explode, this being the first perfect game in the history of their franchise, and the entire league was about to tip their figurative caps to Armando.
But that was not to be the case.
Jim Joyce, the first base umpire, incorrectly called Donald safe. Tigers fans were flabbergasted, almost in shock, and a ton of them rightly booed. Miguel Cabrera, the star 1st baseman for the Tigers and thrower of the baseball to Armando for the 27th out, was distraught. The TV announcers calling the game were stupefied because every person could see that Donald was out. Even Donald himself raised his arms over his head in shock in the immediate aftermath, thinking that he was out.
Every person who witnessed the final call, from Jim Joyce to the person up in the cheap seats, knew that the “baseball gods” as a whole were not thrilled with what they had witnessed.
But Armando Galarraga smiled.
He smiled 4 seconds after the biggest moment of his career just went up in flames due to an incorrect call.
I, for one, would’ve lost my mind if that was me. And I’m sure a lot of you would, too. If I was on the precipice of cementing my name among the greats to take the mound for one single game, only for the record to show that I pitched a great game, an outstanding game…but literally nothing to show for it but a notch in the win column for my team and myself. No baseball glory. No ticker taped parades. Nothing.
That would sting.
I would be angry. Depressed. I would try desperately to have the call overturned, which they now have in the MLB but didn’t then. If you watch the video that I have posted, you can see the Tigers manager run to first base and attempt to reason with Joyce, to no avail. Every ounce of my being would try to invert the call that went down in history as possibly the worst call in the history of sports.
But Armando didn’t. He accepted it. Accepted the call as it was. He even threw to the next batter, finally completing his near perfect game!
His acceptance of what happened was mind-blowing because it happened so quickly. Literally, 4 seconds. For other baseball players facing similar obstacles (and I can’t think of one), it might take them seasons or years to accept what happened. Hell, I can still remember certain calls from my playing days that rubbed me the wrong way, and I was just a kid! Imagine how Galarraga felt.
If we were to examine the “six stages of grief” that people speak of, Armando possibly went through the stages either incredibly rapidly or it’s possible he already had acceptance on the brain. Not knowing the makeup of Galarraga’s brain at that instant nor the remarkable quickness of his transference from one stage to the next of grief, I believe that he “pre-accepted” that his perfect game may not go as planned.
One of the noteworthy aspects of sports in general is the ability to accept the things that one cannot control. It’s hard. Truly, truly hard. I know from experience. But in the acceptance, this person can be flexible. This person can look at the “data set,” come up with all the variables, see what the other team or player has on their docket - and still lose. The beauty of sports is that no matter how hard you, as an individual, can train or perform, it still might not be good enough to win.
That’s acceptance.
Zooming out, acceptance obviously is not sport-specific. Everybody has their own challenges. Their own misfortunes. I have mine, and you have yours. However, each and every one of us can persevere. We can carry on knowing that this setback or failure doesn’t define us, nor a series of setbacks and failures cannot define us. We can be resilient. We can be resilient in ways that previously we didn’t think we could muster. Acceptance is one of the keys to resiliency, and resiliency is one of the keys to growth.
Fearless growth is essential - in all of our lives. This growth can be near instantaneous, like Armando Galarraga’s brush with his perfect game, or be slower. I know in my case it has taken me a lot longer than 4 seconds to fully embrace all that has happened in my life post-stroke. Every person can go through growth at their own speed, and all of us should.
We’re familiar with the Serenity Prayer, which goes:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
I know what you are probably thinking. Isn’t this the prayer they use in AA meetings? This isn’t solely a prayer for Alcoholic’s Anonymous. It’s a prayer, a petition, or a plea in every instance where one needs to accept.
This acceptance can be a lifelong practice - if we only took the first step, out of many.
Eerily similar to the first step that Armando Galarraga took when he was trying to cover first.