You may or may not be aware that on top of his political writings George Will is a bit of an expert on baseball. So it made sense that (after an awkward segue) Jake Tapper asked Will to weigh in on this week’s perfect game that wasn’t. Suffice to say, he was happy with the call:
By the way, if you award him the game retroactively, what do you do about the man who made the 28th out? Does the pitcher get credit for making that out or do you just pretend it never happened?
To all those who are hysterical about the outcome of this game and who are, I would note, more hysterical than the pitcher himself who took this in good grace, I say this: Would you rather have had a 21st perfect game since 1880 — and the third in a month by the way.
Would you rather have had a 21st perfect game or this wonderful example of sportsmanship and maturity? The pitcher taking it in good grace. The umpire being a model of manly responsibility. The Detroit Tiger fans giving the umpire a standing ovation the next day, and Jim Leland, more old school baseball man there is not in the world — Jim Leland manager of the Tigers sending the pitcher out with the lineup card to home plate to put his arm around and affect the umpire.
What would you rather have? The perfect is the enemy of the good. You strive for perfection in anything, in baseball, anything else, and you’re going to destroy the rhythm of the game and the human element that we love in the game.
Watch Will’s segment below. In the meantime what would you rather have?
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