The Perfect Game That Wasn't

Wow, a blown call by an umpire cost Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers a perfect game last night. (The umpire admitted after seeing replays that he blew the call.) This would have been the third perfect game of the 2010 season, which is already the first season with 2 perfect games. Well, the record books might indicate that there have been 2 perfect games this year, but unofficially there have now been three. Wow.

Among other things, I bet that this will help hasten the expansion of instant replay in baseball. This story isn't over.

Effect of the Count on Umpire Strike Zones

Wow. This is pretty damned cool: The Hardball Times has done some analysis (and produced some very striking figures) that demonstrate that umpires have different strike zones for different counts.

Not that I'm surprised or anything, but it's really nice to see conclusive evidence from the data (so that I can do something other than rely on eyeballing and cynicism).

(Tip of the cap to Rob Neyer.)

Whitey Herzog and Doug Harvey elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

The Baseball Hall of Fame's Veterans Committee has elected manager Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey to the Hall of Fame. Former Manager Herzog's given name is "Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog", but he was always known as Whitey and occasionally called "The White Rat"; he doesn't really belong in the Hall. On the other hand, Harvey, nicknamed "God" (one of the best nicknames ever, by the way), is vastly overqualified for the Hall. Harvey should have been elected years ago!