What to do about the proliferation of Perfect Games

My initial thought on the story of the blown call — the last out of what would have been a Perfect Game for Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga — was sardonic.  “Those things are becoming a dime a dozen these days, so who cares?”  I refer to this statistic:  Over the 135 years of Major League Baseball history, there have been only 20 official perfect games by the current definition.  And Armando Galarraga would have thrown the THIRD Perfect Game this season, making three out of twenty-one games happening in the 2010 season from a period stretching back since — well, I guess the mid 1870s.

Clearly something is amiss, and I think I can pin-point the problem.  Remember the avalanche of Home runs that happened through the 1990s and into the Oughts?  I remember laughing at Mark McGwire breaking the Home Run record in 1999, and annoying some sports fans by uttering the forbidden word, seeing something that seemed clearly there where everyone else pretended not to see– “Steroids.”

So, Bud Selig has thrown us into a new Steroid Busting Regime.  Those things are reigned in.  Now, granted, pitchers can make good use of steroids — allegedly some guy named Roger Clemens — drop in the word “allgedly” to cover one’s butt.  But it’s effect does not lead toward the perfect game.

Clearly something was amiss in what has come to be referred to as “The Steroids Age” of Baseball.  And clearly something is amiss now.  The balance has been thrown off, and baseball needs to recalibrate its approach, loosen its Steroids strictures somewhat.  The Perfect Game is in danger of becoming as meaningless as a 70 Home-run season.

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