Wow.

Tom Hanks was wrong. There is crying in baseball–or at least there should be after last night.

In case you have been under a rock for the last 18 hours or so and missed it, Armando Galarraga–a 28-year old, Venezuelan pitcher for the Detroit Tigers with all of 20 career wins in 4 MLB seasons–stood on the precipice of history last night until veteran Major League Baseball umpire Jim Joyce said that he didn’t.

That precipice was the 1st-base bag. When Galarraga took a throw from Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera and tagged it with his foot just ahead of hard-charging Cleveland Indian Jason Donald, for a split-second (about the amount of time by which Galarraga bested Donald) the Tigers faithful erupted in celebration of the 22nd perfect game in the 141-year history of Major League Baseball (and remarkably, the 3rd in the last 26 DAYS).

And then, the unthinkable happened. Joyce missed the call.

Cabrera argued vehemently. Tigers Manager Jim Leyland came out to argue. And then, after Galarraga kept his composure and (again) got the final out and preseved the complete-game shutout win (but nevertheless just one that is now relegated to a group of a much-less prestigious 20 somethings–Galarraga’s career wins, not MLB’s perfect games) the umpiring crew had to protect Joyce from Tigers journeyman Gerald Laird, Leyland and others including an increeasingly unruly crowd.

For his part, even as the call was being blown, Galarraga was a “perfect” gentlemen. He never said a word to Joyce. In fact, the only emotion he showed was a sheepish, almost childlike “Are you kidding me?” grin after the play.

But the story doesn’t end there. While national talking heads call for action by the commissioner–any action–whether it means awarding Galarraga a perfect game, instituting instant replay ,immediately suspending Joyce, or all of the above, the reactions from Galarraga and Joyce are teaching us all a little bit about how to react in the face adversity and controversy.

Shortly after the game, Galarraga said:

“Nobody’s perfect. Everybody’s human. I understand. I give the guy a lot of credit for saying, ‘I need to talk to you.’ You don’t see an umpire tell you that after a game. I gave him a hug.”

And, in a move from which infamous former MLB umpire and 1985 World Series blower Don Denkinger could learn a thing or two, Joyce was much less forgiving:

“I just cost the kid a perfect game.  I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw until I saw the replay. It was the biggest call of my career.”

And, today, in a move that should give you goose bumps if you have blood pumping through your veins, less than 18 hours after his would-be perfect game was marred by Joyce’s imperfection, Galarraga delivered the lineup card for today’s matinee between the Tigers and Indians to the regularly scheduled home plate umpire,…..(you guessed it) Joyce. Understandably, Joyce, who could have been taken off today’s game, but declined, was in tears.

Now, I had the obligatory James Joyce/Jim Joyce reference teed up (“A man’s errors are his portals of discovery.”) but a quick–and I mean quick–survey on Google suggests that turn has been done and done again by bloggers across the globe.

That’s fine because this has all actually been more of a Shakespearean tragedy, except the actors have improvised an alternate, not-so-unhappy ending.

To be sure, Galarraga will forever be known for “the one that got away” or more precisely, was taken away. And, although he is admired as one of the best umpires in the game, Joyce will join Denkinger, Bill Buckner and a few others on the list of unfortunate, long-time baseball men whose many accomplishments have been reduced to one, unfortunate play.

But, through the suffering of Galarraga and Joyce, we all can (and should) take pleasure and comfort from the shining examples of humility and humanity they have  displayed in the wake of the game.

Call it the perfect ending to an imperfect, perfect game.