Cheer the umpire

9/4/2012

Toledo native Jim Joyce, 56, is one of Major League Baseball's best umpires. Yet neither of two actions that have brought him broad admiration resulted from great calls on the field.

Mr. Joyce made an infamous bad call at Comerica Park in Detroit in 2010, on what appeared to be the final out of a perfect game thrown by former Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga. Mr. Joyce, a graduate of Central Catholic High School and Bowling Green State University, redeemed himself with the emphatic way he owned up to his mistake.

Last month, Mr. Joyce provided quick-thinking emergency medical care to a young woman who had stopped breathing during a potentially deadly seizure at Chase Field in Phoenix. He administered CPR, and continued to do so after paramedics failed to revive the woman with the initial shock from a defibrillator.

She was later stabilized at a hospital, and had a pacemaker implanted. Mr. Joyce is credited with saving her life.

Mr. Joyce's actions remind us that we're all human and make mistakes. But life is bigger than sports, and like the umpire, we should strive to be clutch performers at what matters most.