In a moving feature about the Jim Joyce / Armando Galarraga situation, Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated reveals some new details. First, he writes that Major League Baseball took steps to protect Joyce and his family in the incident’s immediate aftermath.
In the first few hours after the game Joyce was threatened with physical harm through comments to his grown children’s social-networking accounts. (Major League Baseball ordered security personnel to keep surveillance the next day at Joyce’s home in Oregon and his mother’s home.) But as word spread of Joyce’s admission, apology and anguish, he and Galarraga became shining examples of sportsmanship and forgiveness.
Verducci’s piece also includes the following heartbreaking passage.
One of the e-mails he received was sent to Major League Baseball by a 10-year-old boy with spina bifida. The boy was upset because he was having difficulty trying to walk. His physical therapist, the boy said, had told him, “It’s coming. Don’t cry over spilled milk.” The boy wrote, “Tell Mr. Joyce this is just spilled milk.”