Our own Ian Casselberry was all over this as soon as it surfaced that former Tiger Armando Galarraga and infamous umpire Jim Joyce were co-authoring a book about the almost perfect game, and on the eve of that game's 1st Anniversary the MLB has reiterated that Joyce will not be allowed to umpire any Galarraga or Diamondbacks games [via ESPN]:
↵↵↵Major League Baseball confirmed that Joyce is not allowed to umpire any series in which Galarraga's team plays, citing the pair's business relationship.
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Joyce and Galarraga co-authored a book detailing the game last season in which Joyce's blown call cost the pitcher a perfect game. The book, "Nobody's Perfect: Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History," written with Daniel Paisner, is due out Thursday. [ ... ]"The reason it was done was so that there wasn't any appearance of impropriety," MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said.
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This isn't a new rule, though, as Joyce was supposed to be apart of the crew that umped the D-Backs during an early May series:
↵↵↵Joyce has already been replaced on a Diamondbacks series this season, during a May 6-8 series in San Diego in which Galarraga started the opening game. Larry Vanover replaced Joyce.
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After the series ended on May 8, Joyce returned to his crew and opened a series in Atlanta on May 10, while Vanover switched back to his crew on May 9 and began a series in Anaheim between the Angels and White Sox.
Galarraga is currently disgruntled and in Triple-A, but should he ever return to the big leagues, he and Joyce will never be allowed to share the field together again.