Within the confines of major league baseball, June 2, 2010, will long remain a date that will live in infamy. After all, that’s the night that umpire Jim Joyce stole Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga’s perfect game inside the Tigers’ Comerica Park.
But for Tina and David Ingle, who were there that evening, it became, “A pretty neat place to spend our 25th wedding anniversary. We’ll certainly never forget it.”
The Hixson couple had intended to celebrate No. 25 much closer to home — “Gatlinburg, maybe,” said Tina — but that didn’t seem special enough for such a landmark occasion.
“So we went to Detroit, because we’d never been there before,” said David.
They had never been to Detroit, but they had been to baseball shrines for years. David had been to Fenway Park at least eight times to watch his beloved Red Sox. While serving in the Air Force in Texas, he had also seen Nolan Ryan pitch four times.
“I’ve even seen the Roberto Clemente fields in Puerto Rico,” said David, who played both football and baseball at Red Bank, then baseball at Chattanooga State and UTC.
One other thing to commend Detroit: It also had its share of casinos, a favorite diversion for Tina.
Naturally, they arrived that day to rainy skies and blustery weather.
“But by that night it awesome,” said Tina. “The sky was breaking blue. Not too cold, not too hot. Perfect.”
Then the game began, the unsung Galarraga facing Cleveland.
“There weren’t a lot of people in the stands that night,” recalled David, noting the crowd of 17,738. “But it was real loud by the seventh inning.”
Entering the eighth, a fan turned to David and said, “Do you realize he’s got a no-hitter going?”
Replied David, “Yes, and I don’t think anybody’s been on base.”
By the ninth, everyone inside Comerica knew. Then the Tigers got the first two Indians batters out, setting the stage for Cleveland’s Jason Donald to face Galarraga. Soon he hit a grounder down the first base side that Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera fielded and threw to Galarraga, who was covering first.
“I was jumping up and down in the aisle,” said David. “I started shouting, ‘We’ve just seen a perfect game, Tina. We’ve just seen a perfect game!'”
Recalled Tina, “Everbody was on their feet. I was thinking, ‘This is so cool.’ Then everybody started booing. It was so surreal because it was so obvious he was safe.”
Obvious to everyone but Joyce, who ruled him safe about an hour before he manfully admitted, “I cost that kid a perfect game.”
“One thing I’ll always remember is the sportsmanship displayed by the Detroit fans,” said David, who plans to frame the ticket stubs and game program, “Having watched the way they’ve celebrated World Series wins and NBA titles up there — it seems like they’re always burning cars or something — I thought there might be a free-for-all. But other than a few boos, they were amazing.”
One other thing he’ll always remember is going to a casino the night after the game. Wanting to celebrate his anniversary, David put $20 on No. 25 on the roulette wheel.
“You screwed up, David,” said Tina. “It just hit on 25.”
David started to pull the bet back, but let it ride, though he did turn his back on the wheel.
“Twenty-five,” shouted the pit boss when the wheel stopped.
“I won $800 on that one spin,” said David.
Added Tina, “I guess they’re right when they say the little ball doesn’t have a memory,” But thanks to both Galarraga and Joyce, the Ingles have a memory to last a lifetime.
“I wish they’d give him a perfect game because that’s what he pitched,” said David. “But it’s still the greatest game I’ve ever seen.”
And a very neat way to celebrate 25 years of wedded bliss.
E-mail Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com