Fame is fleeting

Armando Galarraga during his time with Detroit

Less than seven months after pitching a perfect game that isn’t, Armando Galarraga finds himself on the move 15 years ago today as the Detroit Tigers trade him to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a pair of minor league pitchers, Kevin Eichhorn and Ryan Robowski.

The deal ends Galarraga’s stay in Detroit, where he becomes a national headline on June 2, 2010 as he appears to pitch a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians.

Perfect that is until first-base umpire Jim Joyce inexplicably calls Cleveland’s Jason Donald safe on an infield groundout-turned-hit with two outs in the ninth inning.

The play where a perfect game becomes a one-hitter

Television replays clearly show Donald is out.

No matter.

Galarraga then retires Trevor Crowe on another grounder to complete a 3-0 shutout and the most disappointing one-hitter in baseball history.

Alas for Galarraga, he lasts just one season in Arizona, where he goes 3-4 in eight starts with a 5.91 earned-run average, before he lands with Houston in 2012.

Not much better there – actually, not nearly as good – as Galarraga loses four of his five starts with a no-decision and 6.75 ERA before the Astros release him in midseason.

Galarraga drifts back to the minors before ending up in Venezuela and China, and then ending his career in 2015 with 10 mostly unremarkable starts in the Mexican League.

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