Obama: Selig right to let 'The Call' stand

WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- Baseball Commissioner Bug Selig was right in declining to overrule an umpire's blown call that cost a Detroit pitcher a perfect game, President Obama said.

Obama commended the show of honesty by umpire Jim Joyce when he admitted he made the wrong call at first base on what would have been the final out in a game last week, the Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday.

The call -- later reviewed by Selig, who led it stand -- ruined Armando Galarraga's bid for the 21st perfect game in Major League history. After the game, the umpire said he had blown the call and apologized.

"I thought that showed something about sportsmanship that you don't see enough of in America today," Obama told NBC while in Kalamazoo to speak at a high school commencement.

But ... baseball may have to realize something that basketball and football already know, "which is replay may, in some cases, be appropriate," Obama said.

Galarraga did not fault the umpire for taking away a perfect game. He said Joyce deserved "a lot of credit" for admitting his mistake and apologizing.