Is it time for Instant Replay in Baseball? For Home Runs it is.
Posted by: Richie Rich in 2008 MLB, BlogThink, Umpires
I enjoy the human element to baseball.
The decisions the manager has to make. The mental showdown between a pitcher and a slugger. Sending a runner from third against a left fielder with a cannon arm. Unique ballpark dimensions and quirks. The double switch. A strike zone that varies by umpire.
It’s what makes baseball different from a lot of sports.
But there’s one element of baseball which should be cut and dried. Whether a ball clears the fence or not. And after three umpire screw-ups this week … it’s time for replay for Home Run calls.
On Sunday … this Carlos Delgado bomb hit the foul pole at Yankee Stadium – that’s a Home Run. But the umpires called it foul.
Even Joe Morgan could tell that was a Home Run.
On Monday night … this was a Home Run by Geovany Soto. But the umpires called it off the wall at Minute Maid Park. The outfielder didn’t go after the carom … he thought it was a Homer.
The umpires lucked out that Soto just kept running and got his Home Run the hard way … no matter how the umps called it.
Last Night … this Alex Rodriguez shot should have been his second Home Run of the night … but the umpires called it a double off the wall.
The outfielder lobbed the ball back in – something he wouldn’t have done if he thought it was a live ball.
Umpires are lucky that these blown calls didn’t figure into the outcome of any of those games. Otherwise we’d all be going mental.
I don’t want replay of balls and strikes.
I don’t want replays of force-outs or tag-outs – a million replays still can’t convince everyone if Matt Holliday was safe (or out) in the last play of the 2007 regular season.
I don’t even want replays of foul balls in the field of play.
Just replays of close Home Run calls. Over the fence or yellow line or to which side of the foul pole the ball went.
I don’t think it would “slow down” the game. It’d take about a minute.
What do YOU think?
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May 22nd, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Once there is replay for the home runs, we’re just 2 or 3 bad calls on the basepaths away from the yahoos to start shouting “well, we have it for home runs, why not for bad calls on the bases too????” Why extend the game? Not to mention disrupting the rhythm of the pitcher and batter, which would have a worse impact on the game.
For the 3-5 missed home run calls we get a season (on average), almost none of which affect the game’s outcome, it’s not worth the expense or the disruption. Plus as I mentioned, it’s a slippery slope that has no end until there are no more umps.
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Mike,
That argument is pretty lame. The NFL clearly has rules when Replay can be used and when it can’t. The NBA uses it at the end of a game or half to see if a shot counts and no time else. Those leagues have been able to effectivley govern the use of replays, and the MLB can as well.
As for your 3-5 missed home run calls a season, I love to see your source on that, because we just had 3 this week. And sometimes they can make a difference in games that really mean something. In game 3 of the 2005 World Series, Jason Lane hit a “home run” that should have been ruled a double. That game went 14 innings and could have changed that entire series had the Astros pulled it out. Without that Home Run, the games never goes to extras.
Richie’s right, replay needs to be put in for Home Runs. It is faster and a hell of a lot more accurate than the two minute “umpire conference” to share what the other umps saw. In fact, I would call that lo-tech replay. If the ump who made the call needs help, what would be a better solution. Ask the three other guys on the field what they saw, or go to conclusive video evidence. It’s a no brainer.
Oh, one other plus, I wouldn’t have been cheated out of an Arod Home Run in the derby contest.
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
>> Those leagues have been able to effectivley govern the use of replays, and the MLB can as well. <<
The NBA has pretty tight control on instant replay, but I think the NFL reviews are generally too long and disrupt the pace of the game (which is saying a lot, since pro football takes a commercial break every time a punter changes socks). Even worse is college football – it takes those people five minutes to review even the most blatantly obvious call.
That said, I think home run calls are important enough to merit instant replay, even if there is some delay. I just don’t trust MLB to effectively handle what should be a simple, straightforward process.
Honestly, instead of video replay, I’d rather MLB try to use that same technology they’ve started using in tennis to instantly detect line faults. I’m not sure how that works though, and I’m not sure you could effectively use such a system in a ballpark with all of the varying angles and possible crowd interference.
But, man, I don’t want to have to start watching a home plate ump disappear under that little veil around a replay monitor.
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Mike Nivven’s got it right (above). Nuthin’ more to be said on the issue.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Everyone uses the slippery slope argument to talk themselves “out” of things. What could happen is the players and the owners, and even the refs, could all sit down, write out an agreement, and put a line in that specifically states there will be no slippery slope, “Home Runs Only.” There’s no grey area in “only.”
Whether somone was “inbounds or out of bounds” or “in the end zone or not” or whether a player hit a ball “out of the playing field, in fair territory” are things that ought to be “guaranteed-accurate,” especially with advances in technology! Refs and Umps shouldn’t even be the ones putting their faces in the booth to “review” the call … that should be done from upstairs and relayed down, to move the game along quicker ….. they’re all over 2hrs as it is!!!
Now whether players were “tagged or not” or “held by another player” or “completed their swing” are things we can let traditional means handle!
I’m sure if I’m capable of writing it, and I not being an expert, that an “Expert” or a union (since they do have those) would be much more capable!! It’s not astrophysics, it’s a game … currently understood and played by middle and elementary schoolers around the country.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
First off – Great discussion guys. Thanks for commenting.
And secondly, I stand by my statement that it wouldn’t take long to do it. It took Joe Morgan 30 seconds to see that Delgado hit a Home Run. Add about a minute or two to realy that to the field ump from an eye in the sky and voila – they get it right.
And the argument between manager and ump might even go away or be lessened.
It’s time.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:29 pm
If I lose this HRD by 1, I’m filing a lawsuit against MLB.