MLB and Replay Review: Strange Keystone Combination

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

When will major league baseball decide to call balls and strikes from the perspective of the center field camera?

In the case of Cabrera’s homerun, as I sit typing these words, I’m still aghast that four umpires could miss the trajectory of a ball that clearly was hit out of the park only to bounce back onto the field of play. I’ve seen umpires huddle to discuss similar situations, and I applaud that. Sometimes the best view isn’t the view closest the ball. Most of the time, after a brief confab, they get it right, without benefit of watching a replay.

Tonight I’m left to wonder, during the rain delay at the Copa with the Tigers leading the Brew-Crew 7-4, when instant replay will be used to get the right call in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the World Series on a close play at the plate.

Right now instant replay can’t be used in such instances, but really, those are the calls that are most often missed. The umpire watches the base runner touch the plate and misses the instant the catcher makes the tag; or he watches for the tag and misses the instant in which the base runner touches the plate. He is often left to guess. I’ve seen as many slow motion instant replays that show the umpire missed the call as I have seen the umpire making the right call.

It’s part of the game.

It’s part of the game’s beauty.

Review of a slow motion replay is a blight to that beauty.

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