Instant replay has been a large part of the discussion among baseball fans during the past few weeks.
Should they make it more fair? Is this hurting the integrity of the game? Shouldn't the umps be able to make the calls right by themselves?
Every argument has valid points. Baseball is America's past-time and there hasn't been cameras for over 100 years, but shouldn't every sport take advantage of modern technology.
The baseball Gods seem to be demanding instant replay, as in the span of just a few weeks, there have been three questionable calls on home runs.
First, Carlos Delgado hit what looked to be a fair home run. It was even originally signaled as a home run.
However, the call was overruled (which is very surprising seeing as nobody had a definitive view of the ball) and through the magic of video, we were all able to see what they umpires couldn't.
Shouldn't baseball umpires know something that the fans know, I mean, which is more important to the game being played out fairly?
The next day, after looking at the tape, the umpires said that they made a bad call.
Shouldn't that admission come within a minute of the event occurring?
Then, just a few nights later, Alex Rodriquez hit a questionable ball. There was a lot of controversy in New York that night.
The call was correct, but there questions surrounding the incident for the 20,000+ fans at the game as well as Rodriguez thinking that the umps made yet another bad call.
Shouldn't all those fans know right away whether or not it was a home run?
Sure, those brought up the question of whether or not instant replay should be added to baseball, but neither of the events determined the outcome of the game because both games were won by blowouts.
Then, earlier today, Luis Rivas hit a deep ball that was called a home run. After reviewing the play on TV, the ball was not a home run.
But the umps didn't have that luxury, and the ball remained a home run.
Sure, Soriano preceded to drop a fly ball that could have ended the game in the ninth, but that game was changed by a first inning home run that shouldn't have been a home run.
This is the first time this season that there is an argument that a bad call completely changed a game.
But for those of you nostalgia buffs that don't want instant replay, the umpires can still have full control of a call.
As I was watching the 1st inning of the Cubs game today, there was an interesting idea proposed.
Instead of instant replay, add 2 umpires against the wall in the outfield. This would give them a much better view at home run calls instead of somebody running down the line trying to see where the ball lands.
This would also help to solve the problem of bad home run calls.
Either way, something needs to be done to bring more certainty to the game of baseball, seeing as we already have steroids to be uncertain about.
I'm Joe W.
Information for this article was found on MLB.com
9 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Matthew Irby about 1 year ago
Joe, hey man I get what your saying and that would help solve the home run issue, but the only problem that I see with this would be in the use of the umpires. The close-call home run happens on the rare occassion, so what do you have those umpires do during the rest of the game. Are you going to have them just stand out there all game long, possible help out with determining if fly balls are hitting the ground before caught or not.
This is why I like the idea of using the fifth umpire, who is already there as the alternate, have him upstairs in press box and when the time comes for him to take a look at the replay he can do so very quickly and this can happen without disrupting the flow of the game.
Good article, I think that it is going to take all of us constantly brainstorming before we come up with the best idea.
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Joe Willett about 1 year ago
I know, but they could also have better view on diving catches just in case something happened. The only umpire that really gets use is the home plate umpire, but every other umpire really only gets use on running out for deep balls where there is rarely a catch that is in question. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd base umpires really only are used under 5 times a game on slides anyway or whether or not a player beat a force.
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Matthew Irby about 1 year ago
How about this idea...
Home plate umpire - keeps his regular duties, he's got enough on his plate
1B umpire - has the same duties (calls at first, right field foul line), but add for him...on a baseball in the gap he moves to the infield grass and starts moving towards second base. So for plays attempting to get a runner at second are his responsbility. Also he has calls for a player stealing second on a double steal.
3B umpire - has same duties (calls at third, left field foul line), but add for him...steals going to second base, without a runner stealing third.
2B umpire - instead of him being positioned right around second base, you put him further out in the outfield (right handed hitter, he is in right-center field, and vice-versa for a lefty).
This way the 2B umpire gets more work, he is closer to the home run fence and outfielders on balls that might be caught or trapped. The negative is going to be when players steal second base, I hate saying that we might need to see like a group effort from the 1B,2B,3B umpires, but something like that.
If done, then you can keep the same number of umpires on the field and you avoid adding instant replay to baseball.
Or I could be totally off on that idea, but the idea is good, the logistics are hard.
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Joe Willett about 1 year ago
That sounds reasonable, I was mulling over some way to do something like this too, but wasn't sure what would happen on close calls for steals. That seems to be the only problem, which is what you mentioned.
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Matthew Irby about 1 year ago
It's a tough call so the reason we both mentioned, your going to struggle a little bit when it comes to plays at second base.
You could use a system that swings the umpires from 1B and 3B depending on the runner situation, but if you do that your losing the foul line calls.
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Joe Willett about 1 year ago
It's a really tough situation where you are likely going to have to altar something if you don't want to use instant replay. I personally think that instant replay would be the best option but this article was to bring up another option for those who don't want instant replay.
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Matthew Irby about 1 year ago
oh yeah, we both got it right on the head.
and i really don't have that big of a problem regarding the use of instant replay, except that it can only be used for home runs, nothing else..EVER
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Joe Willett about 1 year ago
I think we just had an entire conversation about how much we agree. I love it =)
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Matthew Irby about 1 year ago
I AGREE
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