Instant Replay: A Sad, Sad Day For Major League Baseball

What has happened to the game of baseball? Where has the glory and allure of the game gone? What has it evolved into? What is next for America's past time? Those are some of the questions that desperately need to be answered by every baseball fan and the higher authority baseball officials today.

With instant replay slowly making it's rounds to all Major League Baseball stadium the game is continuing to make a gradually downfall from what it once was. This week crews start to wire all of the current MLB stadiums for instant replay purposes, and fans are split on the decision to introduce the newest change to the greatest game on the planet.

As a die-hard baseball fan, I see this unnecessary and quite disappointing for the game. I believe that baseball is so great because you rely on one man's point of view, one man's opinion, to decide whether a runner is out or safe, a ball is fair or foul, a pitch is a ball or a strike, and many other instances in a game.

Major League Baseball is conforming to the normality in sports these days, if it's close look at the replay. The game of baseball is great because you have a bad called third strike, a blown call at the plate and even a double or triple that should have been a home run.

Major League officials and General Managers should be ashamed for instituting this new rule while diminishing the use of an umpire and blemishing the allure of the game. Countless Americans have grown up playing this glorious game and so many children have idolized these larger-than-life baseball players and all of that might just change.

This idea of instant replay does not stop at close home run calls and everybody who knows anything about baseball and the MLB officials knows that. Sooner or later it's going to be was he out or safe?, was it a ball or a strike?, was it fair or foul? When they are young kids are told time and time again never to argue balls and strikes, well chances are that they will be able to argue if it was a strike is next few years.

Bud Selig was said to once very much against the idea of instant replay, but the missed calls this season has changed his mind. These close calls have happened every season since the game began, so why now? I believe Selig was pressured by angry managers and GM's. If you want to reduce the number of missed calls near the outfield fences, simply place and umpire in left and right field just like a World Series or All-Star game.

This is simply my opinion on this instant replay subject in baseball. It screws up the entire feel that a call can go either way at any time. I hope that the you, the fans, see the subject the same way I do.

FULL STORY (espn.com)