Why I Hate Instant Replay

At the dawn of the instant replay era in Baseball, I for one am extremely worried. Baseball is a game as beautiful in its imperfection as in its perfection. It is a sport where the best players fail seven out of ten times, and where human fallibility is always on display. No one is immune to error.

Managers, pitchers, hitters, umpires, and, in the case of Steve Bartman, even fans, have bad days that affect the outcome of a few games in the 162 game marathon that is the season. Instant replay threatens to take away the human element that is so essential to the game.

Opponents will say that line is idealist and purist crap. But there are practical reasons that I don’t like replay. Of course, so far replay is only being used in a very limited sense, to determine whether home runs are fair or foul, or if they even clear the fence.

Though I personally believe that forcing every stadium to have a clear and viewable home run marker would better solve this problem, I can live with this type of replay. The question is whether it will stop there. I fear it will not. Television analysts and B/R reporters alike have called for expanded replay. Some writers have gone so far as to push for base running obstruction calls to be reviewable.

Woody Paige, a frequent guest on ESPN’s "Around The Horn," wants game-ending plays at home to be reviewed. Fair and foul homeruns are one thing, but once Major League Baseball crosses the line into safe and out calls, the game as we know it will change.

Barely an inning goes by without a close play at first, so why not review all of those. In a game where swipe tags and creative slides are the norm there are at least three or four close tag plays in a game. If the system expands to safe and out calls we are talking about eight or nine plays a game being reviewed.

A lot can be said about getting a call right, but bad calls are just part of the game. A team may get hosed on a bad call at first in the third inning of a game. So what? It’s not the end of the world, it’s a long game and a long season and down the road that team will get a bad call to go their way. That is the nature of a long season made up of long games.

Who is to say it will stop at safe and out calls? The league that has already introduced Quest-tech as a tool to grade umpires certainly has the technology to electronically administer ball and strike calls.

This type of replay would ruin the game. There is no standard strike zone because each home plate umpire for each game defines it. That forces both hitters and pitchers to adjust to each individual game. If a pitcher isn’t getting the high strike, or the outside corner, he adjusts. This puts pressure on the hitter and the pitcher and thus increases competition and excitement.

Everyone points to the NFL as the great model for instant replay. While I don’t mind the system in the NFL, it does have one major flaw. Replay cheapens the action on the field and decreases a fan’s excitement level.

When a key third down pass is caught in the corner of the end zone and the referee throws his arms up to indicate a game-winning touchdown the crowd goes wild. The ball is caught, the score is made, and the team has won.

But wait; hold on, that call means little to nothing after the red flag is thrown. Suddenly all the suspense and excitement of the call is eliminated. The celebration on the field is stopped, and everyone stands and waits while a ref puts his head under a hooded screen to determine the play.

Often times the call from the replay booth doesn’t even seem right. Other times a linemen’s knee gets in the way and the replay is inconclusive. It is far from a perfect system and it has changed the on-field excitement of the game.

One of the most exciting plays in baseball is the late game play at the plate. The runner slides in just as the throw comes from left field. The catcher swipes with his glove, the runner reaches with his hand for the backside of the plate. The fans hold their breath looking to the man in blue, who, to their joy or horror, pumps his fist in ultimate finality.

Out! The runner is out and there is nothing anyone can do about it, not the players, not the coaches, not the fans. But in the replay world that excitement is gone. That pumped fist means nothing. Instead fans, coaches, and players alike have to wait to confirm the call on the field. It may only take a few moments, but something has been lost. The action on the field and the suspense of the play is lost.

For now replay will be limited to situations that do not possess this type of suspense. Most questionable home run calls take a few minutes to sort out anyway. So far nothing has been lost.

But if replay is even allowed to call line drives down the line something will be lost. When that third base umpire throws out his arm to signal fair it is one the most exciting parts of the game. I hate instant replay, and I hope this is the farthest it ever reaches in the beautiful and imperfect game of baseball.