MLB and Instant Replay: What's So Impure About Getting It Right?

It's not often I change my mind. Friends and family would say that's because I'm stubborn.

I think it's because I don't rush to judgment. Before I form an opinion, I try to do the following: (A) find as many facts as possible; (B) see both sides of the situation; and (C) eliminate as much bias as possible. Furthermore, I think I'm pretty good at all three tasks.

In short, I'm trying to say there's a very good chance I'm stubborn.

This is pertinent because what I'm about to write was not my initial reaction to the current wave of outcries demanding instant replay in Major League Baseball.

I'm not in the chilly States of Colorado, Minnesota, or Massachusetts, but I bet the radios are burning up with justified urgency regarding the matter. That is, of course, if Beantowners can spare the time in between calls for Jonathan Papelbon's job.

Apparently, that last item isn't a joke—a story for a different day.

As far as paid professionals, FOX Sports' Kevin Hench made his voice heard on the matter, as did ESPN's Buster Olney.

Sorry folks, I'm not an Insider, but Hench's was probably better anyway.

The FOX writer did an excellent job of mentioning only the essential abominations "rendered" by the umpires thus far in October Baseball. He even spared C.B. Bucknor a richly deserved reaming—C.B.'s calls are BY FAR the worst of a horrendous postseason for the blues...and the Championship Series haven't even started.

Bucknor's boners didn't ultimately matter too much, so Hench instead focused on the other butcher jobs that did materially alter the courses of games. I don't know if it was intentional, but it was an inspired choice as far as I'm concerned.

Without the emphasis on C.B., I realized that Hench was being generous and, yet, seeing the laundry list of blunders still made for a disgusting array.

It's an irresistible collection of errors made by the men entrusted with officiating the culmination of so much time, money, and effort invested by men who have but a brief window in which to reach the Promised Land. You just can't argue against the need for something drastic to be done before the Bill Buckner of umpiring is born.

Or worse—a call that actually costs a team the World Series.

Especially because it seems the umpires are getting worse, not better.

As long as I've been a die-hard baseball fan, I can't remember a second season with this many shameful exercises in misjudgment. Maybe it's because the wrong umpires are being handed the jobs, but I'm not sure that's an argument against replay—it'd be easier to spot poor umps if they're constantly being overruled.

Granted, let's not get carried away. At heart, I'm a baseball purist.

I love the National League because it's the way baseball is supposed to be played. Or at least was when I played. You're supposed to want to hit—it was always the reward for shagging flies and taking infield (ironically, I always liked defense better).

This included the pitcher.

Furthermore, the designated hitter is the one-night-stand of the sport—Mom, skip this part—it's a cheap thrill that requires a shower and several days of self-reflection afterward.

C'mon—tell me Jason Giambi's game-tying single as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the eighth on Monday wasn't infinitely more satisfying than seeing him flail away three or four times as a DH. But, again, that's an argument for a different day.

Back to the purist in me.

When it comes to the diamond, I can appreciate the value of a certain amount of human error. It's a provocative wild card that inspires conversation about what is ultimately a trivial game (except for the teams and fanbases that directly suffer the slight). Additionally, it nostalgically connects the present game with its sepia years.

More persuasively, the contests are already slow enough—it used to be that a six-hour, nine-inning game had about 45 runs scored between the two teams. Now, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox might flirt with that territory in a 6-5 affair.

Baseball Gods forbid, you heap a bunch of new stoppages onto that mess.

Consequently, I'm not advocating an optional replay within the purview of either manager, similar to what we have in the National Football League.

Hench lightly touched on an idea that I think has real merit—an additional replay official in a booth with access to all the slow-motion replay angles the television audience has and the ability to manipulate them (or someone trained to do so).

If that umpire can't decide whether the play was correctly called by the time the next pitch is thrown, the call stands.

Thusly, the game wouldn't be artificially lengthened by replay and the human element would remain via genuinely bang-bang calls that couldn't be conclusively reviewed by the time the irate manager or coach or player had his say.

You want icing on that cake?

It'd be a perfect excuse to simultaneously introduce, say, a 10-second limit on the batter and pitcher in between the action. Such a rule would be necessary to prevent stalling by whichever side stood to benefit from a conclusive replay.

There would be loopholes—for example, a pitcher could repeatedly throw to first—so the actual men on the field would still come into play. I'm sure other tweaks would be necessary, but think about the basic idea for a second.

As others have observed, it takes all of two seconds for the television audience to see when a play is blown as badly as many of these have been blown. Honestly, the specimens by Bucknor could've been overturned in essentially real-time by an official watching the television feeds.

Now consider how much time Terry Francona spent out there arguing, which wasn't very long by Major League tantrum standards—even the non-ejection variety.

With a little help from the magic of wireless connectivity, both calls could've been reversed before Francona even made it to first base.

On the tougher calls, the game still wouldn't be delayed any more than it currently is because a manager can keep coming out of the dugout, close play after close play. As far as I can tell, the only limitation rests within the umpires' discretion and that wouldn't have to change.

If a manager started abusing his ability to disrupt play—a possibility that already exists—in order to facilitate replays, the crew chief or whoever could step in—as he would now.

Deployed correctly, the only impact on baseball would be fewer botched calls.

And even a purist has to be in favor of that.

**www.pva.org**