Instant Replay Inspires The Dim

Grandstander · August 27th, 2008, 07:52 AM

I was reading the article about MLB's decision to go with limited instant replay in this morning's paper and was struck by the foolishness of several of those involved or affected.

We start with Commissioner Selig who for no reason I can fathom, decided to be an absolutist. Asked if replay would be expanded beyond homerun determinations, His Budness responded "There's been some concern that if you start here, look what it's going to lead to. Not as long as I'm commissioner."

Now why would he wish to paint himself into a corner before the experiment has even been tried? What if it is a big hit with the fans and there is a popular desire for it to be expanded to other types of calls? Selig is then going to be stuck with his "not on my watch" stance and will have to oppose the popular demand not on the grounds of his defending something good, but on the grounds of his having pointlessly drawn a line in the sand and made a stand. Wouldn't it have been a lot more intelligent to say "We're giving it a limited try out. If it works, we may expand it somewhat, or we may continue to restrict it to homerun calls. If it isn't working, we will eliminate it." Instead, he has forted up with an inflexible position before any results are known.

Apparently not wishing for Selig to appear the lone dummy in this, Kenny Rogers decided to go the partisan route and blame the Yankees and Alex Rodriguez for the rule change. Rogers says that the decision arose from Arod having lost a homerun this past May to an umpire's incorrect judgment. He thinks instant replay is a draconian response to that..."It overshot the mark by far, what, just because in a Yankee game someone didn't get a homer? Please, it's happened thousands of times. That's part of the game, that's the beauty of the game. Mistakes are made."

Ah, so the beauty of the game is the umpires getting the calls wrong? That's why I watch, isn't it why you watch?

Perhaps the most vapid is the opposition from Baltimore manager Dave Trembly. He seemed to have nothing to say about the need or lack of need for instant replay, but is infuriated by the timing. "I find it very strange that with 30 games to go in the season, they would start it now. I find that very peculiar. If they wanted it so bad, why did they wait until this particular point in time?" Trembly did not elaborate or explain why this was so bad a time, nor did he offer any suggestions for the proper timing of such a move.

None of the above seem to be much for forward thinking. It isn't difficult to figure out where things will go from here. Of course instant replay will be retained once it has been tried. We have the examples from the other major sports, all of which have expanded use of replay once it was started and of course ultimately, Selig or no Selig, so will baseball.

The driving force will be the fact that the fan at home watching on tv has long had instant replay available. The broadcasts replay the close calls and in most cases, the tv viewer knows better than the umpire whether or not the player was safe or out, the ball foul or fair, whether or not a runner left the basepath, whether or not a phantom tag was real. Once they start making calls congruent with what the fans watching on tv already know, there isn't going to be any going back, that could only be seen as a pointless retrograde. "We started getting the calls right and it wrecked the game, so we are dropping instant replay?" Of course that will not happen.

Finally, a word on the foolishness of one aspect of what they will be doing. MLB has designated the crew chief of each umpiring collective to be the one who looks at the replay and decides to validate or overturn a call. That of course immediately sets up a conflict of interest and places the judgment in the hands of a prejudiced participant. No crew chief is going to happily overturn the calls of the guys he works and travels with for seven months of the year. These are his buddies and he will only permit them to be shown up on national tv if the blown call is too obvious to mask. Otherwise, the tendency will be to uphold calls on all plays save extremely obvious ones. Worse, the crew chief will also be ruling on whether or not he blew the call himself.

It would make a great deal more sense to have an extra offical who does nothing but handle the replay calls. It will be faster than waiting for the crew chief to get to a monitor and look, and fairer than the system that they are deploying where the foxes are guarding the henhouse.

jtur88 · August 28th, 2008, 10:08 AM

There is already a rule that says if a fair ball goes over the fence or into the stands, it is a home run. Just enforce it, and it becomes an easy call. Let stadiums that do not like it retrofit their walls to accommodate the century-old rule, instead of painting yellow lines. If the mesh on the side of the foul poles is too narrow to call fair of foul, widen it. Of all the disputed judgment calls in baseball, the home run is the most infrequent, and nearly all those relate to judging a yellow line painted on a flat wall.

Problems solved, without replay.

GS, I agree with you on all your points, and I had not even thought of the one about the umpires overruling themselves. However, is that not the way it is done in the NFL?

I can see a decent chance that we will go through the entire months of September, without a single call being reversed by replay. In which case, this urgent, mid-season rule will be applied about as often as the rule that a batter shall be called out if he hits a home run and runs the bases in reverse order for the purpose of making a travesty of the game. Speaking of making a travesty of the game. . . .

Grandstander · September 1st, 2008, 08:50 AM

I've been looking, but have been unable to find any information on the precise way that the new replay rules will work.

Suppose that the bases are full, the batter hits what appears to be a homerun, the ump nearest the wall makes the homerun sign and the runners all trot home. But then after watching the replay, it becomes apparent that the ball wasn't a homerun and should have been ruled in play? What happens to the batter and the baserunners in such a case?

August 27th, 2008, 07:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
Grandstander Hall of Famer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Parts Unknown Northern California Posts: 6,611	Instant Replay Inspires The Dim I was reading the article about MLB's decision to go with limited instant replay in this morning's paper and was struck by the foolishness of several of those involved or affected. We start with Commissioner Selig who for no reason I can fathom, decided to be an absolutist. Asked if replay would be expanded beyond homerun determinations, His Budness responded "There's been some concern that if you start here, look what it's going to lead to. Not as long as I'm commissioner." Now why would he wish to paint himself into a corner before the experiment has even been tried? What if it is a big hit with the fans and there is a popular desire for it to be expanded to other types of calls? Selig is then going to be stuck with his "not on my watch" stance and will have to oppose the popular demand not on the grounds of his defending something good, but on the grounds of his having pointlessly drawn a line in the sand and made a stand. Wouldn't it have been a lot more intelligent to say "We're giving it a limited try out. If it works, we may expand it somewhat, or we may continue to restrict it to homerun calls. If it isn't working, we will eliminate it." Instead, he has forted up with an inflexible position before any results are known. Apparently not wishing for Selig to appear the lone dummy in this, Kenny Rogers decided to go the partisan route and blame the Yankees and Alex Rodriguez for the rule change. Rogers says that the decision arose from Arod having lost a homerun this past May to an umpire's incorrect judgment. He thinks instant replay is a draconian response to that..."It overshot the mark by far, what, just because in a Yankee game someone didn't get a homer? Please, it's happened thousands of times. That's part of the game, that's the beauty of the game. Mistakes are made." Ah, so the beauty of the game is the umpires getting the calls wrong? That's why I watch, isn't it why you watch? Perhaps the most vapid is the opposition from Baltimore manager Dave Trembly. He seemed to have nothing to say about the need or lack of need for instant replay, but is infuriated by the timing. "I find it very strange that with 30 games to go in the season, they would start it now. I find that very peculiar. If they wanted it so bad, why did they wait until this particular point in time?" Trembly did not elaborate or explain why this was so bad a time, nor did he offer any suggestions for the proper timing of such a move. None of the above seem to be much for forward thinking. It isn't difficult to figure out where things will go from here. Of course instant replay will be retained once it has been tried. We have the examples from the other major sports, all of which have expanded use of replay once it was started and of course ultimately, Selig or no Selig, so will baseball. The driving force will be the fact that the fan at home watching on tv has long had instant replay available. The broadcasts replay the close calls and in most cases, the tv viewer knows better than the umpire whether or not the player was safe or out, the ball foul or fair, whether or not a runner left the basepath, whether or not a phantom tag was real. Once they start making calls congruent with what the fans watching on tv already know, there isn't going to be any going back, that could only be seen as a pointless retrograde. "We started getting the calls right and it wrecked the game, so we are dropping instant replay?" Of course that will not happen. Finally, a word on the foolishness of one aspect of what they will be doing. MLB has designated the crew chief of each umpiring collective to be the one who looks at the replay and decides to validate or overturn a call. That of course immediately sets up a conflict of interest and places the judgment in the hands of a prejudiced participant. No crew chief is going to happily overturn the calls of the guys he works and travels with for seven months of the year. These are his buddies and he will only permit them to be shown up on national tv if the blown call is too obvious to mask. Otherwise, the tendency will be to uphold calls on all plays save extremely obvious ones. Worse, the crew chief will also be ruling on whether or not he blew the call himself. It would make a great deal more sense to have an extra offical who does nothing but handle the replay calls. It will be faster than waiting for the crew chief to get to a monitor and look, and fairer than the system that they are deploying where the foxes are guarding the henhouse.

August 28th, 2008, 10:08 AM	#2 (permalink)
jtur88 Hall of Famer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: South Texas Posts: 7,857	There is already a rule that says if a fair ball goes over the fence or into the stands, it is a home run. Just enforce it, and it becomes an easy call. Let stadiums that do not like it retrofit their walls to accommodate the century-old rule, instead of painting yellow lines. If the mesh on the side of the foul poles is too narrow to call fair of foul, widen it. Of all the disputed judgment calls in baseball, the home run is the most infrequent, and nearly all those relate to judging a yellow line painted on a flat wall. Problems solved, without replay. GS, I agree with you on all your points, and I had not even thought of the one about the umpires overruling themselves. However, is that not the way it is done in the NFL? I can see a decent chance that we will go through the entire months of September, without a single call being reversed by replay. In which case, this urgent, mid-season rule will be applied about as often as the rule that a batter shall be called out if he hits a home run and runs the bases in reverse order for the purpose of making a travesty of the game. Speaking of making a travesty of the game. . . . __________________ ------------------ When people ask what I hope to see before I die, I answer that I've already seen too much. Last edited by jtur88; August 28th, 2008 at 07:22 PM.

September 1st, 2008, 08:50 AM	#3 (permalink)
Grandstander Hall of Famer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Parts Unknown Northern California Posts: 6,611	I've been looking, but have been unable to find any information on the precise way that the new replay rules will work. Suppose that the bases are full, the batter hits what appears to be a homerun, the ump nearest the wall makes the homerun sign and the runners all trot home. But then after watching the replay, it becomes apparent that the ball wasn't a homerun and should have been ruled in play? What happens to the batter and the baserunners in such a case?