ORLANDO, Fla. -- For the first time Tuesday, baseball general managers recommended instant replay be used to help umpires make close calls. The recommendation, by a 25-5 vote, was limited to boundary calls -- whether potential home runs are fair or foul, whether balls go over fences or hit the top and bounce back, and whether fans have interfered with a possible homer. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig opposes the use of replays but said last month he was willing to let GMs examine the issue. "I don't like instant replay because I don't like all the delays. I think it sometimes creates as many problems or more than it solves," Selig said then. But Jimmie Lee Solomon, an executive vice president in the commissioner's office, thinks Selig's stance has changed a bit recently. "He seemed to be softer, at least on the consideration of the subject," Solomon said Tuesday. He added it was unclear how the proposal will proceed and acknowledged there is "glacier-like movement in baseball" when it comes to innovation. Solomon said if Selig is willing, the commissioner probably would run the idea by owners. The plan needs approval from the players' association and umpires. Solomon said GMs favored having a Major League Baseball official in a central place with access to all camera angles. If there is a disputed call, that official would be contacted and would view the television replay to make a decision. "We have a very technologically savvy group of GMs," Solomon said. "I was surprised that we had five teams that said no." Solomon also said that to speed up games, baseball was considering limiting the number of times a hitter could step out of the batter's box during an at-bat and the number of times any player could visit the mound. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3096923
A bit of a misleading thread title. Nothing has been approved. Selig has to give it his O.K., the owners have to say O.K., the player's union has to say O.K and the umpire's union has to say O.K.
i don't have a problem with it as long as it's limited to VERY SPECIFIC sorts of plays. you could instant replay baseball to death.
that made me think...this ought to be NL-only. we don't need to add any more time to the 5 hour Yankee/Red Sox marathon games with instant replay.
after the debacle in the rockies/dbacks game, they're not considering game-ending plays at the plate? I guess that could overflow into all plays at the plate and plays at any base.. but how about just game-enders?
Herein lies my beef with instant replay in baseball. (That and the old "purist" view of the human side of the game.) The game is already being decried as "slow" and "long", so let's drag it out by adding instant replay. Seriously, what would you rather watch on television:<ol><li>The ball hits very questionably near the yellow line in the left field power ally. The umpire makes the home run call by twirling his index finger over his head. Then the opposing bench lobs a red baseball onto the field. The runner stops midway between second and third while everyone stands around looking at the pressbox where some white-skinned nerd with bottle-rimmed glasses looks at replays for 90 seconds. The umpire gets a text message of the final decision and signals a ground-rule double. The runner returns to second and play resumes.<br /> <br /></li><li>The ball hits very questionably near the yellow line in the left field power ally. The umpire makes the home run call by twirling his index finger over his head. While the runner is still circling the bases, camaras catch the opposing skipper clearly saying, "Are you ******* kidding me?!?" He runs out onto the field and jaws in the umpire's face for 30 seconds. The umpire turns his back and just walks away just like a woman. The skipper chases after, cuts in front of the ump, and continues. You can see veins popping out of his neck and arms. He throws his cap on the ground in disgust and his comb-over waves wildly in the wind as his head bobs side-to-side while yelling in the umpire's face. The umpire melodramatically ejects the manager from the game, at which point the manager continues to chase the umpire around, screaming, and kicking sand on his shoes. On his way to the clubhouse, he lobs the gatorade cooler onto the field and they make the batboy clean it up (and retrieve the cap).</li></ol> Now, that's television! That's better than any "reality show" currently on the networks! You're going to take that away for the sake of two or three calls a year? No stinkin' way. Just say no to instant replays. I love me some skipper hissy fits.
Good points. I'm certainly no Yankee fan. But how great was it that kid caught that ball in the playoffs that year vs. the Orioles, giving the Yanks a HR?? I love that stuff. Keep the game human.
I hated that. Something that should not have affected a playoff series helped determine the fate of two teams that battled for over 162 games to make it to that spot. Team that should win winning a game >>>>>>>>>> keeping the game "human".
I'd rather see baseball parks do away with the yellow lines. If it doesn't go over the fence, it's not a home run. Additionally (in the parks and places that need them), they could put some sort of metal apparatus right beyond the fence that will make a noticeable "clang" if the ball hits it. This would help remove doubts as to whether or not a ball cleared the fence when it bounces back in play. Obviously this won't help the foul/fair calls, but it will remove any of the "did it hit the yellow line" controversy.
First of all, I don't think parks should let people sit right on the fair fence to be able to influence a critical play like that. Secondly, we have no idea what would have happened beyond that play (speaking hypothetically, as I don't remember this particular play). If the umpire botches a home run call that should have been a ground rule double and ends the game, that's no guarantee that the other team would have won. I'm all for eliminating the fans from affecting the game, but not the umpires. Hell, if we're going to make everything electronic, let's all just go the park and watch the guys play it on Nintendo. Then perhaps I could make the team!
You're more objective than I am, though. If it was an Astros fan doing that, I'd probably have the same opinion as you!
I'm just a huge baseball fan, generally...so i'm very much not objective about the game, generally. generally.
These same arguments were made in the NFL for instant replay. Today, is there anyone against IR in the NFL? Single calls are so critical in both baseball and football (not so much in basketball) - how horrible would it be for your team to miss the playoffs or lose a game in the World Series because of a bad call? It sucks for the players and it sucks for the fans to be cheated out of having the right team win the game.
