last chance to stOp the madness...
here are just a few scenarios for MLB to think about before implementing video replay:
just to be clear. this stuff
9:46 a.m. update: thanks to hans bungle for pointing out that replay right now seems only to involve questionable home run calls (i'm wary). hans bungle is a yankee fan so he rarely comments here but it's usually worth reading.
- batter hits a ball down line, barely fair, but umpire calls it foul. batter keeps running but defense doesn't play the ball because of the foul call. batter scores on an inside-the-park home run. replays show ball was fair. can you take the run off the board? where do you put the batter? 2nd? and how long will it take to sort it out after both managers have hissy fits?
- batter hits squibber behind bag at first, runs down line until umpire calls it foul. first baseman, sure it's actually fair, plays the ball and tags the batter out. replay shows ball was fair. is batter out? and how long will it take to sort it all out?
- a batter gets screwed over a couple times on replay calls and, not wanting to get screwed again, refuses to stop running every time he hits one near the line regardless of the call.
just to be clear. this stuff
- is GOING TO HAPPEN (assuming any extensive replay system is adopted)
- and it's going to happen in IMPORTANT GAMES
- and it gives the UMPIRE MORE POWER, not less
- and it will take MORE TIME, not less
- because they will have to make JUDGMENT CALLS about what WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.
9:46 a.m. update: thanks to hans bungle for pointing out that replay right now seems only to involve questionable home run calls (i'm wary). hans bungle is a yankee fan so he rarely comments here but it's usually worth reading.
Labels: arOund the big leagues
posted by the wayward o at
7:46 AM
15 Comments:
only problem with your scenarios is that for right now they are only talking about using it on home run balls, not the situations you discuss. and only on home runs that are close to being foul and/or not clearing the fence/painted HR line on fence. how much will that really slow down the game? it should happen less than once per game.
perhaps if it is successful they will expand it, but i doubt it will ever be used as often as you are suggesting -- maybe each manager will have a challenge or two per game, and it can only be used in clear cut decisions where the replay actually helps.
if it's only on home runs it's probably not as disruptive (i guess, although who knows what will come up?).
however, i'm under the impression that the owners are pushing for more and the umps are just trying to hold the line -- hence the leaks from their quarters.
here another scenario: batter (lets call him gary s.) simply decides to go into a home run trot every time ball is near yellow line.
defense plays ball and tags batter out as he trots base paths, causing two managerial conniption fits and massive delays every time.
How about this scenario: manager yells at batter and makes him run out everything he hits as to not cause any concern. Play the game right and there is no problem. The replay on HR calls is a great idea, must we really bring up a 11 year old boy at yankee stadium? What about this scenario, 11 year old boy takes ball out of outfielders glove, ump calls it a HR. Replays overturn the HR and calls him out, team that should have won the game goes on to win, and builds momentum and wins the series...
Even limited to HR calls it is a can of worms. If the replay ump overrules a field HR call, where do you put the hitter? Is it purely a judgment call that he would/would not have gotten to 2d/3d? Whose judgment? How many baserunners score? Who makes THAT call? I'm an old geezer and I'm agin it. (But I'll trade it to get rid of the DH!)
Wow! That sounds like a game we already have - "Chutes and Ladders"
> Who makes THAT call?
Yeah ... and, again, how long does it all take?
You question my intelligence by somehow assuming that the players trust the umpires in the state of the game as it presently exists.The only reason there isn't more protests and rants is because each ejection carries both a monetary and punitive penalty either in games or in more bad calls by umpires against a particular club or player.If you doubt that go read the autobiography of Ron Luciano.The only way I'm for instant replay is if in a situation like the infamous Jeffrey Meier interference call,the call is reversed and the umpire is thrown out of the game and replaced by someone more competent.We all make mistakes but to make such a glaring one like that at such a critical point in the game is simply inexcusable and to not seek help from others is unfathomable.Umpires already have to much power,if we're going to do anything,make them more responsible for their own actions and grade them accordingly.And publish them.Just one man's opinion.
burt, i agree the umpires should be held more accountable for the quality of their work. everybody else is.
remember devereax's foul home run? not as big a deal as the maier play ... but it evens out over the long term.
wayward one,I've seen umpteen peplays of that one and still not convinced either way if tit was fair or foul.Watch one angle it looks fair,watch another it looks foul,but I've always believed the ultimate objective is to get the call right,unfortunatelyit seems the umpire's ultimate objective at times is to make themselves more important than the game by throwing somebody out.And I still say nobody put on a better show for his money than Earl Weaver.He was a great manger and an excellent showman.If he got tossed he got his money's worth,lol.
dang I think I should have typed that one a little slower,lol.peplays and tits,not exactly what I meant to talk about.It should read replays and it.That might be the funniest thing I've typed in a while and it was by sheer accident,lol.
Kevin Millar's double last night looked as if it got a piece of that fan. But it did not appear to change the course of the ball so the umps let it go.
Devereaux's home run was FAIR!
I was there charlie......
-brO
I was there too,but I was in the right field stands and had a terrible angle,but it looked like it was inside the foul pole fron where I was at.
Burt seems to think there's room for some questioning.
Let me help you out.......
It. was. fair.
-brO
I always said I thought it was but I had a bad angle,it wasn't til I got home that I could really see it,I was a long way away from it,lol.Thanks for clearing that up,lol.
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