Attention Baseball Fans: Rewind Or No Rewind - That Is Today’s Question
Well it was only a matter of time that Major League Baseball would look to install instant replay. The other three major sports (NFL, NBA, NHL) all have instant replay in some capacity. One of the reasons they haven’t done it sooner is executives in baseball are VERY concerned with the average length of a baseball game. I believe I read that 65 years ago the average baseball game was completed in less than 2 hours (1:58 to be exact). In the past 20 years the average game has been around 2:50 consistently. Clearly the executives believe that by shortening the games it will keep the average fan more interested. That might be true, but if the games are 10 minutes shorter, doesn’t that translate to one less hot dog, one less beer or perhaps no ice cream for the little one? Maybe I am reaching a little bit, but if the games are shorter, revenues have to be affected in some way.
Baseball executives’ desire to not use instant replay because it will make the games even longer is not a sufficient reason to not do it. The benefits far outweigh this side effect. Over the years, technology changes. We all know that technology helps things get better and better. Technology can and does eliminate human error. In the past week the umpires (who overall do a nice job) got four calls wrong on balls that would have been home runs. One of those was hit by AROD (which I have NO issue that the umps got that one wrong…sorry…I digress).
To me it is all about getting the calls right. While I was watching the games at home, within seconds you could tell that all of those calls were wrong and should have been reversed.
I realize there are a tremendous amount of purists out there who don’t want to use technology to enhance the game and I respect that. If you look around the ballpark, technology is being used everywhere to enhance the experience from the most up to date and elaborate scoreboard to tracking the number of pitches the pitcher has thrown or the speed and type of each pitch.
I believe major league baseball should install instant replay ASAP. Ultimately isn’t it really about getting the calls right?
- If technology can help you do that, how can you say no?
- What do you think?
I look forward to your thoughts.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Well, count me as a purist: I am against the instant replay. I would rather the game be called by people, just as it is played by people. Sure there have been many times that instant replay has corrected a questionable call, but to me it crosses a line when technology starts to overcome the game and it becomes a little less “human” when technology rather than human perspective is used to make the call.
And as far as baseball being the only “major” sport that doesn’t use instant replay, I have one word: “SOCCER”!
June 9th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Sorry to burst any “baseball purist” bubbles out there, but instant replay is already used…virtually daily…in professional baseball games. Official scorers use instant replay to determine how to credit hits or errors on some close plays that would otherwise be a subjective judgement. This information, while important to the Elias Sports Bureau, pales in comparison to the importance of determining the actual outcome of a fair/foul call on a home run.
So suck it up and implement.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Bob,
I stand corrected BUT I still believe in the United States most of sports fans don’t consider soccer to be a major sport. Although overseas it probably is the number one sport - in fact they are probably more passionate about soccer than any of us are about our favorite sports.
Thanks for your comments.
Merrill
June 9th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I agree with Bob, I am a baseball purist as well. When you start using technology in sports wouldn’t the current players have to question past records? Trying to perfect the way a game is called not only will lengthen the game, but ultimately “officials” will have to interpret what they see in the instant replay.
Nothing is perfect, so just go with the flow and position the officials in better position to get the call right, or hire more officials. I don’t really like instant replay in any sport. Just my opinion…
Good subject…how about the topic of gas prices?
June 9th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Rick,
Gas prices! Good idea - actually that is a posting I already wrote - will be out on June 25th.
Thanks.
Merrill
June 9th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
At first, I took the purist view - no replay at all. But given some thought this is what I would suggest:
Allow the managers to have a set number of “challenges” (2 or maybe 3) per game where the use of instant replay would be allowed. These could be challenges to any call with of course the exception of balls and strikes (Blue still has the final word on all pitches thrown).
But here is the catch; if the manager’s challenge is proven to be wrong, he is tossed from the game (just like if he argues balls and strikes). If the challenge is denied after the 7th inning, he is tossed for that game and the following game.
This system would make managers think twice about challenging calls and add some additional strategy to the game, as well meeting the needs of righting any wrongs.
In the end, the players and managers cannot upstage Blue and if they make a bad call, overturning it has to be done in a way to disrespect their role in the game. If you add replay to baseball, then it has to be woven into the fabric of the game, determined by the players, coaches, managers and Blue on the field, not geeks in the press box or the broadcast team.
Also, replays will add to the cost of the game as local broadcasts will now have to meet some norm on the number of cameras they have at their televised games. As someone who has subscribed to MLB Extra Innings for the last 3 seasons, I can tell you their are more cameras at a Red Sox or Yankee telecast than an Oakland or Pirate telecast.
June 9th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Typo make that “not disrespect their role”
Glad I had replay on that post.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I go back and forth on this issue, but in the end the baseball purist in me prevails. Human error is part of the game. While technology can help minimize this error, I am not sure where we draw the line before computers and video replay cameras are actually umpiring the sport. Let’s leave that experimentation to basketball and football.
However, if a Cub hitter gets a home run taken away in the NLCS this year that hits the foul pole, I may reevaluate this…
June 12th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Ed,
Very interesting twist - managers will clearly think twice about challenging a call if they know they will get tossed if they are wrong. I would have instant replay only on a limited basis - home runs, ground rule doubles - certainly not balls and strikes. I would also have it in the playoffs including the World Series.
Thanks for your comments.
Merrill
June 13th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Hi Merrill!
Looks like on 8/1/08, instant replay will now be here…also the anniversary date of MTV 1981…Not sure what my feelings are about replay but do you think somewhere in Baltimore fans are saying ‘Damn You F-ing Jeffrey Maier!’ 12 years too late! That did after all cost the Red Sox a World Series shot. If replay is kept limited and not a time saver, then lets get on with it!
Take Care Merrill!
June 16th, 2008 at 7:15 am
MLB pushes to put instant replay in use by August
NEW YORK - Instant replay might be coming to Major League Baseball in an instant. Moving faster than expected and coming after a rash of blown calls, baseball wants to put replay into effect by August for home run disputes in hopes of fine-tuning the system by the playoffs.
MLB and the umpires’ union need to reach agreement before replay can be tried, and the sides have started talking. Previously, it was thought replay would get its first look in the Arizona Fall League and then the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
“The game needs it and I think it does need it soon,” Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lieber said Friday before a game at Toronto. “With technology the way it is today, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be a part of the game.”
Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB’s executive vice president for baseball operations, is pushing for replay by Aug. 1; Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive vice president of labor relations, suggested Aug. 15.
“It’s all still premature,” MLB spokesman Rich Levin said Friday. “A final decision has not been made.”
USA Today first reported on its Web site Friday that baseball planned to use replay this season, saying MLB wanted it by Aug. 1.
“I don’t think it’s needed at all, to be honest,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Friday. “How many times do you see players make errors? Baseball has talked about speeding up the game. It’s all you hear. All of a sudden, they want instant replay? You’re going to have slower games and more restless people in the stands.”
Commissioner Bud Selig will ultimately decide when MLB wants to put replay in place. A staunch opponent in the past, a spate of missed boundary calls — fair or foul, over the fence or not — last month left Selig leaning toward its limited use.
The NFL, NBA, NHL, some NCAA sports and major tennis tournaments all employ replay in various forms.
A person briefed on MLB’s preliminary plan told The Associated Press that baseball wants to create an NHL-style “war room” in New York where video feeds would be reviewed by a supervisor. The umpire crew chief wouldn’t see replays — instead, the supervisor would describe what he saw, but leave it up to the umpire to make the final call.
It was not certain whether managers, umpires or the video supervisor would ask for a replay, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations were in progress.
Last month, after Carlos Delgado of the New York Mets and Alex Rodriguez of the New York lost home runs because of missed calls, umpires said they were open for discussion.
“We’d be all in favor of listening to whatever proposals they might have,” veteran ump John Hirschbeck, president of the World Umpires Association, said then.
Umpires, however, remain adamant that they do not want replay used to review close plays on the bases or ball-and-strike calls.
“I think the umpires do a good job on it. If they would like some additional help, I would find nothing wrong with it,” Baltimore hitting coach Terry Crowley said Friday night before the Orioles played Pittsburgh. “Every once in a while they get one wrong, but I would bet they get 99 out of 100 right, probably more.”
Last November, general managers voted 25-5 to try replay on boundary calls. At the time, Selig took the recommendation under advisement.
Selig, like many of the game’s traditionalists, always liked the human element of baseball, and that meant tolerating an occasional wrong call by an umpire. He also worried about further bogging down a sport that has been criticized for its slow pace.
Count Pittsburgh outfielder Jason Michaels in that corner.
“Here’s the thing: I guess I’m old school, but I think human error is part of the game,” he said. “It’s always been that way. I would think I’d be against it.”
In recent years, the new and cozy ballparks have made it more difficult for umpires with their quirky dimensions, odd angles and yellow lines that denote home runs.
“As I’ve said before, tradition is a wonderful thing, but it can also be an ump killer,” Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said before the Rockies played at the Chicago White Sox.
“We’re putting these umps in a very difficult position making a call that is already challenging just because of the dynamic of the play. We live in a technological society right now that we can get it right. The guy at home sees it right. That for me is where it really gets confusing. You can sit in your chair at home and make the right call, but the man getting paid who’s the expert is put in a box where you don’t know.”
June 17th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Conservative columnist George Will has written a pretty eloquent defense argument against IR in baseball. George and I are WAY apart politically, but I love this quote: “Human error is not a blemish to be expunged from sports, it is part of the drama.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/13/AR2008061302637_2.html
August 1st, 2008 at 10:57 am
FYI - Little League
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Little League Baseball will use instant replay at this year’s World Series to review questionable home runs and other close plays at the outfield fence, beating the major leagues in instituting a system to review some disputed calls.
The limited replay system would be in place on an experimental basis when the 2008 tournament begins Aug. 15 and be reevaluated following the series, Little League president Stephen Keener said Tuesday.
Replay would be used “to overturn an obvious wrong,” said Dennis Lewin, chairman of Little League’s Board of Directors.
The rule limits replay to instances in which a batted ball “leaves the field of play at or near the outfield fence, or should have been ruled out of the field of play” at or near the fence.
A Little League “game operations replay official” would need “clear and convincing” evidence to overturn an umpire’s ruling on the field, according to the rule.
Replays would likely be rarely used, Keener said, and if used would likely cause a delay of 30 to 45 seconds.
“I think that’s easily a fair trade off,” Keener said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press at league headquarters. “I think everyone would agree that getting it right is most important.”
Instant replay has been a hot topic in Major League Baseball this season after a rash of blown or disputed home run calls. Commissioner Bud Selig said earlier this month that the league is still looking into using replay in a limited form, possibly before the postseason.
But the timing of Little League’s decision had more to do with logistics, according to Little League officials. Keener began looking into replay after a 2005 U.S. semifinal game between Maitland, Fla., and Rancho Buena Vista, Calif.
An apparent three-run home run by Maitland’s Mike Tomlinson was instead ruled a ground-rule double by left-field umpire Steve Oullet; replays from the ESPN telecast showed the ball hit the netting attached to the foul pole before bouncing back onto the field — meaning it should have been a home run.
Little League signed a new contract with ESPN last year that allowed all 32 games of the 10-day tournament to be televised for the first time.
Keener said it was important for all games in a tournament to have access to replay if the rule was going to be implemented. Little League revisited the issue again this past summer and went to ESPN recently to iron out technicalities before deciding to use replay this year.
Players, managers or umpires on the field can not request a review; that responsibility will rest with the Little League replay official and an umpire in the booth under the stands at Lamade Stadium.
The replay umpire would consult the Little League official, though it would ultimately be up to the Little League official alone to uphold or overturn the call on the field.
“We wanted to make the decision as impersonal as possible,” Little League spokesman Lance Van Auken said in explaining the decision to give the league replay official the final say.
Tournament umpires can only officiate in South Williamsport once in their careers. They are evaluated by Little League and invited to umpire at the World Series. Those umpires can often develop friendships, so the replay setup limits any personal pressure that the replay umpire might feel, Van Auken said.
Using replay wasn’t a slight against umpires, Keener said, but another tool for umpires on the field.
Little League’s approach is similar to that used by the NFL, said Lewin, a former broadcasting executive with the NFL who helped develop that league’s replay system.
There are no plans to use replay for other calls, such as ball or strike counts. Other uses could be possible in the future, Lewin said in a phone interview, but “let’s walk before we run.”
Up to 12 cameras are used at each of the two Little League World Series stadiums for games. A home run call might have about four or five different available replay angles, said Tim Scanlan, ESPN’s vice president of event production.