Instant replay in baseball
Posted at 9:26 AM on June 21, 2005
by Ben Tesch
(7 Comments)
Skip Bayless of ESPN.com says that baseball was made for replay:
Now, rarely does a night pass when we don't see at least one lowlight of a highlight – a "you're blind, ump!" call. The Phillies' Mike Lieberthal was awarded a home run that even he later admitted didn't clear the fence. Replay! The Cardinals' Albert Pujols leaned into the stands to snag a foul pop after it clearly ricocheted off a Cardinals official sitting in a box seat. Replay!I'm more of a perfectionist than a purist. Yet what could be purer than trying to get every call right?
What do you think of adding instant replay to baseball? Are you on the all-or-nothing side with Skip and Tex Schramm, or would you compromise on a "just in the ninth or extra innings" rule?
Comments (7)
in theory, replay sounds good, but in practice it is often a fiasco. it would slow down the game, muddle the relationship between the players, coaches and umpires and cause confusion in the stands.
i think the replays on TV show, the umps are almost always right anyway......
Those of us who are both purists and perfectionists, this one's a toughie.
Officiating crews might gain more leeway from knowing that if games get into tight situations, everything won't be pinned to them. But, then again, the transgressions of human perception have also added a little color to the game's history.
So I don't know. Why do we need to technologize an otherwise straight-forward game?
I'm for a replay if we give the defense two chances to catch a ball. The way it would work is if a shortstop makes a dive and then slightly misjudges a grounder and it skips through, he will be given another chance. Then a designated fungo-style coach will hit a screamer in exacty the same spot, only this time the player will have the opportunity to judge it correctly and make the play. If he judges it correctly and makes the player, the batter is out. If he fails a second time, the batter gets to reach first.
Sure it'll ruin the game and delay things, but at least we can be sure that the participants got it right.
The thing about sports is that it is completely spontaneous. The pitch, the hit, the catch, the throw, and the call. Before things were taped, before instant replay was possible, we had errors by players and by umpires. Part of the game, and we learned to live with everyone's errors. A great example was the Royals/Cardinals in 1985 when the Series would have been over but Denkinger made the bad call at first base. Yes it hurts and yes, life isn't fair. But the game, like life, goes on, the sun comes up in the morning and we move on. Adding instant replay will change that, and I don't agree it should change. Thanks
Ed Armbrister, 1975, interfering with Carlton Fisk. Hey, you're right. That's the stuff of legends and good bar discussions. Leave instant replay to the silly sports like football.
instant replay is a must in baseball. I am sick of all the umpires making bad calls. They messed up angels vs White Sox game 4, world series 2k5, and lately the usa vs japan. It seems baseball needs it more than ever. If anyone has watched football it doesnt take long for the ref to decided whether or not it was good or bad. So a few seconds on decision whoop dee doo dah.
What was it like before like instant replays? Like what did people like use?
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