Thursday, May 10, 2007

Buy or Sell: Instant Replay in Major League Baseball

So, I came downstairs and flipped on the TV just in time to catch second-base umpire Gerry Davis call Willie Bloomquist safe while stealing 2nd base on Monday night. Replays (along with the naked eye) confirmed that he was tagged right on the ass while his hands were still almost 3 feet away from the bag. It was honestly one of the worst missed calls/bad calls you will see in the majors.



"With all we've been through, it was a well-deserved break, and it came at a good time. I'll take it. On the play itself, I thought it was actually pretty close. But when I got a chance to see the replay ... well, he called me safe, so I was safe. It's a good thing there's no instant replay in baseball." -Willie Bloomsquist-


But is it really? Something as little as that, just a bad angle that lead to a bad call by the 2nd base ump can change the outcome of a game. So I was thinking, Maybe Willie's wrong. Maybe instant replay is something that baseball needs to seriously think about.

I'm buying instant replay in Major League Baseball and here's why:

I think overall instant replay has been a success in the NFL. Although it elongates games I think it's more valuable that the right calls are made (taste bitterness of me thinking of the 1996 Wildcard game where Jerry Rice fumbled, the Pack recovered, they called it incomplete, and T.O. went on to win that game for them). However, instant replay in baseball would definitely have the opposite effect. Instead of appealing calls, managers arguing, and umpire conferences, you could just have a replay official quickly view it and make sure the correct call is made in the case of something like what happened Monday night.

Shorter games (however not by much), and getting the call right...so what's not to love about the idea? Well it would take a considerable amount of money to set the whole things up with the equipment, more officials, and etc. Also a lot of people would say that it would be threatening the integrity of the game. The old game. The original game....America's past time.

Look, there was no instant replay in Ruth or Aaron's time because...gee I don't know, maybe because we didn't have the means to! Duh! There was no instant replay in the NFL up until 1999. Now that we have the means to why the hell not!? It works for the NFL (most of the time), it works for the NHL, it works for NCAA Bball and the NBA when the game is on the line, and it worked extremely well in NCAA Football (At the 1-A level). It would just be better for the game if things like this didn't decide games.

Instant Replay is not going to hurt the game of baseball or threaten its integrity nearly as much as that 8-letter word beginning with ster- and ending in -oids. Get with the times. Everybody else has gone to it so give it a chance or at least some thought. Giving each manager 1 challenge a game I think would probably work wonders in this. Most games would probably go with none or maybe 1 being used. And if each manager only had one they would not waste them, they would be used almost exclusively in game-changing fashion like we saw Monday night.

I just don't see how getting it right could be anything other than a good thing. What do you think about instant replay in Major League Baseball (If you're a Yankees fan I might already know your answer)?

6 comments:

Stefan Ming said...

instant replay would ruin baseball... sell

stephen a said...

Why dont they just put computer chips in the bases instead of having umpires? Better yet why don't we create robots to play? The human element is what's awesome about baseball. Having a variable strike zone and judgement calls is what the game is all about

grittysquirrels said...

Ok, well obviously like the NFL there would be things that you could not challenge (obviously balls and strikes). Mostly things like we saw Monday night, fair and fould situations, HR or not...just stuff like that.

Anonymous said...

There should be absolutly no replay in any sport, that why there are officials. They are humans and allowed a mistake every once in a while. I am selling this 100%.

stephen a said...

yeah shef we can do the link, and i gave you credit for the idea i just wanted to expand on it haha.

Anonymous said...

BUY! BUY! BUY! 100% BUY! The game needs to be fair!