Baseball’s “Human Element” - What a crock!
The NFL has embraced it and the NBA has begun to see its benefits but Major League Baseball has resisted the implementation of instant reply at every turn. Arguments against instant reply, made by the “old guard” are weak and unfounded which I will address later. Baseball’s current rule regarding instant reply is it can only be used in case of home run calls.
· To assess if a home run was fair or foul
· To assess whether a home run ball actually made it over the fence
· To assess whether a home run was subject to any fan interference
The history books and standings have already been affected by MLB’s unwillingness to use this instant replay technology, technology that is available and ready to use. On June 3rd, 2010 Detroit Tiger's pitcher Armando Galarraga was one out away from a “perfect game”.
A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any other reason—in short, "27 up, 27 down".
This achievement has only occurred 20 times in the history of major league baseball, 18 times since the modern era began in 1900…so pretty rare! However on June 3rd 2010, Armando Galaragga was robbed of perfect game by a terrible call at first base which permitted a base runner and ended his bid for a perfect game.
(explicit language)
As you just heard even in a case when the umpire himself has said he missed the call, baseball has no way of correcting such an error because they do not allow a simple 10 second review of the footage. Don’t you think Jim Joyce (the umpire) would have wanted to be saved from the embarrassment and legacy of getting that call, in that game, wrong? Please don't misunderstand me, these umpires make 95% of calls correctly, I am not taking the umpires to task here, they can't be perfect. Why not help them out by having instant replay available to them?
More recently in a game which lasted 19 innings, between the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates; the game winning run was called safe at home in possibly the worst call to date in baseball. The ball got to home plate far ahead of the runner, and the runner during his slide never actually got to the plate… however in spite of that, somehow the umpire called the runner safe and the Pittsburgh Pirates are forced to take a loss which dropped them to 3rd place in the NL Central standings.
So doesn’t Major League Baseball want to avoid these miscarriages of sports justice? Well not if you are a “baseball purest.” Baseball purest do not want the game to be altered. They tout the history of the game and they like how the “human element” of the game still exists. Let me tell you, modern fans and younger fans don’t care about the “human element” they want to get the calls right. Do you think fans left the stadium after the should-be perfect game or the 19 inning debacle saying “gee I sure love that human element”, no of course not. It's the last thing a fan wants, for their team to lose a game because of poor umpiring.
So besides the “human element” what other reasons do opponents of instant replay reference?
Speed of the game: Many baseball purest argue that if you allow instant replay it will interfere with the speed of the game. They say that baseball is already a long game and instant replay will slow down the pace of the game down even further. This argument is not valid because any time that a call is controversial the manager comes out to argue the call with the umpire, they yell and kick dirt. While these managers may be humorous to watch it would be much faster to just have the umpire review the call, get it right and move on. Watch how much time is wasted by then Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella. Also keep in mind this a relatively tame rant for "Sweet Lou".
Slippery slope: Purest argue that if you allow instant replay to expand to on the field calls there could no stopping the eventual push for instant replay to review every pitch of balls and strikes. This fear is not founded in any sense of reality. How about we cross that bridge if we get there? Not allowing a solution to fix a glaring problem for Major League Baseball because you are afraid of a hypothetical situation that doesn’t actually exist is ridiculous.
The ability of instant replay to get the call right isn’t absolute and sometimes even with HD cameras and super-slow motion there will be times that instant replay wont have the right angle or someone maybe blocking the camera, but to simply not choose a solution that would improve the accuracy and precision of umpiring a baseball game is unacceptable. Fans want it…umpires want it…come on baseball join us in the 21st Century.
What do you think? Are you fan of the "human element" in baseball, or do you want them to get the call right?
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