To replay, or not to replay?

by Travis G on Oct 23, 2009 8:12 PM EDT in Miscellaneous

Former umpire Don Denkinger supports it:

Denkinger is living a quiet, peaceful retirement these days, playing golf in the Arizona sun. But just like any former major league umpire, he still follows the game. And as one, in particular, whose career was defined by a bad call - the one that changed the 1985 World Series - Denkinger has an unwavering opinion about instant replay: Its time has come.

"I'm in favor of getting all the calls correct, whatever it takes," he said by telephone Wednesday. "I don't see how [commissioner Bud Selig] can get away with not [introducing instant replay]. It makes no sense not to. There's nothing better than getting every call right."

What is it going to take to get wider use of instant replay? The technology is there. My motto on the subject is 'the Right Call is paramount.' Here's the system I propose:

An umpire sits up in the press box or umpire's room. When there's a close play (out/safe, fair/foul) that the crew chief feels deserves a review, he calls to the 'press box ump.' And if that ump can't definitively tell if the call was wrong (viewing video replays) within 60 seconds, the call on the field stands.

This is better than giving reviews to managers like in football because they could use them to manipulate the game, e.g. a pitcher is cruising and the opposing manager wants to get him off his rhythm so he decides to challenge a play just to disrupt him.

Poll

Should MLB widen the use of video review?

Yes

235 votes

No

70 votes

Don't know

14 votes

319 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Not only could managers use replay to slow the game down...

but in most situations (like the Mauer fair foul) they would have no way of knowing for sure whether they should “throw the flag”…they’re too removed from the action.

Another problem…if a close play results in a 3rd out, what do you do? Do you force both teams to play out each close play as if the runner was safe/the ball down the foul line was fair?

I generally support expanded replay, but it opens up questions that aren’t as pressing in football.

by PortlandYankee on Oct 23, 2009 8:50 PM EDT reply actions

I prefer the element of human error

The current system of using instant replay for homerun calls is fine. If it extends beyond that, how far is it going to go? RFID chips in baseballs? Proximity sensors in the base bags? It could spell the end of the always-entertaining future Bobby Cox/Lou Pinella blow-ups and ejections. Might as well get rid of all the umps altogether.

by Scooby Snacks on Oct 23, 2009 9:26 PM EDT reply actions

I agree 100%.

by Ooofa on Oct 23, 2009 9:50 PM EDT up reply actions

wait

it’s not like umps allow for much arguing anymore nowadays. take a look at the old footage of Billy Martin and Earl Weaver. managers can’t do close to that kind of entertaining arguing today. they’d get tossed after 30 seconds. so that argument doesn’t hold any water with the strictness of modern umps.

by Travis G on Oct 25, 2009 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Transformers

Obama is a decepticon

by bostonblowsme1 on Oct 23, 2009 10:09 PM EDT reply actions

Totally just blew my mind and revolutionized my thinking about instant replay.

Every game, each manager gets 1 “Ask Obama” and Obama tells them what the correct call is.

Facial LaFleur, total facial.

by Lord Duggan on Oct 23, 2009 10:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Or "Ask G.W. Bush" and always invoke the opposite of his ruling.

by Scooby Snacks on Oct 23, 2009 10:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Or keep politics out of sports

I like this better.

I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks in batting practice. ~Casey Stengel, 1967

by tarheel_highlander on Oct 24, 2009 10:43 AM EDT up reply actions

The only time that I like the organic element calls that I like

is in balls vs. strikes. I don’t think that we should just use K-Zone to determine balls and strikes, because it removes the “good looking pitch” aspect.

In the current setup, more favorable calls are given to a batter if the pitcher hits the target, and the catcher does a good job of receiver/framing the pitch. That is to say, you are more likely to get a borderline call if you hit the glove, than if you miss your target, but still happen to put it near the corner.

This I think needs to be kept, because it rewards control and defensive catching ability.

Other than that, I fanposted on this subject before, and I think that there should be a definite use of replay on a lot of calls, with a definite penalty system. I would repeat my ideas, but laziness got the better of me.

Facial LaFleur, total facial.

by Lord Duggan on Oct 23, 2009 10:12 PM EDT reply actions

We need replay

When the technology is there it’s riduculous that in 2009 we still have games swung on bad calls. There need to be restrictions obviously. Managers should only get 1 challenge a game so they need to use it wisely. There needs to be a way for the umps to review the video without leaving the field so that it doesn’t take forever like it does with home run calls. But baseball needs it.

by Let's Talk About Tex Baby on Oct 24, 2009 12:17 AM EDT reply actions

personally I think Human error is part of baseball

It’s how it’s been done since the beginning. Yelling at the umps is half the fun.

by Topherr07 on Oct 24, 2009 3:57 AM EDT reply actions

Human Error...

… has been “part” of the game for years because there were many, many years that there was no choice— there was no way of reviewing the calls, so you had to either accept the call or another umpire could be consulted to change it. That was all that was available. For years we have had access to instant replay and it has been used to review umpiring, just not officially during a game. Now that we have it, shouldn’t it be used to get the calls right? Is it important to get the call right, or is it more important to keep the “human error” element?

Just think of how things in baseball were done “in the beginning” and how much has changed for the better. I would say to anyone who favors keeping the “human error” aspect in baseball, and there are a lot of baseball techno-phobes, you should never, ever, never-ever complain about bad calls, especially against your team because, well, “human error is part of the game”. It’s okay to get a call wrong or lots of calls wrong because “human error is part of the game”. If you don’t complain about bad calls already, and accept any call as “the call”, that’s great.

Let’s look at this realistically, though, okay? Instant replay will have a larger role in baseball games, someday. This might take a couple of years, a few years, heck a decade but it will happen. Maybe if we wait longer a better opportunity will present itself to incorporate it into the flow of a baseball game. There needs to be some sort of limits on using it because games are long enough and a certain number of fans have a problem with that.

Instant replay won’t be easy to assimilate into baseball games but it will be figured out, someday. Human error has been part of the game, and most of us have been unhappy about it. You have, I have, we all have, at one point or another in our baseball-following lives been affected by it.

The focus of the games probably should be the players, not the umpires, right?

by nettles9 on Oct 24, 2009 11:09 AM EDT up reply actions

“The focus of the games probably should be the players, not the umpires, right?” that is a great line. But to me part of the game is the umpires . And their bad calls. I’m sure that it will eventually move to a instant review of some sort, which will add another 10 minutes of boring tv to the middle of a game (like it has in football).

by Topherr07 on Oct 24, 2009 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Does It....

… get you mad when a bad call goes against your team? Do you get angry, curse the umpires, things of that nature?

by nettles9 on Oct 24, 2009 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions

We need a new poll

Who wants to get rid of the Fox pitch tracker during games? *raises hand

I’m for replay if it’s only during playoffs and only HR and fair/foul calls.

No balls/strikes, no tagging up plays, no “he was safe at first” plays.

I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks in batting practice. ~Casey Stengel, 1967

by tarheel_highlander on Oct 24, 2009 10:45 AM EDT reply actions

I agree, only in playoffs, no balls no strikes.
The discuss betwen managers & umpires(5, 10,or 15 minutes) it’s producing the same boring time, by the way, 99% of the cases haven’t the right solution.
Is better when the technology bring us the true.

by eugesports on Oct 24, 2009 1:11 PM EDT reply actions

Agree with

only using it in playoffs…for now. You can figure that during the course of a whole season the bad calls will probably be evened out among the various teams. But in the much shorter playoff period a bad call could well be the difference between a team winning or losing a game in the series. I wish Selig could be pulled into the 20th century even if he’s kicking and screaming. The man is an anachronism—-there are too many other good candidates for commissioner to keep him..

by erie on Oct 24, 2009 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions

I like it when...

…people say “we have the technology, we should use it.”

What, instant replay? Instant replay has been around since the late 1960s.
There has been thousands of bad calls in baseball since then and even in playoffs that may have cost teams series (1977 NLCS- Phillies v. Dodgers Game 3, 1985 World Series- Cardinals v. Royals Game 6 & 1996 ALCS-Orioles v. Yankees Game 1, come to mind).

To me, it’s the usual case of overreaction by the fans and the media. In some years nothing happens but since this year has been so bad, the cries are louder.

I got a novel solution: get better umpires!

by YankeeKnight on Oct 24, 2009 2:36 PM EDT reply actions

good to see that

the vast majority of fans (73%) support more video review. we’re making progress! (unfortunately, it’s taking God-awful umpiring to do it, but still, in the future, we’ll look back and thank these horrible umps.)

by Travis G on Oct 25, 2009 1:53 PM EDT reply actions