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MLB Replay – Part II – It won’t disturb the game as we know it…

Two comments in last week’s announcement by MLB, about the implementation of expanded replay beginning this year, caught my attention.  The first, by MLB reporter Paul Hagan:
“The way baseball games are governed on the field changed dramatically Thursday.”
The very next statement by the commish, Bud Selig went like this:
“I’m proud of the changes we’ve made…because they won’t disturb the game as we know it.”
Hmm, pondering both of these statements made me think of that line in the Dire Straits song “Industrial Disease”, “two men say they’re Jesus, one of them must be wrong…” On the surface the first is about officiating, the second about the game itself, but you really can’t change one without affecting the other.  I touched upon the cost of this change as it might affect umpiring in my last blog entry and now I want to consider Selig’s statement.  “…won’t disturb the game as we know it.” 
The game as we know it?  You mean the uniquely American game we call our “national pastime?” Where the seemingly wronged manager argues passionately and quite possibly until his figurative death…because nothing is more deeply rooted in our founding fathers’ idealism than a healthy mistrust of a single authoritative figure with absolute power and nothing is more American than getting in that last word, even at the expense of our own demise?    
Of course, the harsh reality is that for all of baseball’s history, there’s no finer example of tyrannical rule than that of a baseball umpire.  You see, as much as it is the American game, baseball has long employed freedom-of-speech, but without the aide of rule-of-law and due process, until now.  Starting in 2014, instead of rushing out of the dugout like it’s Lexington and Concord all over again, the calm, cool and collected skip will take a leisurely stroll to the crew-chief and rather than bring the ump’s mom into the conversation, will simply ask, “I’d like to go to the tape for that call and by the way, how’s the wife Tim?”
In the end, the managers will now have their say; “truth, justice and the American way” will prevail, like it’s supposed to.  This will make for a cleaner and more civilized game – one that I agree with – but you can’t say the game, “as we know it” won’t be “disturbed” Mr Selig.  That’s just marketing puffery.  A more honest statement would have pointed out that while it makes sense to use available technology to ensure game changing calls are correct, we have to accept that it does tinker with the game’s DNA and that’s a price we’re willing to accept.
Somewhere Earl Weaver is arguing with an angel and I don’t mean the Los-Anaheim-geles kind.

Next up will be Part III, the practical matter of how IR will be implemented.

Jim Tosches is an amateur umpire and blogger in Encinitas, Ca and author of the book, “The Rules Abide: The Thinking Fan’s Guide to Baseball Rules (With History, Humor and a Few Big Words)”

http://www.amazon.com/dp/149224175x

MLB Replay – Part I – A dramatic change to the way the game is officiated. Indeed!

MLB announced on Thursday that beginning with the 2014 season, they’re expanding the use of instant replay (IR) to include safe/out, catch/no catch and most other action around the diamond. There are too many tentacles to this story to address in one blog entry so I will start with the first statement in yesterday’s announcement on mlb.com, made by reporter Paul Hagan:

 “The way baseball games are governed on the field changed dramatically Thursday…”

Look, ask any umpire, professional or amateur, and they will tell you all they want is to get the call right. IR is a tool that will help do that so what’s the big deal? The NFL’s use of IR has been a great success by any measure, but in baseball, the word “judgment” as in “umpire judgment” carries a deeper meaning. There are calls all over the diamond where the umpires use their discretion, based on the nature of the action, to dish out baseball justice that stays close to the inherent spirit or soul of the game. Let me give you an example. In last fall ’s MLB playoffs,
Torii Hunter of the Tigers tried to steal second before the pitch in an effort to catch the pitcher sleeping, but the A’s Bartolo Colon simply spun and threw to second for the seemingly easy out. The replay revealed however that the tag was a bit high and Hunter was technically safe.  The announcer said something to the effect, “I don’t care that the replay showed he was safe, that’s bad base running so I have to agree with the out call.”  

Joe Torre, Hall of Fame manager and Rules Committee chairman, made the statement at yesterday’s announcement “I’m not sure what price you want to pay for what the replay is going to be.  We’re going to start this way and if something has to be adjusted , we’ll certainly be aware of that.” Torre was speaking to the concern of pace-of-play and extended delays, but not about the type of play I described. How do fans feel about that? Or how about, let’s say, a great double-play turn by Dustin Pedroia following a diving stop by the third baseman, but it’s overturned because IR showed the Dustin’s toe was off the bag as he leaped and relayed a strike to first, all the while avoiding a hard take-out slide designed to kill him? Well, the IR committee did their homework and have made the “phantom” play at second base immune to video review, one of the exceptions (as well as obstruction and interference). While I applaud their effort to consider this kind of play, the exception is a bit of a fly in the ointment as many safe/out calls, too close for the naked eye to discern, can be toggled by the umpire based on the quality of the baseball play that preceded it, but could now be reversed.  “Ties” for example are mostly “outs” when following a nice stop and throw. Of course ties are like Santa Clause, they do and do not exist, but that will be a story for another day… 

Brave’s president and IR committee member John Shuerholz added at yesterday’s rollout, “This is historic and quite complex…everytime we peeled back one layer of the onion, we found more complexities.”  I’m not saying the benefit of IR is not the greater good, but it indeed comes with a cost to the way the game might be officiated in the future, beyond the obvious implications of potential delays and protocol issues.  Somewhere there might also be a baseball god shedding a tear from that onion peel.


Next up: Bud Selig “I’m proud of the changes we’ve made…because they will not disturb the game as we know it…”

Jim Tosches is an amateur umpire and blogger in Encinitas, Ca and author of the book, “The Rules Abide: The Thinking Fan’s Guide to Baseball Rules (With History, Humor and a Few Big Words)”

http://www.amazon.com/dp/149224175x