Major League Baseball made one of its biggest mistakes in 2003 when it began awarding home field advantage in the World Series to the team that won the All-Star game. Now, the MLB is on the verge of making another idiotic move.
On Tuesday Nov. 6, general managers approved a proposal to use instant replay on a limited basis. Approved by a 25-5 vote, the proposal is strictly “limited to boundary calls-whether potential home runs are fair or foul; whether balls go over fences or hit the tops and bounce back; and whether fans interfere with possible homers,” according to ESPN.com.
The purpose of instant replay is to improve the accuracy of the umpires and to make sure that wrong calls are avoided, thus giving a team an unfair advantage. If we have the technology, and we have willing participants in the MLB, then why wouldn’t there be instant replay in baseball?
After all, the three other major sports in the United States-NBA, NHL and the NFL-have at least some type of instant replay. The MLB, on the other hand, has no form of instant replay whatsoever.
Some people, including Commissioner Bud Selig, are opposed to the idea mainly because of the increase in delays that the system would cause. Games are continuing to increase in duration, proven by the third game of the World Series between the Rockies and Red Sox at Denver that lasted four hours and 19 minutes. Selig is opposed to dragging this time out any longer. Others, however, feel it would be worth getting the calls right.
I am completely against this proposal for three reasons. The first is that people already describe baseball as one of the most boring sports to watch. How would creating periods of action-free delay to review a call add any excitement to the sport?
Second, I feel that if this proposal is approved, it will be the gateway of further expansion of instant replay in baseball. We will start out only reviewing these few plays, but eventually it will spill over to other parts of the game.
If we’re going to spend the time and effort to review whether or not a fan helps a team win by interfering with homeruns, then why wouldn’t we go ahead and check to see if Matt Holiday touches home plate or if Jorge Orta was actually safe or out at first base?
This brings me to my third point: Bad calls are part of the game, and some of my favorite things about baseball. I love the controversy. Sometimes it works against my team, but not always. It adds that third element to the game: human error. I want to be able to love the umpires when they make a bad call that works in my favor and hate them when they make a bad call that works against me.
If instant replay is instituted and spills over to other aspects of the game like I believe it will, we might have seen the last of the legends. There will be no more Steve Bartmans and no more Jeff Maiers. These men and events naturally create controversy that is ingrained in the history of baseball that is fun to debate and talk about years after they happen.
The game has a rich history of tradition, curses and excitement created because of bad calls made by umpires. If this proposal becomes a rule, then MLB will lose more than it might gain.
The next step in this proposal is to wait for the commissioner to allow the staff in his office to create a more detailed proposal to submit to general managers next month at the annual winter meetings.
Then, the unions of both the players and umpires and possibly the owners must approve the proposal as well before it becomes a rule, which would most likely take place in the 2009 season.
