Sports Then and Now

Replay Will Cut Down On This.

The non-call at second base during Game One of the NLCS was another example of not using replays to make the right call.

Clearly Matt Holliday was past the bag, and he used a barrel roll into Marco Scutaro. Any competent umpire should have called runner interference, and ruled it a double play.

How could Rich Gedman be called for being out of the baseline (in 1988 ALCS) for what he did, when Holliday was past the bag when he started to slide?

He should have been ejected and banned from the next game.

One look at the replay and you could see he broke the rules. It was a dirty play. Umpires need to follow the rules, and then don’t.

If you looked at a replay you can tell in one look if he made the wrong call.

Just give each manager three chances a game to use instant replay.

If you get them all right, you can keep using them all game.

Each time a manager throws the red ball on the field he will be challenging a call. No need to argue, just toss the red ball and we all get to use instant replay.

The umpires will turn and everyone in the park will watch the big screen and in 10 seconds there will be four angles of the questionable play, and at the end of ten seconds the ball, glove, and player will be frozen on the screen.

The umpire will either raise his hand in an out signal or signal safe with both hands.

In ten seconds the umpire will have one chance to change his mind.

If he thinks he was right the first time, let him keep it, this will only change the really bad calls.

99% of the time if he missed the call you know it as soon as you see one second look.

If the umpire had one look at an instant replay he would have ejected Holliday, and called the double play.

Every sport needs to try to get every call right.

It never will work 100% of the time, but at least football tries with instant replay.

Baseball says it all has to do with tradition, but people are losing trust in the game when umpires have no accountability for their calls.

Instant replay will not take more time if you do it in an instant, and even if you only give each team three chances to change any call, you will be restoring integrity to a game that really needs it restored.

Baseball needs to show every replay in every park like they do in every other sport.

Why does it matter if they show replays inside a park?

Why would it matter if the pitch trax was shown for every pitch?

The only way to make it better is to show how bad it is right now.

If these calls were shown to everyone inside the park, there is no way an umpire would call them like this:

These first two pitches, called strikes by umpire Rob Drake to Robinson Cano, were a disgrace to the integrity of the game.

Cano was forced to swing at a pitch six inches of the plate, because the first two which were both further outside were called strikes. Baseball needs to hold their umpires accountable for their actions.

This post season has been littered with bad calls put them all together and here is what you find.

Wally Bell’s strikeout call of Josh Reddick Game 5 with Justin Verlander pitching:

Three strikes called, not one over the plate.

How can you call yourself a MLB umpire when you miss 17 pitches that were outside the strikezone to left handed batters in a Game Five ALDS like Wally Bell?:

Out of 46 pitches that were close to six inches from the plate Bell had a USS (Umpire Strikezone Score) .630. Not something to be proud of.

After the Omar Infante / Robinson Cano tag mishap at second base on Sunday night, baseball’s Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations (Joe Torre) had this to say, “we haven’t really come to any conclusion on what’s the best way to go about it and not make the game drag and go longer than they are going already.”

This isn’t rocket science Joe. We don’t need more cameras.

All baseball needs to do is take ten seconds and watch a replay with everyone else in the park.

Put it on the big screen. Let the umpires turn and look at each play again.