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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > October > 21
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Time for umpire challenges in baseball
When I lost a good portion of my vision a few years ago, a few helpful folks suggested, “Now you can be an umpire.”
And judging by what I’ve seen so far in the playoffs this year, maybe they’re right. The umpires so far have missed more calls than a teenager with their cell phones turned off.
Don’t get me wrong. I love umpires and some are good friends - like former umpire Bruce Froemming, who is now a major league umpire supervisor who watches games and grades the work of umpires, and Randy Marsh, who lives across the Ohio River from Great American Ball Park.
The job is tough, almost impossible. But these guys get it right - most of the time. I can’t count the number of times I’ve sat in the press box and watched a play with my naked eyes and said, “He missed that one.” Then I watched replays and realized, “He got it right.”
When the NFL and NCAA put in replay challenges, I thought it was an awful idea. But now that I’ve watched it a few years, I believe it is a great tool.
Isn’t the idea to get it right? And with the amazing technology available, why not use it?
Which brings me to baseball. It’s time for replay challenges, especially after watching about 10 incorrect calls so far in this postseason, including two missed calls Tuesday by umpire Tim McClelland in the ALCS involving the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Tim McClelland is a crew chief and an excellent umpire, but he blew two easy calls in one game Tuesday, plays that could have been called right if replay was used.
Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker is against replay and says, “It takes the human element out of the game and the human element is a big part of our game.”
Maybe so, but isn’t getting a call right more important, especially when it might decide the outcome of a game?
I never thought I’d ever say this, but the time is now for replay to be available. My proposal would to be give managers three challenges a game on every umpire’s call except balls and strikes. If a manager believes an umpire missed a call, he tosses a red hankie onto the field.
All this would require would be a fifth umpire seated in the pressbox with instant replay in front of him. Yes, baseball games already are too long, but what’s another ten minutes if it means getting a call right?
And if a game goes into extra innings, the replay calls are in the hands of the fifth umpire - he would review any close call and if it shows the call was missed, he reverses it.
Before technology in sports television became so sophisticated that if the catcher has a mole on his left check it is visible in your media room, they didn’t use enough close-ups and isolated cameras to show if a call was right or wrong.
And not so long ago, the home team was told not to show close plays or controversial plays on their scoreboards. But in recent years, that isn’t the case and all close plays are shown on the board, sometimes to the embarrassment of umpires, who have no access to replays. They see the play unfold and make a quick decision - usually getting it right. Usually.
Somewhere down the line, when an umpire makes a wrong call that costs the home team a game and it is shown on the scoreboard, they’ll have a European soccer riot on their hands.
So I say, with a heavy heart, install replay challenges.
Any of you have a better idea as far as different replay challenge systems? Or do you like it the way it is, permitting mistakes by umpires to possibly determine the outcome of an important game?
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