Instant replay in baseball: has its pros and cons

Baseball Digest, August, 2008 by John Kuenster

HIS YOUNGER DAYS, JOCKO CONLAN, THE LATE HALL OF FAME UMPIRE, WAS A popular after-dinner speaker at various sporting functions in the Chicago area. And, occasionally, he would amuse his audience with a favorite story about the difficulty of making the right call on the field.

His story went something like this:

"The count was one ball and one strike on the batter. The next pitch comes in, appears to shave the corner of the plate, and the umpire shouts 'Two!' The batter says, 'Two, what?'

"The umpire says, 'Too close to call.'"

Conlan's fabricated yarn reminds us that sometimes making the correct call in a baseball game isn't all that easy. His story is resurrected here because early this season several inaccurate home run calls renewed the debate about instant replay and whether or not it should be employed in the majors to ensure complete accuracy.

Continued replays of the calls on television had to leave viewers wondering why major league baseball doesn't get off its collective butt and do something to eliminate such embarrassments.

In an interleague game on May 18 between the Yankees and Mets at Yankee Stadium, Carlos Delgado hit a deep drive to left field in the fourth inning with two runners on base.

Initially, Delgado's drive was ruled fair by third base umpire Mike Reilly, resulting in a three-run homer. Plate umpire Bob Davidson overruled Reilly and called it foul. Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter had protested that the ball was foul. Instant replay would have shown that the ball struck the foul pole and thus was a legitimate home run. Davidson admitted his error after the game.

The botched umpiring decision had no effect on the outcome of the game, won by the Mets, 11-2. However, it riled proponents of instant replay who pay no heed to the human element of the game.

The following night, on May 19 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Cubs catcher Geovany Soto slammed a long shot to left-center field. As the ball ricocheted off the wall and away from the fielders, it was ruled to be in play and Soto raced around the bases like mad for an inside-the-park homer.

Geovany could've rested his legs and jogged leisurely around the bases because the spot where the ball hit made it an actual home run according to the ground rules of the park. Other than forcing Geovany to pant as he raced for home, the umpiring mistake caused no harm.

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In the Soto case, instant replay would only have been useful if the Cubs catcher was tagged out on a throw from the outfield before he reached home.

Umpire Joe West said he lost sight of the ball which is why it was ruled in play after it hit above and to the right of an L-shaped yellow line on the left-center field wall.

On May 21, in a game with the Orioles at Yankee Stadium, Alex Rodriguez was deprived of a home run that was ruled in play although it had cleared the fence in right-center field. The ball hit a yellow-painted staircase and bounced back on the field. A-Rod slid into second base safely not knowing that the umpires failed to have a good read on the ball.

Once again, the umpiring mistake failed to have any effect on the game, won by the Yankees, 8-0. It only robbed A-Rod of another homer.

Much more common, however, are poor ball-and-strike calls that can have a serious bearing on the outcome of a game, calls that can give the edge either to the batter or pitcher in crucial moments of play.

On the night of May 20, in a game between the Indians and White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, Joe Crede was ejected in the fourth inning by plate umpire Wally Bell for angrily disputing Bell's judgment. A low-key type of player who seldom shows his emotions, Crede was incensed by a called third strike by Bell.

The pitch was thrown by left-hander C.C. Sabathia and replays on television showed the ball was about a foot outside the plate. No wonder Crede lost his cool, resulting in only the third ejection of his six-year career. He had already displayed his disdain on a called third strike by Bell in the second inning on an inside pitch that Crede also thought was a ball.

Cynics might contend that Bell was merely showing Crede who was boss after the White Sox third baseman challenged his vision in the second inning, so he called him out on what he himself knew was a ball in the fourth inning. Use of' instant replay, of course, would negate such an imagined, unprofessional reaction.

Even if that get-even scenario had occurred, it would be a notable exception to the way major league umpires operate and not a reason for an umpire-in-chief to go running to the camera for a second look.

All of which brings to mind an observation by the late umpire baiter, Leo Durocher. "I never questioned the integrity of an umpire," said Leo. "His eyesight, yes."

So, let it be said umpires do make mistakes, but not so many as to justify critics demanding the use of instant replay. By and large, the umps do a good job calling plays, even though there are times when they are caught out of position or their working strike zone doesn't match up with the one assumed by the batter or pitcher.