Posted Under: Johanna's View
Bruce Weber writes just a brilliant piece arguing against expanded instant replay. The gist is not the intrusion into the sport replay might cause- rather it is that baseball is imperfect, and that allows for great debate and fun of arguing for or against any one moment. And he is right. We spend so much time on statistics, even creating new ones, just so we can try to measure something that is nearly immeasurable.
Which will you remember longer- assuming you watched all three- Dallas Braden’s perfect game, Roy Halliday’s or Armando Galerraga’s? The first might be remembered because he had a dust up with Alex Rodriguez the week before. The second, because he is arguably - note the word arguably- the best pitcher in baseball. The last one though was the perfect game that wasn’t.
And the sportsmanship we saw the day after that game was what sports are truly all about.
Yes, instant replay will allow the calls to be correct. But what comes out of being right all the time?
Reader Comments
I have been against instant relay in baseball but have now swung over. Count me in. The current group of umpires (not Jim Joyce) are mostly blowhards with bad attitudes. They need to have some sort of accountability over their heads. Right now,if they make a horrible mistake or bait a player/manager nothing happens. With a replay system some measure of accountability on calls could be created. Copy the NHL system with a war room in NY that could overturn any call except balls and strikes. They would control whether a replay is being done and have 2 minutes to make a call. It wouldn’t slow down the game any more than some of the ridiculous pitchers that we have now. Also start enforcing the time between pitches rule!!