MLB To Use Replay

[LEWJ]

From ESPN:

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball reversed its long-standing opposition to instant replay and will allow umpires to check video on home run calls in series that start Thursday.

Commissioner Bud Selig was scheduled to make the announcement at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Three series are scheduled to start Thursday, with Philadelphia at the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota at Oakland and Texas at the Los Angeles Angels. For other games, replays will be available to umpires starting Friday.

The start date comes nearly 10 months after general managers voted 25-5 to use the technology and following MLB agreements with the unions for umpires and for players.

For now, video will be used only on so-called "boundary calls," such as determining whether fly balls went over the fence or whether potential home runs were fair or foul.

Video will be collected at the office of Major League Baseball Advanced Media in New York. If the crew chief at a game decides replay needs to be checked, umpires will leave the field, technicians at MLBAM will show umpires the video and the crew chief will make the call.

Baseball had been the last holdout among the major professional sports in the United States. Replays were first used in the NFL in 1986.

In the NHL, video review has been in place since the 1991-92 season to check whether the puck crossed the goal line completely, went in before time expired or the net was dislodged and wasn't kicked or batted in intentionally.

In the NBA, replays have been viewed since the 2002-3 season to decide whether players got off shots before time expired and since last season to aid decisions following altercations and flagrant fouls. In Grand Slam tennis tournaments, a Hawk-Eye system has been used to decide close line calls since the 2006 U.S. Open.

International soccer has refused to embrace aiding referees, with FIFA's International Board voting last March to stop all experiments with technology that could determine whether balls cross goal lines.

Information from ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney and The Associated Press was used in this report.

Discuss.

[TFoA]

About damn time.

[averyj]

Agreed.

Huh, I wonder who the 5 managers who voted against replay were? Probably the 5 oldest.

[BaltimoreFan]

Its about 12 years too late.

[KevinMcD]

Its about 12 years too late.

I bet Steinbrunner voted against the replay. Damn Jeffrey Maier.

[See Red]

Its about 12 years too late.

I bet Steinbrunner voted against the replay. Damn Jeffrey Maier.

Eh, the O's lost that series 4-1... the Yanks were just better.

[TFoA]

lol @ the Jeremy Maier incident. That is probably the one moment that turned me into a Yankee hater. Not only because of what happened, but because of the fact that the out-and-out cheating was REWARDED! I think the city of New York did everything but give the kid the key to the city, and it was so obviously illegal what the kid did!

[See Red]

lol @ the Jeremy Maier incident. That is probably the one moment that turned me into a Yankee hater. Not only because of what happened, but because of the fact that the out-and-out cheating was REWARDED! I think the city of New York did everything but give the kid the key to the city, and it was so obviously illegal what the kid did!

I'm fairly certain they did give him a key to the city. That's what bugs me about it -- fan interference and missed calls happen, but they turned the kid into a celebrity (he even appeared on Letterman) for doing it, and that's my point of contention.

edit: And I changed my mind, Baltimore won game two, so they could've been looking at a 2-0 series lead -- the O's got screwed.

[Eye]

I don't have a problem with MLB deciding to use replay, but why not do what they do for the World Series and have six umpires for every game? That seems to me like it would be the logical thing to do, and it would keep the "baseball purists" from complaining. An umpire down the left or right field line would certainly have a better view than the first or third base umpire.

[averyj]

I don't have a problem with MLB deciding to use replay, but why not do what they do for the World Series and have six umpires for every game? That seems to me like it would be the logical thing to do, and it would keep the "baseball purists" from complaining. An umpire down the left or right field line would certainly have a better view than the first or third base umpire.

Well, the the Jeffrey Maier incident happened during the postseason, even with the 2 extra umpires.

It's also an issue of cost-efficiency, it's gonna cost WAY more than having 4 at every game.

More umps, more money spent on salaries. Not to mention travel and other expenses.

[BaltimoreFan]

lol @ the Jeremy Maier incident. That is probably the one moment that turned me into a Yankee hater. Not only because of what happened, but because of the fact that the out-and-out cheating was REWARDED! I think the city of New York did everything but give the kid the key to the city, and it was so obviously illegal what the kid did!

Yea, I cant believe MLB didn't grant a protest. It was clear as day that the kid reached over the plate. It's a joke that its taken them this long to realize they need Instant Replay.

[infrared41]

I hate the whole idea. MLB umps are by far and away the most accurate officials in sports. Replay is not necessary. This is all because ESPN had a -fit over a couple of games they televised that had a bad HR call. I blame ESPN for this. Come to think of it I blame ESPN for everything... It won't be the end of the world as long as they limit it to HR calls.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I don't have an opinion on the replay itself, but I'm not a fan of changing the rules of a game in the middle of a season.

[KevinMcD]

Its about 12 years too late.

I bet Steinbrunner voted against the replay. Damn Jeffrey Maier.

Eh, the O's lost that series 4-1... the Yanks were just better.

The Orioles would have gone back to Baltimore up 2-0, i doubt they would lose the series after that.

EDIT: My bad, I saw you changed you mind, for the same reason I mentioned.

[EatSleepJeep]

I like it. Get it right.

[Jigga]

I like it. Get it right.

I'm normally of this mindset...I love instant replay. It's inefficient as hell for the most part, but I'd rather they get the call right. However, I'm with Gitlin on this one. You don't change the rules during the season. That's just horrible. Either save it for the post-season, or just start it in 2009. The games during that week that had those 7 blown HR/foul ball calls are worth the same as the games beginning tomorrow, so if they didn't have instant replay then, they shouldn't have it at all this season. Leave to Bud & the boys to make a bad call in the only way possible.

[EatSleepJeep]

It still takes a certain amount of humility to say, we gotta do this now or later so let's do it now and get it done and out of the way. It will be in place and hopefully de-bugged for the post season and I'm Ok with that. Now i just need the Twins to GET to the post season...

[Hat Boy]

You don't change the rules during the season.

They are not exactly changing the rules, they are chaning the manner in which the game is officiated. It stinks for those teams that got screwed by bad calls earlier in the year, but I think the ultimate goal should be to get it right from here on out.

[BBTV]

You don't change the rules during the season.

They are not exactly changing the rules, they are chaning the manner in which the game is officiated. It stinks for those teams that got screwed by bad calls earlier in the year, but I think the ultimate goal should be to get it right from here on out.

Agreed. Frankly, I think it's absurd that other calls aren't reviewable, and I hope that next season the replay system is expanded to cover all close plays (provided they could do it in a way that doesn't slow the game down even more.)

Honestly, MLB umpires are the biggest babies of any pro sports officiating team. They won't even allow replays of pitches, or close plays to be shown on the big screens during games because they're afraid of looking like fools.

[slapshot]

You don't change the rules during the season.

They are not exactly changing the rules, they are chaning the manner in which the game is officiated. It stinks for those teams that got screwed by bad calls earlier in the year, but I think the ultimate goal should be to get it right from here on out.

Agreed. Frankly, I think it's absurd that other calls aren't reviewable, and I hope that next season the replay system is expanded to cover all close plays (provided they could do it in a way that doesn't slow the game down even more.)

Honestly, MLB umpires are the biggest babies of any pro sports officiating team. They won't even allow replays of pitches, or close plays to be shown on the big screens during games because they're afraid of looking like fools.

Baseball is also the only major sport that requires its officials to make split-second decisions without the benefit of replay to overturn them. Anyone can be second-guessed when viewing a slow-motion replay from a different angle. But you try it and see what your percentage is on getting it right the first time. I've been working as a baseball umpire for over 15 years and it's not as easy as armchair fans think it is.