Mark_Concannon's Blog

I like instant replay being used in sports officiating, always have. There are many who believe using replay, removing the human element from refereering is the fall of civilization. I don't agree. And most officials don't either. The really good refs just want to get it right considering the high stakes on the line for every professional sports contest.

So hurray for Major League Baseball finally joining the electronic arbiter generation. But while I am a fan of replay, I am equally fanatic about replay being used the right way. And what MLB is implementing could be problematic. Replay for baseball will be used solely on homerun calls. Not enough. There are several blown calls on bang bang plays at first base that could easily be overturned. Don Denkinger's famous blunder on Jorge Orta at first base opened the door for the Royals to win the 1985 World Series. Should have never happened. Also, only umpire crew chiefs can call for replay. Since the men in blue don't want to embarrass each other, how often do you think this will happen? Not as often as if the team managers had the choice. Baseball should allow each manager one call for replay for each game. If the manager is correct on that first call, he should be allowed another call. 

When using replay, MLB will feed video to a separate location where the umpires will congregate to make their ruling. This could mean umpires leaving the field for awhile. How disconcerting and irritating for the stadium crowd. Baseball already has an official scorer who is a very knowledgeable individual. Why not let the scorer look at the video in the press box and make the ruling? This would take less time, and shortening the length of games has been a major priority for the sport.

I applaud commissioner Selig for moving baseball into the 21st century. But he needs to tweak this replay format a bit to make it more efficient and palatable for fans.