Taking a cue from tennis on fairfoul calls

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Following Sunday's blown call in the A's-Giants season finale, there was no shortage of folks clamoring for Major League Baseball to expand its replay rules to include fairfoul calls. There are two problems with this.First, MLB already did approve expansion of replay prior to this season -- not only to include fairfoul but also whether a caught ball was trapped or caught. Unfortunately, the expansion has not been implemented as yet (much to the delight of Johan Santana) because MLB is still ironing out the fine points with the umpires union.The other problem -- at least as pertaining to fairfoul -- is replay isn't the always best option. It wasn't on the shot Seth Smith sent down the right field line on Sunday. Replay in such an instance would have stalled the game, then, assuming the call was changed to fair, resulted in an argument over how far the runners that were on base should be permitted to advance.Here's a better and dare I say, much more 21st century idea. Why doesn't baseball steal a page from tennis and put a sensor in the 1st and 3rd base bags that traverses the foul lines all the way to the outfield wall? If a ball hits the line, the sensor is tripped and a beep sound is emitted for all to hear. This would leave no doubt that the ball was fair and allow the play to continue unobstructed without a stoppage for replay and an argument over advancing the runners.This idea doesn't fix everything. Obviously an umpire will still have to make a call if the ball lands on either side of the line -- but that should be a fairly easy call to make.And replay will still be beneficial for home runs that leave the yard near a foul poll as well as balls that travel over the bag and land in foul territory.Nonetheless, introducing a sensor on the foul lines would certainly alleviate a large percentage of the fairfoul calls, which would mean fewer in-game delays to check the replay system that MLB has already approved and will be instituting in the near future.

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