Baseball, due to its refusal to expand instant replay, is headed for more controversy this postseason. And the sport’s powers-that-be, led by commissioner Bud Selig, have no one but themselves to blame.
This is the 21st century. The technology is available to correct calls, and correct them quickly. Yet baseball prefers to risk the outcomes of games, subject its umpires to embarrassment and allow critics to attack its credibility . . . I will not feel sorry for the sport when some blown call occurs in Game 3 of the World Series and the play is shown to death--not just on all-sports networks but also all-news channels--turning off even casual fans.
Best part, though: embedded in the article is a video of Tim McCarver, who disagrees about replay. Rosenthal is the on-the-field reporter for FOX broadcasts. If we get the Armando Galarraga play, part deux, I would hope that FOX lets the two of them have it out over this rather than force Rosenthal to stay silent while McCarver talks about how hard it is to be an umpire and “bang bang plays” and all of that nonsense.
And just for the record -- because these posts always lead to big replay argument comment threads and I end up having to argue against challenge flags and such -- I favor an umpire up in the booth -- not some video tech, but a bona fide umpire -- with video monitors and a two-way radio who can call down to the crew chief and say “yo -- call time out; you kicked the s--- out of that call.” In effect, making it work just like an on-field umpire confab in terms of speed and efficiency.
