Video review.....in BASEBALL??...no WAY!

Ok, today during a meeting of MLB's GM's in Orlando FL, a vote was passed to "explore the use of video replay", in MLB. Oh, but ONLY for homerun's mind you.

Could these guys BE any more wrong-headed?

The only good thing about this is that it is a "non-binding" resolution. Meaning that not only will MLB not be implementing it, but also that Bud Selig has final say and does not have any obligation to consider the issue any further. And he should not. Video replay for making calls in baseball does not belong.

Look I get that sometimes an ump may be in the wrong position to make a call, (see Boston's Manny Ramirez's HR non-call during this year's ALCS for example number 1.) But that is part of the game. It is what makes baseball unique. The fractions of an inch, the minutiae of being able to make a call where a ball roughly less than 3 inches in diameter makes surface contact to determine whether the ball is "in play" or "out" is just all part of the game, and the ability or position of the ump is far more critical than some "eye in the sky" camera.

Baseball is a unique and wonderful sport. It is the ONLY sport to have the following:

The only sport where the "defense" actually starts with the ball and to score the "offense" must put the ball in play.

The only sport where time does not matter. (Ok, there is an actual rule that once a pitcher comes set, he has only 20 seconds to throw the ball before the ump can call an intentional balk on him. But other than that, there is NO clock in baseball.)

And the only major sport in America that does NOT use any type of video review replay to make a call by an official.

When the first televised baseball game was played, (a game in 1939 @ Ebbets field between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds), I am sure that even then the few thousand that watched the game thought the umps blew a call that they were SURE they saw on their 2-dimensional TV sets. But since about the early 1970's when TV baseball broadcasts started incorporating replay during the inning changes, more often than not what those replays showed us was just how GOOD the umps really do call a game. Time after time, objective fans who would grouse about a bad call had to rescind their badmouthing when the TV replay actually proved that the ump had gotten the call right.

And that is the point. If the game of baseball was being severely hurt by rash after rash of very poor calls by the umps which had tremendous impact on the outcome of a game and led to a lot of GM's and or even player association complaints or even law suits, then yeah, MAYBE I could see using video replay to suspend disbelief and make the right call. But that is not, and has not ever, been the case. Like I mentioned in another article here, MLB is the ONLY sport where the officials are full time employees of the sport. And that makes MLB umps hone their craft to be very good professionals. By taking the time to train, re-educate and continue learning, MLB assures that it has the best officiating in all of professional sports.

And again, yes, a bad call will happen every now and then, but tell me what sport does NOT have one? Even those that currently employ video review. There are bad calls that change the outcomes of games in every pro sport. Regardless of whether video replay is used or not. But baseball being unique with regard to time and ball possession, does not need that extra incentive. The proof has been evident for quite some time as I noted before.

Baseball is not the most popular professional sport in America. It is not the most glamorous. It probably is at best 3rd in the nation among professional sports fans. Far behind the NFL, and the NBA. And it MIGHT even be less popular than college basketball and/or college football. But major league baseball is THE oldest professional sport in America. It dates back to pre-Civil War times and has seen the best and worst of America history. It is indelibly tied to the fabric of our history. And in keeping with that history, one of the tenets should be that in perpetuity all officiating will be made only by umps, and not dependent on technology. Because that, IMHO, is a very slippery slope. Why? Because where do you stop then? It might sound ridiculous right now, but if you start down the road of introducing technology to make call in baseball, it is NOT outside the realm of possibility that a home plate umpire would become obsolete. It is VERY technically possible to put a micro, passive transducer inside of a baseball that adds less than 1/1000th of an ounce to the weight and then using lasers or other mechanisms determine the exact location of a ball as it does, or does not cross the plate. And at what height and speed. But does anyone really want to watch that? If we go that far, should be not let MLB hitters use aluminum bats? Yes, there will always be some small types of technological changes in the game of baseball which will make it better. Solid core baseballs, instead of sawdust ones. The use of batting helmets, and other protective gear. Different turned wood bats with the ends that have been "scooped" out to lighten the bat and give more control. But even all of those advances were to improve the sport. Make it better. As I have pointed out, using video replay does not.

We owe it to ourselves to keep baseball as close to the original roots of the game as possible. Because of baseball's unique nature, and the way the game is played. And to keep a tie to our sports past.