2008 Woodie Awards
Is baseball the purest sport? It might not be next year
Zack Lessentien
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Sports
Baseball is thinking about changing its ways. On Tuesday, the general managers met to hold a vote on the issue of instant replay in baseball. They voted 25-5 on the proposal. Granted it is just a proposal right now. But baseball is the last pure mainstream sport, and it might be falling in with the masses very soon.
The proposal was limited to boundary calls, like whether potential home runs are fair or foul, whether balls go over fences or hit the tops and bounce back and whether fans interfere with possible homers. It is a good thing that they are only applying it to certain things, unlike the NFL, which now has replays for every call except penalties.
On one hand the correct call would be made, but on the other hand it takes something away from the game. It takes away human error, which sort of makes the game a little more interesting and brings a lot more drama to the game. Just imagine no more arguments between coaches and the umpires, now they can just walk up nice and calm and ask the umpire to review the call. I could not imagine a world without Sweet Lou kicking dirt at the umpires or Ozzie swearing at the umpires in Spanish. Another bad reason to have replay is it drags the game on and makes it longer. MLB has recently been trying to cut down game ties and they propose a plan that would probably add on another 30 minutes to the game. To combat the issue of time they were considering limiting when a hitter could step out of the batter's box between pitches, restricting the number of times a player could visit the mound, and limiting the number of players allowed to visit the mound. I am not to sure, but I think there are already rules like that in place. They have always tried to make new rules to manage game times, but they always seem to not work. If anything, replay will just cause more problems.
Nothing is for sure, but the next step in trying to pass this proposal would be presenting to Commissioner Bud Selig. Selig has been opposed to replays in the game ever since he took over. But as of last month, he said that the general managers could investigate the issue. If it is approved by Selig, then Jimmie Lee Solomon, executive vice president for baseball operations in the commissioner's office, baseball would draft an official replay proposal and then let the GM's vote on it at the winter meetings later next month. Of course then it would have to get passed by both the player and umpire unions. If the plan does not get passed in time for the regular season, they will implement it in the playoffs. You have to be kidding me; why would you implement a new system during the biggest event of the game? That is ridiculous.
This whole thing is a terrible idea. Please baseball, I am begging you not to tamper with the game I love. If you add replay then you are changing the way the game is suppose to be played.
The proposal was limited to boundary calls, like whether potential home runs are fair or foul, whether balls go over fences or hit the tops and bounce back and whether fans interfere with possible homers. It is a good thing that they are only applying it to certain things, unlike the NFL, which now has replays for every call except penalties.
On one hand the correct call would be made, but on the other hand it takes something away from the game. It takes away human error, which sort of makes the game a little more interesting and brings a lot more drama to the game. Just imagine no more arguments between coaches and the umpires, now they can just walk up nice and calm and ask the umpire to review the call. I could not imagine a world without Sweet Lou kicking dirt at the umpires or Ozzie swearing at the umpires in Spanish. Another bad reason to have replay is it drags the game on and makes it longer. MLB has recently been trying to cut down game ties and they propose a plan that would probably add on another 30 minutes to the game. To combat the issue of time they were considering limiting when a hitter could step out of the batter's box between pitches, restricting the number of times a player could visit the mound, and limiting the number of players allowed to visit the mound. I am not to sure, but I think there are already rules like that in place. They have always tried to make new rules to manage game times, but they always seem to not work. If anything, replay will just cause more problems.
Nothing is for sure, but the next step in trying to pass this proposal would be presenting to Commissioner Bud Selig. Selig has been opposed to replays in the game ever since he took over. But as of last month, he said that the general managers could investigate the issue. If it is approved by Selig, then Jimmie Lee Solomon, executive vice president for baseball operations in the commissioner's office, baseball would draft an official replay proposal and then let the GM's vote on it at the winter meetings later next month. Of course then it would have to get passed by both the player and umpire unions. If the plan does not get passed in time for the regular season, they will implement it in the playoffs. You have to be kidding me; why would you implement a new system during the biggest event of the game? That is ridiculous.
This whole thing is a terrible idea. Please baseball, I am begging you not to tamper with the game I love. If you add replay then you are changing the way the game is suppose to be played.
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