Armchair Talking Head

Instituting an instant replay process in Major League Baseball is all the rage as of late.  Several botched home run calls, and the media are shitting their collective pants.  There are two schools of thought here.

One in opposition to replay arguing that baseball has been played since the 1800’s.  Why would we need replay now?  The other being in favor citing that when we have the ability to get almost every call correct, why wouldn’t we?

Well, if you expect to carry into the future, as with anything, you must adapt with new technologies in order to remain relevant.  Basketball, and football have done it while maintaining the integrity of the game. Frankly, in this day and age where we have video cameras spied on every square inch of a ball park, the thought of a home run call being botched is ridiculous.  However, we tread on dangerous ground if instant replay permeates every facet of the game.  I can see the use of instant replay being useful in home run calls, and perhaps game altering safe/out calls like Matt Holliday’s slide in the NLCS last year, but in reality why is a run in the 9th inning any more important than a run in the 3rd?  That argument just doesn’t fly.  It goes without saying that an implementation of replay in determining balls and strikes is out of the question, and to review every disputed base call would take an already excruciatingly long game to unwatchable.

The vast majority of home run calls are correctly made, especially after a conference between the entire crew.  The recent uproar of support for instant replay is a prime example of the rampant media sensationalism that I love to hate.  I’m willing to offer up the occasional botched call rather than heading down the slippery slope of instant replay that would make an already long game longer and turn America’s past time into Big Brother: MLB.

And as Rick Morrissey points out (via SbB), we’d all rather see an Ozzie Guillen or Lou Piniella explode in an Ump’s face rather than lightly tossing a red flag onto the field.