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May 25, 2008

Every Given Sunday

Under Review

by John Perrotto

It was not a good week to be one of the men in blue. Umpiring in the major leagues is a thankless job, with the only recognition coming when there is a blown call. The umpires have been getting recognized quite a bit lately, as there were four instances this past week in which the wrong call was made on a potential home run.

It started last Sunday, when the Mets’ Carlos Delgado hit an opposite-field shot that bounced off the left-field foul pole at Yankee Stadium for an apparent three-run homer; however, the ball was ruled foul. A night later, the Cubs’ Geovany Soto hit what appeared to be a home run to left-center at Minute Maid Park, as the ball hit the yellow line above the fence. The umpires ruled it in play, though the slow-footed catcher wound up with an inside-the-park homer anyway. Back at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night, the umps missed another call when the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez hit a ball that bounced off a railing beyond the right center field fence and back on the field; the umps incorrectly ruled it a double. And on Friday night, it happened yet again, this time at Progressive Field, when the Indians’ Ben Francisco hit a blast that hit the yellow line above the left-field wall for what should have been a home run; instead, the arbiters ruled it a double.

Not surprisingly, there has been a groundswell of people calling for Major League Baseball to adopt instant replay, following the lead of the NFL, NBA, and NHL. Replay proponents, at the least, want the umpires to be able to review videotape involving home runs. General managers voted 25-5 in favor of replay at their yearly meetings last November.

However, Commissioner Bud Selig has admittedly never been a big fan of the concept. "The commissioner calls instant replay umpires getting together and trying to get the call right," said Bob Watson, MLB vice president of standards and on-field operations. "That is instant replay in his estimation." But when Selig was a guest on XM Radio’s The Baseball Beat on Friday, he told host Charley Steiner that he is at least willing to consider replay. "Everybody knows how I think about these issues," Selig said. "I really am a traditionalist because I think it is right to understand the history of this sport, to be very careful anytime you make a change. But I am very seriously reviewing this entire matter, and I’ll take it from there. I can’t say any more now, because I don’t know how it is going to come out."

As the GM vote suggests, most people in the game are already in favor of limited instant replay. "I think it can be a win-win situation if everyone ends up voting for it," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "I would be in favor of it because some of the calls--fair or foul, or contact calls [in or out of the park]--are tough for umpires to make."