My guess to the anonymous source? Something tells me it wasn’t Derek Jeter.

Round up the Orioles, Yankees and Braves of 1996. It's time to replay more then a instant. It's gonna be a pleasure seeing Cal Ripken on the field again, Bernie Williams back in pinstripes, and the trinity of Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine back together.

Wow, that was quick. Are there any rules set on how many challenges/reviews/however they're doing it can occur in a game?

They should just strap a camera to A.J. Pierzynski's head.

I heard about this from my support guy last night. They just upgraded Gameday yesterday to support replay codes.

This is just ridiculous. It's been covered many times, but since the technology has existed for decades, why would you not implement this at the start of a season?

I really don't know the answer why, but there must be something MLB stands to gain by introducing it during the pennant races when it will be of secondary importance, rather than have it debated all throughout spring training.

Paging Lassus...please report to this thread, Lassus....

I really don't know the answer why, but there must be something MLB stands to gain by introducing it during the pennant races when it will be of secondary importance, rather than have it debated all throughout spring training.

They want to use it during the playoffs this year and they want to work out the kinks for a month?

They want to use it during the playoffs this year and they want to work out the kinks for a month?

exactly.

Wow, that was quick. Are there any rules set on how many challenges/reviews/however they're doing it can occur in a game?

From TFA:

Video from all broadcast feeds will be collected at the office of Major League Baseball Advanced Media in New York, where it will be monitored by a technician and either an umpire supervisor or a retired umpire. If the crew chief at a game decides replay needs to be checked, umpires will leave the field, technicians at MLBAM will show umpires the video and the crew chief will make the call, overturning the original decision only if there is “clear and convincing evidence.”

Leaving the dugout to argue a call following a replay will result in an automatic ejection.

For now -

- Only the crew chief can decide to review a play. The managers/other umpires/MLBAM office have no say as to whether or not a play will be reviewed.

- Only home run calls may be reviewed, but anything about a home run (fan interference, in play/out of play, fair/foul) can be subject to review, should the crew chief so desire.

Leaving the dugout to argue a call following a replay will result in an automatic ejection.

Bobby Cox will try this out a few times just to be sure. He's been getting board with the old ways of being ejected anyway, he got tossed a while back for arguing about the lights being turned on and he never even left the dugout. He's on another level.

They want to use it during the playoffs this year

Right, but what is so important about getting it done for this year's playoffs? There's been this whole thrust of immediacy about replay when there haven't been any changes in the objective conditions for its use in twenty years.

Something on the umpires, a perceived window, what? Why can't they simply announce that it will be introduced starting April 1 2009? I know this kind of thing is a league policy and not open to public debates, but I always question when things are rushed.

Right, but what is so important about getting it done for this year's playoffs?

Because the small possibility of a blown HR call deciding a postseason series is completely and understandably unacceptable, when they can have a system to prevent it.

By "system" do you mean technology or what they are implementing now? If its technology, that's existed for a while, and if it what they're implementing now, you can't really claim that people would be crying that you didn't implement something that didn't exist.

I really am curious, was there something that was adopted between March and now that makes an in-season move more explicable than having it at the start of '08 or '09? Otherwise, I see the primary motivation being to introduce it at a time when it will provoke the least debate.

Leaving the dugout to argue a call following a replay will result in an automatic ejection.

I can't wait for the first time a Manager comes out to a ump intending to do a double switch after a home run and gets thrown out because the Ump thinks he's going to argue the call. You know that someone will at the very least use that as an excuse.


BTW, weird thing about this is that it will be in the Highest Level of Baseball (MLB) and the Lowest (Little League WS, okay, there are lower, but you get the idea), but nowhere in between.

It was just announced on the CBS radio hourly newscast, and guess who they talked to for reaction? None other than John Sterling, who -- more than any other announcer -- is infamous for not getting home runs right.

Paging Lassus...please report to this thread, Lassus....

Mark Donelson, I refer you to John Banner.

Doesn't this seem like a pretty good compromise? The umps can go to the televised replay if they're unsure of what the proper call should be. It leaves the umpires wholly in charge, which is what they really wanted, and makes it unlikely that there will be an egregiously bad call, which is what the fans want.

I've never been a proponent of replay, but I am kind of hoping that it's actually in place and running before the thread about the umpires refusing replay call thread leaves the hot topics column.

I heard about this from my support guy last night. They just upgraded Gameday yesterday to support replay codes.

So would you say you knew something, but couldn't tell anyone about it?

They want to use it during the playoffs this year and they want to work out the kinks for a month?

Which is much wiser than implementing it in March and having an entire season to work out the kinks.

It was just announced on the CBS radio hourly newscast, and guess who they talked to for reaction? None other than John Sterling, who -- more than any other announcer -- is infamous for not getting home runs right.

Aaaand, the 2-2 pitch to Giambi - fly ball down the line in right, IT IS HIGH! IT IS FAR! IIIT IIIS... what is it? The umpires are gathering... now they're heading down to the dugout. I think they're going on strike. We might have to play the game without umpires. No, wait... I think they're checking the replay. This replay break is brought to you by Modell's. For all your sporting goods needs and your favorite Yankees merchandise, you gotta go to Mo's! Here come the umpires out of the dugout, and they're signaling... GONE! The Giambino! A solo shot deep to right for Jason Giambi, and the Yankees have reduced the Royals' lead to eleven!

It's absolutely shameful that MLB decided to do this pretty obviously because of that one weird week where umps blew like 3 or 4 calls.

It's absolutely shameful that MLB decided to do this pretty obviously because of that one weird week where umps blew like 3 or 4 calls.

i concur

This replay break is brought to you by Modell's. For all your sporting goods needs and your favorite Yankees merchandise, you gotta go to Mo's!

Instant Primey for pointing out something we all should have known will happen.

Who cares when they start it? It's not like they are making it 5 balls to get a walk now. They are adding a TV so an umpire can watch a replay, it's not that complicated.

From SI.com's article:

Detroit pitcher Kenny Rogers called the decision "a slap in the face of umpires that have been here for a long time" and said the decision might have been made because Alex Rodriguez lost a home run on a blown call May 21.

"It overshot the mark by far just because, what, in a Yankee game someone didn't get a homer? Please. It's happened thousands of times," Rogers said. "That's part of the game. It's the beauty of the game. Mistakes are made."

Rogers went on to slap the interviewer a few times, to illustrate what he meant.

It's not like they are making it 5 balls to get a walk now.

It is for Andre Ethier:

Ethier draws five-ball free pass

wrong thread

I wonder if Kenny Rogers likes being placed on waivers. I mean, it is part of the game. Mistakes happen (such as him not being dealt before the deadline).

Kenny, if you want to argue against the immediate enaction of instant replay, saying that blown home run calls happen thousands of time is not exactly the best arrow in your quiver.

The problem with the instant replay enaction and timing thereof isn't really about the merits of instant replay itself. It's just that MLB again looks painfully reactive instead of proactive. This is why MLB lost the steroids publicity war, and all the Shawn Merrimans and (arguably) Usain Bolts in the world won't keep MLB from being the media's and American public's favorite whipping boy on steroids. The NFL and Olympics were proactive in drug testing, MLB was reactive. The quality of the testing program enacted makes no difference. MLB's enaction of instant replay is similarly reactive to the one week where this issue was a hot button topic on sports radio nationwide.

The way this will inevitably play out is that, well before replay ever corrects a pivotal and clearly incorrect home run call in a playoff game, another pivotal and clearly incorrect non-home run-related call will surface (say, of the Don Denkinger or Matt Holliday variety), and the media will say, "So you have replay monitors on site, the umpires are allowed to look at them for home runs, but we can't let the umpires look at them to correct this obviously blown call ... why again?"

Why do it now?

Let's say that they didn't and announced that it would start next year. Then during the playoffs there was a bad call that cost someone a game, when the technology is sitting there, waiting to start being used.

The press would destroy MLB over that.

another pivotal and clearly incorrect non-home run-related call will surface (say, of the Don Denkinger or Matt Holliday variety)

I don't see how you could claim the Holliday call was "clearly incorrect" and should be overturned after watching some video.

If thats the kind of "replay" that will soon exist, all my fears will be correct.

More likely, something like a clearly foul ball being called fair will come up.

MLB's enaction of instant replay is similarly reactive to the one week where this issue was a hot button topic on sports radio nationwide.

Which week was this? I was out of the country for a couple weeks in July; were there a few blown home run calls or something?

The way this will inevitably play out is that, well before replay ever corrects a pivotal and clearly incorrect home run call in a playoff game, another pivotal and clearly incorrect non-home run-related call will surface (say, of the Don Denkinger or Matt Holliday variety), and the media will say, "So you have replay monitors on site, the umpires are allowed to look at them for home runs, but we can't let the umpires look at them to correct this obviously blown call ... why again?"

The genie is already out of the bottle here. It's only a matter of time before we have replay review on safe/out on the basepaths, trap/caught on fly balls, fair/foul on balls in play down the foul lines, and eventually on balls and strikes. Then games will routinely go over four hours as every single borderline call gets exhaustively reviewed, and the complaints will be about how long the games are. Then we'll probably end up with some sort of horrible "challenge" rule like the NFL has, all in the name of getting every single call "right".

all the ... (arguably) Usain Bolts in the world won't keep MLB from being the media's and American public's favorite whipping boy on steroids

The argument against Bolt being what, exactly? That he runs really, really fast? He doesn't exactly invoke images of Ben Johnson. Hell, he's not nearly as buff as Michael Johnson.

The NFL and Olympics were proactive in drug testing, MLB was reactive.

The NFL and Olympics were completely reactive in implementing drug testing. It's just that they were reactive a very long time ago. Lyle Alzado and all those East Germans are long gone. For that matter, East Germany is long gone.

It's only a matter of time before we have replay review on safe/out on the basepaths, trap/caught on fly balls, fair/foul on balls in play down the foul lines, and eventually on balls and strikes.

I wouldn't mind fair/foul down the lines so much, except that it only works if you train umps to call anything close fair. Play stops when the ball is called foul, and you can't unring that bell. This is why the NFL will review a "not down by contact" call, but not a "down by contact" call.

If you're going to do anything about balls and strikes, you'd want to just bite the bullet and automate it. Video review would be beyond stupid.

The other situations you mention would be utter disasters -- as often as not, watching the replay a dozen times will still leave you wondering about a safe/out or catch/trap call.

Maybe I'm in a minority here, but I much prefer having a speedy call that's "correct" 95% of the time, than a slow call that's "correct" 98% of the time. The pace of the game is important to me, more important than getting as many calls "right" as possible.

Maybe I'm in a minority here, but I much prefer having a speedy call that's "correct" 95% of the time, than a slow call that's "correct" 98% of the time. The pace of the game is important to me, more important than getting as many calls "right" as possible.

Thats a big reason I don't like replay in college football. I honestly don't think it changes the percentage of correct calls, possibly an increase of 0.5%. But twice a game the entire game stops and everyone stands around for 10 minutes. It kills the flow.

I also hate how a call is made on the field, the fans and teams go nuts in celebration. Then 10 minutes later a guy comes out and says "whoops, we were wrong. you cheered for nothing." Its like the '98 HR race but in real time.

Which week was this? I was out of the country for a couple weeks in July; were there a few blown home run calls or something?

May 19th - Carlos Delgado hit a home run around the left field foul pole at Yankee Stadium that was called foul despite being obviously fair when seen with a camera. Earlier that week, a cub (Soto?) hit a ball over the fence in Minute Maid that wasn't ruled a home run.

Earlier that week, a cub (Soto?) hit a ball over the fence in Minute Maid that wasn't ruled a home run.

That's far from the first time that that's happened.

Why has there been no outcry to fix the park in Houston so that those sorts of ambiguous plays don't happen any more? That fence is insane.

I don't see how you could claim the Holliday call was "clearly incorrect" and should be overturned after watching some video.

Sorry, just using shorthand. I don't think the Holliday call was clearly incorrect, but you could imagine that type of call that was clear and missed. (I just knew someone would call me out on that, but I was too lazy to clarify.)

The argument against Bolt being what, exactly?

I'm not paying too close attention, but isn't there some discussion that whereas the best sprinters used to train in the US where the top facilities are, the USOC has implemented some sort of testing as part of the use of those facilities, which has led a lot of the top sprinters to go to Jamaica, where the top facilities aren't? Sorry, I'm probably being irresponsible ... but let's just say that if a baseball player had a Usain Bolt-like dominance, the steroid questions would abound on sports talk and even discretely in the mainstream media. I know they did around Ryan Howard a few years ago, for no other reason than he looked like he could make a run at Maris's "record."

This is just ridiculous. It's been covered many times, but since the technology has existed for decades, why would you not implement this at the start of a season?

Because MLB, esp. with Bud at the helm, has a long standing policy of doing things in the most frigtarded way possible.