An Argument Against Expanding the Use of Instant Replay

Posted by Isaac Thorn on Friday, October 16, 2009 at 12:45 pm

Missed calls by umpires in both League Division Series were scrutinized intensely, and used as a rallying cry by those in favor of making Instant Replay a more integral part of the game. What I fear they fail to see is that human error is a big part of baseball, and how it is played. Increasing the usage of this technology would damage the game more than it would help.

The use of Instant Replay is currently limited to reviewing whether a home run was fair or foul, whether if the ball in question actually landed over the fence, or if fan interference was involved.

One aspect of the argument against expanding the number of circumstances in which review of a play is that doing so would add more minutes to the average time of a Major League game, which approaches three hours.

From working harder to ensure that games start at the listed time (not 3 to 5 minutes later), to fining pitchers who take too long between pitches, Major League Baseball has shown it is interested in cutting down on what Bob Watson called “dead time.”

Baseball is a passion of mine, yet there are still times when I am either at the ballpark or watching from home where it seems obvious that the pace of the game is dragging. Watching umpires duck their heads under the cloth to check something multiple times a game would turn the speed of the game down to a Sean Casey pace.

Replay would only counteract the measures implemented to speed games up. Football and tennis are benefited by Instant Replay because the nature of those games revolves around out of bounds, and line play more than baseball.

If baseball was to expand the use of replay, game times would balloon closer to four hours than three. This would make it harder for families with youngsters to attend games, and fewer and fewer of us would be awake when playoff series were clinched. Watching last Sunday’s Phillies vs. Rockies game (which started after 10 PM EST) to the end was a feat to be commended.

It’s easy to blast umpires when they miss a call…and replay footage is slowed down so much that there seems to be 2 full seconds between the runner’s foot touching the bag and the fielder’s glove swiping across it. The fact of the matter is that umpires get the vast majority of calls right. As it’s oft been said, you know an umpire is doing a good job when he or she is hardly mentioned or noticed during the game.

Consistency, willingness to consult with peers, and refusal to be intimidated by players or managers are hallmarks of the high quality umpiring in the game we enjoy today. Umpires occasionally miss calls. Outfielder lose balls in the sun. Pitchers throw pickoff attempts into the outfield. While some might imagine a “baseball of the future” where no calls are missed, they fail to see that human error will always be a huge part of the game.

For every Joe Carter World Series ending blast off Mitch Williams, there is a Mookie Wilson room service grounder that gets between Bill Buckner’s legs.

Human error should be celebrated, since it is unavoidable. Fans like baseball because it gives them events unfolding in real time. Playoffs amplify the sense of danger, and how much each pitch counts.

It’s not like Major League Baseball isn’t interested in getting calls right. Umpires are graded throughout the year, and the umps we see in postseason play are experienced and selected because of the quality of their performance.

Expecting any human to be infallible is sure to disappoint. Trying to safeguard against it is futile. Any attempt to do so in baseball will only result in games taking longer, and fans clamoring for more replay until every occurrence on the field is subject to review.

The flow of a baseball game is a delicate thing. The potential damage that could be done to it for the sake of eliminating what has, is, and always will be such an inescapable reality of the game makes little sense to me.