I'm so very ready to get rid of umps calling balls and strikes

[_sturt_]

To me there is nothing romantic about it, and thus, no justifiable reason to let such a fundamental element of the game be left up to human error. I'm tired of these inconsistent but oh-so-creative strike zones and pitchers and batters having to adjust to the guy's so-called "style." I'm otherwise a traditionalist, but with one very large caveat... fairness always matters. This is nuts to oblige tradition over fairness.

[Baseballnum3er0]

Once you take away balls and strikes, your basically removing umpires from the game as I see it, as it won't be long until computers call the whole game with a booth umpire of sorts for rule calls. I personally like umpires as they are, they are human and will make mistakes, oh well.

There still is the issue that I have not seen well addressed is what do you do about the strange rule calls that will happen during a game. Say a ball thrown by a fielder goes in to the sleeve of a sliding runner, that's not covered by the rules, surely a computer can't call it, then your left with a probable booth umpire having to inject himself in to the game, with nobody down to stop the game. Given, that call is not likely to happen, but has I might add there also is the issue of balks, interference, and obstruction. Interference and obstruction rely largely on judgement, which unless you have a dummy umpire on the field is going to be called from a few camera angles that may or may not be good. Balks are rule based but I honestly do not think a computer can call that, would have to be a person once again.

Until I see a plan in which all of what I mentioned were addressed in a manner I think will be efficient I will not support the expansion of instant replay in to the basics of the game unless it was in the form of a challenge system.

I know that you never said that expanding instant replay will suddenly make baseball completely fair but I feel the need to point out that it will not even come close to making a completely even road for every team to the championship, which is what I would define as true yet unattainable 'fairness'.

[astrosfanatic]

Not too long ago i maintained that the human element is what makes the game so interesting, but after the Joyce incident and the umpire issues this season, i have really pulled a 180 on this issue. It is VERY frustrating to watch umpires squeeze your pitchers simply because the Red Sox hitters have patient reputations. Computers can do it, so let them. You dont remove the home plate umpire, you just take away part of his duties to remove any unfairness. I had to watch Greg Maddux and all those Braves pitchers win all those games b/c of umpires handing them to them. It's about time we did something to make the game more fair.

[_sturt_]

I disagree that using technology to simply call balls and strikes is a slippery slope issue... any more than one could advocate that computers could replace any other referee in any other game.

And make no mistake that I'm more often one to side with the traditionalist opinion... but again, not in this, nor any other way that the game can become appreciably more fair to all who invest so much time and effort in it.

[Mike]

Youll need to remember that a computer will only be as accurate as the person who creates it. Humans make errors and so can a computer. Software bugs and malfunctions. Then there is the possibility of someone paying the developer to rig the accuracy during certain teams facing each other, etc. Thats like the issue there was originally with polls in the US being electronic. I remember hearing some of the electronic poll booths were not tallying up correctly and were adding extra votes, etc. So i don't know. There is always room for error whether its a person or a computer. Out of personal preference, id say the game has been done this way for so long that it should stay this way. I do like the idea though of a challenge system of some sort where you can use a computer or cameras to aide in the decision of calls. Like with football you can use a timeout to challenge a call. That might not be a bad idea for baseball. This is an interesting topic.

[_sturt_]

MLB already basically has the system in place... it's what allows you to watch their game tracker.

If it gets a few calls wrong, then it's still no worse than what we have now, but the point is that the zone wouldn't be moving around from inning to inning, or worse, batter to batter... at least, if it's off, it's off consistently throughout an entire game for everyone.

[yankeebiscuitfan]

I get fed up with as well at times. But when you replace the umpire by a computer because of human error, why not replace the shortstop that makes an error or the pitcher with control problems by a computer?
I always wonder if people that criticise umpires because of their calls, ever have called a game themselves. I did, and I can tell you it is pretty difficult sometimes. As an umpire you are forced to sit at one side of the plate quite often, because of the position of the catcher. Then it is hard to see if the pitches cross home plate on the other side. You have to keep that in mind. I admit that I am calling names at times when I see an ump calling a ball ( that crosses home plate about shin high) for a strike. But in general umpires make about 90 percent of their calls right. When an umpire has his own strike zone and he uses it with both teams, it's all in the game.

[WingsOfSteel]

I used to be for firing all umpires, but then you realize that you get to see replays from 3 different angles in super slo-mo. He gets to see the play one time in real time and has to make a call instantly. Of course it won't be perfect.

[_sturt_]

Guys, guys, guys... I have nothing but love and admiration for umps. They are remarkable and I do not mean to disparage the 90% they get right. Not at all.

Rather, biscuit, I'm only saying why do we make this a personality issue, when it really is just a matter of trying to ratchet up the consistency and fairness of the game. We all have watched a team, perhaps our own or perhaps the opposition, get a bad call on a 1-1 pitch that takes the count to 2-1... then, to see the ball go out of the park on the next pitch.

Balls and strikes are just too fundamental to the fairness of the game to put up with the inaccuracies that exist (and largely for the reasons that biscuit just mentioned) when we have a more-than-credible option... this may have been high-tech stuff 10 years ago... it is not now. We can do this. We just need a fan outcry to put an end to it.

[Mike]

We could just get each player robotic arms like inspector gadget that hits the ball with 100% accuracy every single time. Then there would be no need for strikes or balls.

We already know there is a robot for throwing perfect pitches.


Credit to RickD for originally finding this video.