Off Topic: Instant Replay Sucks
- Updated: March 15, 2015
Replay takes the game out of umps’ hands – and that’s a bad thing (Image via Twitter)
As much as I love technology, there’s one use that’s been misappropriated: instant replay.
But get the call right, you say. How can you be such an idiot? If they have the ability to get it right, why shouldn’t they?!
Well… ok. Let’s follow that thought. Why don’t we replay every single pitch? You know, to get the call right. If we have the ability to get it right, we should!
You already know why we don’t do that. So why do we make that argument about home runs? Why is one play more important than another? Never mind the difference between home runs and single ball/strike calls, because that’s obvious. I’m more interested in where we draw the line in the future; “replay creep” will inevitably add more to baseball’s list of reviewable calls. Are we OK with that?
Look at the strike zone. The baseline of baseball, the supposed-to-be-letters-to-knees-but-hasn’t-been-that-for-years strike zone is the most subjective refereed space in all of sports. This isn’t a line on the hardwood (either he stepped on it or he didn’t). This isn’t a clock on the gridiron (either it says zero, or it doesn’t). The strike zone is entirely subjective and, honestly, kind of random.
Some umpires give a few inches on the corners. Some pinch pitchers, or certain pitchers, or just your favorite pitcher. Some call high(er) strikes. Some absolutely never go above the belt. And while there have been criticisms of the strike zone’s migration as the game changes, the heart and soul of baseball will always be based on one man’s opinion on any given day.
The strike zone changes, but it’ll never be perfect. A few more years of dominant pitching, and the strike zone will get smaller. A few years of offense like the boom in the 1990s, and maybe it expands again. But, even though it changes, it’s in human hands. Are you prepared to give it to robots?
Yes, there’s technology available which tracks pitches and can relay information about whether a pitch should have been called a strike. But, at present, those innovations are not deciding pitches during the game; umpires are. Maybe the league uses that technology after games to grade umpires, and maybe umpires can improve based on data points in post-game evaluation. But those technologies aren’t being used during the game, on the field, to make calls in the zone (and they shouldn’t).
The ever-changing strike zone is the game’s imperfection, and that imperfection is beauty. Human eyes decide the most fundamental aspect of the game, and there’s no recourse to thinking a call was wrong. Umpires eject players for arguing balls and strikes. There’s no replay, no fuss, no call to the league office in New York. You take your lumps, win some calls, lose some others, and move on. Just like life!
On June 2, 2010, Armando Galarraga was pitching a perfect game for the Detroit Tigers. In the ninth inning, one out away from just the 21st perfect game in the 135 year history of baseball, Jason Donald hit a weak ground ball to Miguel Cabrera. Galarraga covered first on the play, caught the ball, stepped on the bag before Donald, and umpire Jim Joyce called the runner safe.
Donald was very clearly out, but, Joyce’s call (before instant replay) nullified the perfect game (and the no-hitter), and Galarraga had to retire the next hitter with just a complete game shutout to show for his effort.
Predictably, everybody in Detroit was mad (which is to be expected). Unpredictably, Joyce admitted to kicking the call and owned his mistake in the media that very night (which is awesome!). And even more unpredictably, Galarraga was cool with it, conceding that everybody makes mistakes (which is true).
Replay could have overturned the call yet it wasn’t available in 2010. In fact, Galarraga’s perfect game is probably one of the calls that helped move the needle in the replay debate. Hell, from a logical perspective, a replay review would’ve gotten the call correct and Galarraga should have walked off the field with a perfect game.
Maybe I’m looking at it illogically though, or too esoterically, or maybe I’m just wrong. But had the umpires conferred with New York on Galarraga’s not-quite-final-out, delayed the game five minutes, and gotten it right after consulting HD cameras, would the game have been as special? (Tigers fans will say yes.)
There’s something beautiful in baseball’s imperfections and how those imperfections are the history of the game. Don Denkinger’s ground out. Sam Holbrook’s infield fly rule. Richie Garcia’s home run. Drew Coble’s pickoff play. And Joyce’s not-so-perfect game.
Is a sterilized video replay version better than the lore and history? I guess it depends on who you ask. I understand my point of view on this is illogical. But baseball is a game based in failure, a game measured in every way by humans, and a game wholly imperfect. I wish it would’ve remained that way.
Galarraga probably likes the changes in instant replay, and he has a reason. But be careful with this new toy, baseball, or else Milt Pappas may campaign for instant replay to go much, much further.
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One Comment
About Bobby DeMuro
TylerG
October 31, 2015 at 6:02 pm
Instant replay in baseball sucks. Part of the game is living with bad calls, retaliating, etc. Technology in general has made baseball suck. There’s constant cuts on tv, at the park it’s now just loud noises whenever possible like the price is right. This shit was best as a low-tech 19th century pastoral game with it’s steady, relaxing pace. Now it’s just trying to imitate football, which we know is a true game of technology. Yes it’s irrational, but so is loving sports in the first place.