There’s no way you haven’t heard about Jim Joyce‘s blown call by now, but if you haven’t, here’s a quick rundown:
Armando Galarraga has a perfect game through 8 2/3 innings, induces a slow roller to first, tags first base for the out, starts to celebrate … and then gets his dream crushed by Joyce.
It was a simple call that everyone watching knew was wrong. It was obvious. Replays on TV only made that clearer, and by the end of the night, there was a major push for Major League Baseball to expand its replay system.
As it is currently constituted, umpires can only go to video review for home-run calls, namely whether the ball cleared the fence, whether it was fair or foul or whether a fan interfered with it. The reviews take all four umpires off the field and into a video room, with a delay of anywhere between 60 seconds and five minutes.
The question now is can MLB adopt a similar policy to that of the NFL, in which coaches have a set number of challenges each game? If that were the case, a replay official could sit in the press box, and if a manager used a challenge, that official could quickly look at the replay and make a call on the play. If there was overwhelming evidence that the call on the field was wrong, it could be changed, and the game would go on, hardly interrupted.
The other side of the argument is for the purity of the game. More than any other sport, baseball has its purists. These fans hate the designated hitter, hate interleague play and most certainly hate the limited capacity that replay has already. An expansion of replay would only turn the game into a video game, thereby removing the element of human error that is so crucial to the game of baseball.
So, as Brian from Quincy, Mass., asks, are you in favor of expanding the use of replay in baseball? If yes, text “SOX1” to 542542, or if not, text “SOX2” to 542542.
