Nathaniel

Shockey

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June 16, 2008

Instant Replay in Baseball? Why Not? Here’s Why Not

Baseball is considering adopting the instant replay for home run calls as soon as August of this season. This would allow for a trial run before the playoffs roll around in October.

It almost seems like a no-brainer. But when considering affecting one of America’s most sacred pastimes – one known for relying very little on any sort of advanced technology – with a video replay system, there will be debate.

When I was younger, my brothers and I were allowed to play one organized sport every year. In second and third grade, I played baseball. But in fourth grade, I defected to soccer. My older brother, however, stuck with baseball. I had a big mouth (it’s not my fault I was born like this), so I incessantly nagged my brother about the superiority of soccer on account of its speed, baseball’s lack of speed and mostly because soccer was the sport I was playing at the time.

I still love soccer. But baseball has happened to me over recent years and I know my brother is thinking, “He finally gets it!” every time we talk about the Phillies on the phone. I finally get why baseball seems so naturally intertwined with things American, and it is not something that words can adequately capture. But at the very least, I think most baseball appreciators would agree that one of baseball’s most important attributes is the human element, or more specifically, the lack of the non-human element.

Basketball, hockey, football, even soccer – they are all dependent on ticking seconds on a big digital clock. Baseball moseys along at its own pace. Basketball, hockey and football have already adopted instant replay in varying forms and degrees of intrusion. Baseball still hasn’t. On a technical level, the most important part of the game of baseball is calling balls and strikes, and this will only ever be accomplished by an umpire, relying on nothing more than his own senses.

This is why adopting the instant replay on any level is not a no-brainer. Any passionate baseball fan will worry that this precedent will pave the way for more replays. And in the back of all our minds is the fear that it could, at one point, encroach on the calling of balls and strikes.

On Saturday night, the Phillies game ended when an outfielder trapped a ball under his glove and the umpire ruled it an out. It was a one-run game. Who’s to say the next batter wouldn’t have socked a double down the line and tied the game? That’s the discipline required to be a baseball purist. You see a bad call that affects the outcome of a game, which can affect the outcome of a season, and instead of automatically exclaiming that it should have been reviewed, you deal with your anger and remind yourself, “I love this game for the same reason I sometimes hate it, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

But would it be so bad if they reviewed home runs? Why not review plays in the outfield, plays at first base, hits down the line?

Let me give you three quick reasons.

1)       It would slow down an already sluggish game. Don’t get me wrong. I love it the way it is, but we really don’t need any more time between pitches.

2)       A) Baseball does not have football’s holding, hockey’s interference, soccer’s tripping or basketball’s ridiculous blocking/charging debate. It is black and white in a way the other sports just aren’t, which makes it significantly easier to call. B) Baseball’s umpires are amazingly good. Almost every time there is a close call, the umpire is right. The manager may come out of the dugout and throw some bases around, but still, the umpires are usually right.

3)       It’s more fun without replay. Lives are not hanging in the balance. This isn’t a war. And although we sometimes talk about it like nukes in Iran, it’s still just a game. And in a way, when we allow for a bad call every now and then, it’s a way of keeping it light, reminding ourselves that baseball is supposed to be fun.

I don’t think baseball should go the way of all competitive flesh. I like it the way it is.

Would I feel the same way if the Phillies missed the playoffs by one game, when they had several games decided by lousy calls? For about a month, probably not. But then I’d come back to my baseball senses, maybe I’d even grab a mitt and go outside and have a catch. And it’s at this point I’d remember that baseball, no matter where you play it, is a backyard sport.

It’s true that millions of dollars depend on every game, every out, every home run call. But fortunately, baseball is not about money. And any true fan will tell you we are lucky for every season that goes by without changing the very fabric of what makes baseball America’s greatest pastime.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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