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Photography, notes, commentary and much more from Reporter Online Editor Chris Stanley.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

One for the techies

Major League Baseball announced yesterday that they would begin implementing instant replay for home-run calls, such as fan interference and foul-pole calls.
This in the wake of several well-publicized blown calls in recent weeks.
"In this day and age, where all these ballparks are being built now where people can reach out over the outfield fence and catch balls, fan interference is becoming more and more of an issue," Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine said.
Detroit pitcher Kenny Rogers called the decision "a slap in the face of umpires that have been here for a long time" and said the decision might have been made because Alex Rodriguez lost a home run on a blown call May 21.
"It overshot the mark by far just because, what, in a Yankee game someone didn't get a homer? Please. It's happened thousands of times," Rogers said. "That's part of the game. It's the beauty of the game. Mistakes are made."

Well, there you go. The Yankees have done it again!
Pro baseball, for whatever is wrong with it these days, is still a sport of individuals. Humans. That's one of the things that sets it apart from other sports. Now, everybody wants to second-guess the umpires (yeah, they blow some calls, did you have a perfect day?) from Little League up to the beloved Yankees.
The thought of umpires staring into hooded television monitors while fans wait, or more likely watch commercials, is nauseating. Get over it, move on. We're all human.

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