Instant Replay in Baseball

For me, pair of images mark the first half of a baseball season that is stretching toward Tuesday’s All-Star Game. The first is the collision at home plate between the Marlin’s Scott Cousins and the Giants’ superstar catcher Buster Posey. The second is Dee Gordon of the Dodgers sliding into Angels’ catcher Jeff Mathis in the bottom of the ninth inning in recent one-run ball game.

Posey was taken out and Gordon should have been called out. But he wasn’t. Immediately, I started my annual plea for instant replay. It led to some interesting dialogue with a baseball-loving friend. He is a wise and intelligent man. He went to UCLA and also has a Masters in Theology. This fall he’ll be starting law school. But his arguments against instant replay confused me as much as the Casey Anthony verdict.

I think that umpires are correct 99 percent of the time. However there are mistakes. I watch a lot of baseball. I see these mistakes. On Tuesday, Tigers ace Justin Verlander lost a game to the Angels, 1-0. Howard Kendrick of the Angels reached first on an infield hit after replays showed he was out. He soon scored the game’s only run on a bloop double. Thursday’s highlights on the MLB Network showed the Dodger’s Juan Uribe scoring a run when replays showed he was out.

Honestly, I don’t see the problem with using the available technology to get these calls correct. Major League Baseball currently allows umpires to watch replays of homeruns. I would like to see instant replay used on plays at the bases and home plate. Nothing more. I think that baseball managers should be given one “challenge” per game for a call to be reviewed. My hunch is that most games would go without the challenges being used. But they’d be there as a safety net at critical moments. I think pro and college football games are enhanced by replays. Basketball referees are permitted to check the on-court video monitors in certain instances. In hockey, questionable goals can be replayed. Why is this so evil? Why can’t MLB follow suit?

My friend’s first argument was that the games would be too long. One or two replays are not going to dramatically extend games that already trudge at a glacial pace. In this week’s Tigers-Angels series, Detroit skipper Jim Leyland was on the field arguing with umpires as often as I saw those annoying AM/PM commercials. A manager continuously on the field is not “too much good stuff.” Numerous pitching changes, conferences on the mound, visits between pitchers and catchers, and trainers caring for every stubbed toe all add to lengthy games.

Next, my friend said that baseball is special because of the human element. He said that the reason baseball has “marked the time” – a reference to James Earl Jones’ speech in the movie Field of Dreams -- is because the human element separates the game from the other “replay” sports. Listen, I’m not suggesting we get robots to govern the games. Humans used technology to fire off the space shuttle today. Humans used technology to put a helicopter of Navy Seals on Osama Bin Laden’s back porch. Baseball umps should be able to use technology to get a few more calls per week correct.

The human element is not why baseball has “marked the time.” Every sport has a human element. Baseball is special because it is a different sport. It doesn’t have a clock. The defense starts each play with the ball. The diamond is divinely laid out such that a throw from a catcher and bag-swiping runner arrive at the same time in 2011 just as they did in 1911. Baseball has “marked the time” because it gave immigrants in the 1920s something to connect to, because it gave hope to the unemployed during the Depression, because it diverted the attention of a worried nation during the wars of the 40s and 50s. Baseball has marked the time because it’s been played since the 1880s.

Baseball is not the same game as in those grainy black and white films when batters didn’t wear helmets, photographers crouched on the field, and players left their gloves on the grass. Like them or not there have been changes. The mound was lowered. The DH was born. Expansion. Divisional play. Wild cards. Tim McCarver. It needs one more change.

There have been one-game playoffs in three of the last four years which makes every run in every close game crucial. Scott Cousins was trying to put his team ahead in extra innings when he plowed into Posey. Gordon’s run tied the score in a game the Dodgers went on to win. It should have been the third out of an Angel victory. If players are going to use all their skills and determination to touch home plate, shouldn’t baseball use everything humanly possible to not only mark the time but to mark it accurately?

Indepedence Day with Sarah, Judy, and Sybil

I wonder if Sarah Palin knows who Sybil Ludington was. After her bumbling of the events of Paul Revere’s famous ride, I doubt it. But that’s okay, because a lot of people don’t know who Sybil was. I surveyed a few dozen folks, from lawyers to teachers, relatives, retirees, and real estate moguls from Hawaii to Florida. Only a handful knew of Ms. Ludington.

I was introduced to Sybil by Judy Moody. If you haven’t heard of her it’s probably because you’re not eight years old or a teacher of eight-year-olds. Judy is a character in a series of children’s books by Megan McDonald. Judy is a precocious, often bratty, youngster who is always getting in trouble.

My favorite in the series is “Judy Moody Declares Independence” because it illuminates Revolutionary War time history for young children while teaching them to earn independence by being responsible and dependable.

In short, Judy and her family visit Boston and take in the city’s rich history by walking the Freedom Trail, learning about the Boston Tea Party and visiting the Old North Church. She also learns about Sybil Ludington, who is known as the female Paul Revere.

Revere is a certainly an iconic figure in the lore of the revolution. But Sybil made Paul’s ride look like a Sunday stroll around Walden Pond. In 1777, the Redcoats were moving in on Sybil’s hometown of Danbury, Connecticut. Her father, a colonel in the Continental Army, dispatched his 16-year-old daughter to ride to the neighboring towns to rouse the militia to come Danbury’s aide. She rode 40 miles through the rain-soaked night, more than twice as far as Ol’ Paul. The militia was too late to save Danbury, but the British were soon repelled in the battle of Ridgefield.

In the book, Judy puts her lessons into practice. She declares independence from her parents until she is given more freedom. Her parents are reluctant to meet her demands unless she can prove she can be more responsible. Her chance arrives one day when she gets off the school bus without her little brother who had fallen asleep on the ride home. Judy then channels her inner Sybil Ludington and hops on her bike to chase down the bus and retrieve her brother.

I was wondering what it would be like for Sarah, Judy, and Sybil to hang out and swap stories. Perhaps it went something like this:

Sarah: Sybil, Judy. So nice to meetcha! Aren’t you two a couple of mavericks?!

Judy: Actually, I’m just a third-grader.

Sybil: Mrs. Palin, with all due respect, it sounds like you need to relearn your history.

Judy: Or at least read my book!

Sarah: Oh aren’t you two cute! And funny too. A couple of whippersnappers. I know my history. There were a lot of British soldiers living in Boston and Paul Revere was warning them to get the H.E. double-toothpicks outta there by firing shots and ringing those bells!

Judy: He rang bells? Wow. Sybil, did you ring any bells on your ride?

Sybil: No Ms. Moody, I didn’t. But I did ride long enough to rally 400 militiamen to prepare for battle.

Sarah: That’s so true! Good job. You did so much to preserve our freedom. America is proud of you.

Judy: Um, I don’t think we had our freedom yet.

Sarah: Technically we did. We declared it in 1775. So even though the war was not over, we were free. Sybil and all those tough soldiers were really just keeping the British from taking away our freedom.

Sybil: Huh? Anyway, America doesn’t really know about me. Mr. Revere gets all the credit.

Judy: That’s stupid. Boys get all the credit.

Sarah: Tell me about it. Boys get the credit, and girls get ridiculed for their mistakes.

Sybil: But boys make mistakes, mispronounce words, get facts wrong, and forget things too.

Sarah: You betcha! Sometimes they forget their daughter’s names and ages. Or how many states there are. Or how to pronounce ‘corpsman’.

Judy: That’s silly! What idiot would do that?

Sybil: No. That person just made simple mistakes. Mistakes are part of being human. The Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal. Equality is the foundation that every American’s race, beliefs, and orientations are built upon. We all make mistakes equally.

Sarah: Here, Here!

Judy: My parents say that we should try to learn from our mistakes.

Sarah: That’s what I tell my daughter Bristol all the time.

Sybil: My parents said the same thing. I think the foolish person is the person who doesn’t learn from their mistakes.

Judy: And so are the people who insult someone they’ve never met because of their mistakes.

Sarah: Well said, Judy. I think it’s time we wrapped this up. Would you two like to come out to Alaska for an Independence Day BBQ? I think it’s the greatest of our 57 states!