Why build part of baseball's mystique on mistakes that can be corrected? How can baseball's tradition be tarnished by getting the play right?
View full sizeDerek Jeter puts on a display on Wednesday.Derek Jeter's acting job in the seventh inning Wednesday against Tampa Bay only underlines baseball's need for an expanded use of instant replay.
Bud Selig's term as commissioner has been highlighted by his refusal to let cobwebs grow on the grand old game. I don't understand why he's been so slow to act in this regard. So many people seem afraid of taking the human element -- in other words blown calls by umpires -- out of the game.
Why build part of baseball's mystique on mistakes that can be corrected? How can baseball's tradition be tarnished by getting the play right?
A blown call can change a team's season and a player's career. A strike should have been called on Jeter when Chad Qualis' pitch hit Jeter's bat and went foul. Jeter, instead, acted as if he'd been bit by a rattler and plate umpire Lance Barksdale bought it. He ruled Jeter had been hit by the pitch and sent him to first base. Curtis Granderson followed with a two-run homer to give the Yankees the lead in a game they eventually lost.
With replay, Barksdale could have made the right call. With replay, Armando Galarraga would have a perfect game and first base umpire Jim Joyce would be off the hook. With replay, Travis Hafner would have scored on Jason Donald's squeeze bunt on Sept. 11 instead of plate umpire Brian Gorman incorrectly calling Donald out.
It makes no sense not to use instant replay for more than determining home runs. The postseason is almost here. Sometime soon the human element will be responsible for the wrong call at a critical time. The remedy is available, so why isn't it being used?