Yesterday the Pittsburgh Pirates filed a formal complaint with Major League Baseball about the incorrect call that abruptly ended the 19 inning game between them and the Atlanta Braves. Many have been wondering why the team did this and what it can accomplish. The honest answer is really nothing. They are not going to replay the inning or take a win away from the Braves, the only league I have ever seen replay any part of a game was the NBA and that was because of clock errors not officials.
Really the only thing this can possibly accomplish is getting Major League Baseball and umpire Jerry Meals to admit publicly that there was a mistake made. Well the MLB and Meals did come out and release statements saying the call was incorrect so maybe this will sooth some of the Pirates hurt feelings. Executive vice president for baseball operations Joe Torre, released spoke on behalf of the league and while he lamented the blown call he also defended the 14 year vertean umpire saying, “”Most in the game recognize that the human element always will be part of baseball and instant replay can never replace all judgment calls by umpires.”
This raises some interesting questions that i’m sure will be talked about at length on all of ESPN’s talking head shows. The question is should baseball finally give in and use instant replay for situations like this. Many say replay will only slow down an already slow-paced game. However, i say what’s a few more minutes if you get critical calls at the end of the game correct. In my opinion each manager should have one challenge through the 1st 7 innings and then through the last 2 umpires will have the ability to review any call they deem questionable.
In this way it’s a little like college football where every play is reviewed in the last 2 minutes of games by the booth and then the referees on the field may look if the booth feels it necessary. Why leave these important games in the hands of split-second judgement calls when we have all seen that sometimes these, usually fantastic umpires, judgement isn’t good enough? Hopefully baseball will be mature enough to break old habits and listen to the outcrys for something that could help the game in the long-run.
