Instant Replay in Baseball

BroadwayJoe.tv would like you to check out Joe’s thoughts on instant replay in baseball. Enjoy!

A thought dawned on me the other day amid all this talk of instant replay. When DeWayne Wise of the New York Yankees dove into the stands and pretended to come out with the baseball, people began to label the play as ‘wrong’. But really, what is right or wrong in sports? DeWayne Wise broke no rules, he played within the boundaries of the game. It’s no different than a catcher framing a called 3rd strike. As a player–and it carries to fans as well–we all experience bad calls. When it happens, we live with it. We accept what has happened and move on. People claim Wise should be ashamed of his actions; I believe no such thing. He didn’t violate the integrity of the sport, he took advantage of the human error. That’s just the way things go.

Now, in regards to the human error, this shows why instant replay should be expanded soon. I don’t know what the negatives are – there really seems to be no downside. Yes, the human error is a part of the game as explained above. Yes, we all make mistakes – that’s fine. What I don’t understand is why we wouldn’t correct those mistakes when we are so easily and readily able to. With the dawn of High-definition TV’s and the ability to immediately rewind and slow down replays, everyone can see the umpires mistakes right after they happen. These umpires are becoming more and more susceptible to ridicule, and it will only get worse. The only issue I see is the difference in readily available cameras for each game. The are clearly going to be more cameras for a nationally televised Sunday night Yankees-Red Sox game than a Tuesday afternoon Royals-Indians game. It may come down to a disparity in replay availability between different games. It’s an issue of money – as it almost always is. They added more cameras for football and now the sports instant replay system is thriving. Let’s hope they can reach that level here.
- Joe