June 20th, 2012 at 5:52 am 
by Harold Uhlman It seems we are quite often declaring years to be special in some way. We recall the war years, Jackie Robinson Year, 1947, Y2K, the Year of the Snake, this year, the Year of the Water Dragon. In 1949 George Orwell wrote “1984” with all kinds of outrageous predictions, or so we thought. Looking back now his foresight is a bit more than scary. Big Brother is, in fact, watching, identities are being stolen. That was thought to be impossible in 1949.
Besides being the Year of the Water Dragon, 2012 is becoming the Year of UB, more specifically, the Year of Umpire Bashing. Are there more umpire mistakes than in an average year? Or, is it that they are occurring when our favorite team is playing? Perhaps they are simply being highlighted by fans, writers, and others who want more technology, that is, video surveillance in the game, somewhat like “1984”. An umpire mistake gets a great deal of play time on blogs, on sports highlights and in sport talk shows.
Baseball is a hold out on technological invasion into the game. Hockey, which has very little video review, as does basketball, have the added element of time, along with football. Baseball is not constrained by time, but by innings and outs. Personally, I am not in favor of more video replay in the greatest game of all. In an age of technology already taking over our lives, it is difficult to argue against the seeming groundswell of support for video replay in baseball. Or, is it that the proponents of video surveillance are simply more vocal in this regard?
“…how about a fax, how about putting a thing in a machine and it showing up in Europe — if they can do that, they can figure out how to call a strike and a ball… That isn’t tough. It’s whether or not they want to do it.” – Bobby Valentine. (Photo credit cbssports.com)
I grew up with this game, complete with umpires, not with PED’s, free agency or the DH. Those and other changes have already altered the game, not for the better, in my opinion. I love the game as is , with it’s warts. I like the human element in the game, which includes umpires. They certainly are not perfect but do an exceptional job with a very difficult task. If I want perfection in the game I can play computer baseball where there are no umpires. Human decisions mean, that as in real life, unexpected things will happen.
However, that is not my main concern. My main concern is our own “1984”. What will the game look like in the next couple of decades? Will it even resemble the game we know now? How far will technological surveillance have gone into the game? One of the comments to the “Enough!” post says “As a start we need review at 1st base and home plate.” As a start, not as a finish, which means more is to come. Why is a play at second base or third base not as important as a play at home plate or first base? Where does it stop?
To go farther, I submit that balls and strikes are as important as a play at a base or in the field and cannot be excluded in any discussion regarding video replay. By far the most umpiring decisions in a game are the calling of balls and strikes. Hence, the greater chance for a mistake with a ninety mile an hour baseball reaching the plate in just under half a second and darting in all directions. If we want to eliminate all mistakes in the game, why not include balls and strikes in a technological revolution?
It has been argued that balls and strikes will never be taken away from umpires. I suggest that balls and strikes can be as game changing as plays at the bases. Mistakes with balls and strikes eliminate events so they can’t even happen: they put a player on base with a potential winning run denying a team a victory, they deny Matt Kemp another AB, make a pitcher pitch several more pitches, cause a manager to change a pitcher. The list can go on. Nobody is talking about balls and strikes, right? Wrong – Bobby Valentine is: Automated Calls On Balls And Strikes.
Bobby Valentine’s voice is no more important than any other voice, but it also no less important. Many changes in our lives started with one person, one voice.
Where will it stop?
Posted in 
There is a very old saying in baseball that I grew up with – “The umpires did a good job when the game ends and you didn’t even realize they were there.” How often does this happen anymore, Harold?
Make no mistake about it, expanded video replay is coming whether you or I like it or not; and it’s coming within the next two or three years. Why? Not simply because the technology is there or because every other professional is using it, but because the number of blown calls by umpires has increased so drastically over the past decade that the umpires themselves have made it necessary.
The increased number of blown calls by umpires is not a perceived thing, as you suggest; it is very real. Having watched this game my entire life (as have you), there has never been as many blown calls as there have been in the last ten years, and I’m not talking about close calls, I’m talking about blatantly blown calls… even in the post season and in the World Series.
To say that expanded video replay should not be implemented because it will remove the human element from the game is, in my opinion, ludicrous and trite. As I noted in my “Enough!” post – professional baseball on the Major League level is not “just a kid’s game,” it is a professional multi-billion dollar a year business and blown calls by umpires have a direct impact on a team’s revenue – especially if it (they) prevent a team from advancing to the post season or into the World Series.
Don’t think that your sarcastic “video surveillance” comment went unnoticed either. Video surveillance and expanded video replay in baseball are as different as night and day. Video surveillance is a very valuable tool used to assist law enforcement and our respective militaries in preventing crime and apprehending criminals and terrorists, and expanded video replay is to assure that umpires and other officials ‘get it right’ in professional sports. I am certainly not as paranoid about video surveillance as you seem to be and I do not see it as infringing on my civil liberties; I see it as a tool used by law enforcement and the military to provide my loved ones and me with protection against criminals and terrorist and most certainly not what you (and George Orwell) refer to as Big Brother watching me. (If they are, they are bored to death, that’s for sure).
The good news is that at our (yours and mine) advanced stage of life, I suspect that even though we will soon see expanded video replay for fair and foul calls, trapped ball calls, and probably even plays at the plate (and possibly the other bases), I do not think that we will see it used to call balls and strikes – at least not in our lifetimes.
And just so you know, your opposing view point on this topic is very good and very well thought out and makes for a great debate – and I sincerely appreciate and respect it.
I, for 2, also appreciate your well-written and thoughtful answer to “Enough”. It’s also fun to disagree and at my “advanced age” will never see baseball as an automated game – nor do I think my grandchildren will either. I would sorely miss the often hilarious scene of managers and umpires arguing, kicking dirt, calling names and getting ejected (where is Billy Martin when we really need a good laugh). I believe ball & strikes will always be the umpires job. Every game has the announcer commenting on the umpire’s strike zone and that the players should figure that out – there is inconsistency in every single game played and that’s part of baseball. To put it in simple form, let the inconsistencies stay but the important calls that are game-changers need to be right. I might have been wrong saying “as a start”…I’m willing to say in my lifetime I’d like them to stop the inconsistencies at 1st and home – they are the biggest game changers and can make the difference for post season and more. I’m also in favor of NEVER EVER letting a team end the season with less than 162 games – all games should be played or made up even if it would not change who goes to the post season. I believe, if that were true, we wouldn’t have shirts that say “REAL MVP”.
I ramble but my take is still get it right with no inconsistency at 1st and home (not balls/strikes).
And a final quote to make us smile from a veteran umpire Ron Luciano: “Umpiring is best described as the profession of standing between two seven-year-olds with one ice-cream cone.”
Good post Harold. With regard to your comment where you wonder what the game will look like 30 years from now I ask you to look back at a game in the 70s. Plastic grass all over the place, catching equipment drastically different, the general look of the players was more svelte bodies conditioned for flexibility and not the look of today’s muscle bound players, stadiums void of advertising unlike today’s corporate logos plastered all over the place, player uniforms with stirrups and sanitary socks.
My point: the game changes. Always has and I assume that in 2042, we’ll see changes in safety equipment, uniforms and most likely in officiating.
I have no problems if technology is introduced provided that it doesn’t slow down the game substantially. A fifth official in a booth with video replay capability with the ability to wirelessly communicate with the umpire crew chief is a good fix. Had such a system been in place. Galarraga would have his perfect game. The triple play that the Dodgers had against the Padres in week one would have been disallowed. Todd Helton being off the base 2 feet would have been noticed. Treanor’s scoring on the sac fly would have been good. All of these incidents, that I’m thinking of off of the top of my head (and there are dozens more) would have been rectified.
With regard to balls and strikes. Aren’t we tired of dealing with the idiosyncrasies of each umpire. One has a wide zone, another a low zone. A guy like McClellan hesitates before calling. Cederstrom is a pitchers ump. West is a batters ump. It’s insane. Sometimes the game is completely dictated by an umpire’s inaccurate interpretation of the strike zone. And if you argue balls and strikes, you get ejected. It’s ridiculous.
Curt Schilling would keep a book on umpires. He felt scouting the ump was even more important that scouting the opposing team. Isn’t that asinine?
As umpire’s have gained leverage because of their union. They are lazier, fatter, more beligerent and some think they’re bigger than the game itself. “Cowboy” Joe? Why does an umpire even have a nickname? He’s supposed to be unseen and unheard. Not a personality. He peddles his country western music openly through his publicity through umpiring.
I cringe when I see that a guy like West or Iosoggna is officiating a Dodger game. Why should we care who the ump is? Why is baseball the only sporting event where we really get to know these guys?
Thank You Harold for such a well stated response to “Enough”.
Ron,
You state specifics that it’s a proven fact that more mistakes are made today then ever before, so I have to ask, where do you get these facts? Is there a web site or a book that compares this data? I would challenge that what you’re really seeing is in fact an increase of video replays simply proving the way it has been since the beginning of time. I ask if you ever enjoyed the game as a kid, which I know you will say yes to, so I simply ask why change what you grew to admire simply because someone else can refine it to be more exact? The game of baseball is by far a game of mistakes and missed opportunities. Without the mistakes and the pure human factor I see a game that becomes more boring and less engaging. To me the NFL has proven that fact. You played at Fantasy camp last year and I know you came back with the best experience of your baseball life. Were those games any less enjoyable without instant replay? When the UMP made a bad call and you guys argued and got upset and disagreed with the final outcome, did it make your experience any less gratifying? I think not. I think you now had more to talk about and debate and dream of what if. If you didn’t have an UMP and only video would your experience have been any better? I think not. It’s no difference for me watching the MLB, I enjoy the moment, I enjoy the game. We already see players doing stuff with PED’s, composite bats in college, the DH rule etc.. But that wasn’t the way it was back in the day. Because of the vast amount of money in the game today, which I say is only because fans like us agree to pay for, along with the radical nature of win at any cost we now have a demand for perfection and anything less then perfection comes across as failure. I ask again when you left a game as a kid did you imagine it to be perfect back then? I know I did and I still believe it is as perfect as we need it to be without taking away the joy of good old baseball. I don’t need to see the perfect game, day in and day out, I just need to come away happy that I saw my favorite team play for that game. I don’t have to have a championship every year to enjoy my Dodgers!! Frankly I almost enjoy the off years more because I know I’ll get to see more of the kids coming up who still enjoy to play the game and are not all about the money, yet !! I suggest try being a Cubs fan. Ultimately there is only one World Champion every year, which means a whole bunch of losers, but none of them stop just because they didn’t win that year. They start all over again and dream about next year. The UMP is part of the game and to change it just because you can prove he can be replaced with something more exact is not an improvement, it takes away from what the game is, a game of individuals working to do their best against other individuals.
BTW, watching Bobby Fisher play a computer was not as much fun as watching him play Russian Chess Master Spassky.
Just my opinion, thank you for listening!!
Regards,
Gary Lee Smith, a less then perfect individual
No, Gary, I did not state specifics as to more mistakes being made today than ever before; I was referencing what Harold implied in his post. His exact words were:
Here again, you compare Little League (and even Fantasy Camp) with professional baseball. There is no comparison, my friend. I never professed to be anything even remotely close to being a professional baseball player – on ANY level. People race go-carts, does that compare to NASCAR? Kids play AYSO soccer, does that compare with the World Cup? People play golf, does that compare to the PGA? People play tennis, does that compare to Wimbledon? People ride bicycles, does that compare to the Tour de France? You are completely missing the point, my friend – there are amateur sports and there are professional sports and they are miles apart – there is no comparison.
Professional athletes train to be as close to perfect at their game as is humanly possible and those who can’t make it don’t. Why should it be any different for officiating in professional sports? Where does “may the best team win” rank in your book when a blatantly blown call takes them out? Yes, for what these teams and players are making and for what is at stake, I DO expect perfection at this level; just as I expect perfection if I’m going to sign a multi-million or multi-billion dollar contract with a manufacturing representative or trust my life to a fellow professional law enforcement officer. Incompetency is the worst form of corruption, my friend; and allowing it to continue even worse – especially when everything is already in place at every MLB ballpark in the country (and Canada) to prevent it.
I understand that you are deeply entrenched in your “leave it alone because that’s the way it has been done for 120 years” mentality just as much as I am entrenched in my “get it right” mentality. Nothing I can ever say to you will ever change your mind on this topic (and vice versa), but at least be honest with yourself – when a professional baseball team at the highest level loses because of a blatantly blown call, or a guy is denied his place in MLB history and the Hall of Fame after throwing a perfect game because of a blatantly blown call, are you really ok with this? Really?
I don’t expected perfection in baseball, players make errors all the time; but if they do it on a regular basis, they aren’t in the Bigs for long. Why should it be any different for self-proclaimed elite MLB umpires? And just like the kids that you describe waiting and hoping to be called up to the Bigs, there are equally hundreds (or thousands) of Minor League umpires chomping at the bit to get a shot at becoming an MLB umpire. You tell me which one of those guys would turn down a shot at being called up to be a replay umpire – none, I say.
Video replay is a tool. It is used in EVERY sport EVERYDAY to evaluate and improve a baseball or golf swing, pitching mechanics, defensive alignments in football, basketball, hockey, soccer, etc. I suspect that even your daughter has used it to evaluate her softball play. It is an everyday tool used to make their respective games better. Why should it be any different in umpiring?
I guess it all boils down to whether you are willing to accept mediocrity over excellence in your professional sport of choice; and at the very highest level of professional baseball, I choose excellence.
PS: Have you ever wondered why “umpire” and “vampire” sound so similar?
Sorry about the term, “video surveillance” Ron. It was not used sarcastically, just that I have read about it’s use with reference to baseball video replay and was looking to use some other terminology instead of always using instant replay. I do not have a law enforcement background and did not intend to touch a nerve.
Ron, you keep telling me it is coming whether I like it or not. I know that. I just don’t want it to. My point is, where does it end? To not include balls and strikes is ludicrous. On every ball that comes to the plate there is a play. I personally don’t see how a missed called strike, striking the batter out with the bases loaded and 3-2 count is any different that a player being called out in error sliding into home. In both cases, the run doesn’t go up on the board. Evan seems to be saying that balls and strikes should be included because of the inconsistencies in the strike zones of different umpires.
In any event, seems that Gary and I will have to be marooned on an island together on the human aspect of this one.
Linda, balls and strikes are game changers. They change what the hitter does, especially in his head, upset pitchers or reward them, cause managers to make personnel changes. They change the game in so many subtle ways. The hard slide into home plate is certainly dramatic, but a strike called incorrectly with the bases loaded is just as dramatic, in my opinion.
Well, that was a lot of jawin’. Thanks folks.
Ron, I never compared Little League to MLB or any of the other sports you mention so please stay on topic. I simply asked when you were a kid was the game perfect for you ? When you played was it perfect for you ? It’s the same game, played by the same basic rules only played at different levels. For me it was the lowest of levels, but it was still perfect. And by perfect I mean it was governed by umpires not machines, it was a sport of human interaction, be it right or be it wrong. To me I would rather save the imperfections then try to reach a perfect existence that can never be achieved. As Harold suggests where does it end ?
We agree to disagree, and that OK with me, but challenge me to defend my beliefs and I will until the bitter end !!