MLB Uses Instant Replay for First Time

Note To THE AP: His name is Joe Maddon, not Joe Madden!

So Alex Rodriguez becomes the first player to ever have their homerun reviewed by instant replay. The Yankees won a key game against their AL East rivals, as they have to fight Boston if they want any hope to make the playoffs.

Baseball to Start Using Instant Replay Thursday

MLB Instant Replay To Start On Thursday

Expect to see less of this, Starting Thursday.


Baseball has finally caught up with the times.


Major League Baseball will allow umpires to check video on home run calls in series that start Thursday.

Three series are scheduled to start Thursday, with Philadelphia at the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota at Oakland and Texas at the Los Angeles Angels. For other games, replays will be available to umpires starting Friday.

For now, video will be used only on so-called "boundary calls," such as determining whether fly balls went over the fence, whether potential home runs were fair or foul and whether there was fan interference on potential home runs.


Good to see that Baseball is catching up with the times. For those who say "this will make baseball even longer now" I think It doesn't matter how long it takes, as long as they get the calls right, especially as we head into October with the Postseason and the World Series!

Here's ESPN's Buster Olney on MLB's decision to start using instant replay with series starting on Thursday.

Baseball to Use Instant Replay This Season

The AP's Ben Walker reports that Major League Baseball will begin using instant replay this season, likely by mid-August. Replay will only be used for disputed home run calls, not plays at home plate or balls and strikes.

Good to see that Baseball is catching up with the times. For those who say "this will make baseball even longer now" I think It doesn't matter how long it takes, as long as they get the calls right, especially as we head into October with the Postseason and the World Series!

MLB pushes to put instant replay in use by August

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Instant replay might be coming to Major League Baseball in an instant.

Moving faster than expected and coming after a rash of blown calls, baseball wants to put replay into effect by August for home run disputes in hopes of fine-tuning the system by the playoffs.

MLB and the umpires’ union need to reach agreement before replay can be tried, and the sides have started talking. Previously, it was thought replay would get its first look in the Arizona Fall League and then the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

“The game needs it and I think it does need it soon,” Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lieber said Friday before a game at Toronto. “With technology the way it is today, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be a part of the game.”

Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB’s executive vice president for baseball operations, is pushing for replay by Aug. 1; Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive vice president of labor relations, suggested Aug. 15.

“It’s all still premature,” MLB spokesman Rich Levin said Friday. “A final decision has not been made.”


USA Today first reported on its Web site Friday that baseball planned to use replay this season, saying MLB wanted it by Aug. 1.

“I don’t think it’s needed at all, to be honest,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Friday. “How many times do you see players make errors? Baseball has talked about speeding up the game. It’s all you hear. All of a sudden, they want instant replay? You’re going to have slower games and more restless people in the stands.”

Commissioner Bud Selig will ultimately decide when MLB wants to put replay in place. A staunch opponent in the past, a spate of missed boundary calls— fair or foul, over the fence or not—last month left Selig leaning toward its limited use.

The NFL, NBA, NHL, some NCAA sports and major tennis tournaments all employ replay in various forms.

A person briefed on MLB’s preliminary plan told The Associated Press that baseball wants to create an NHL-style “war room” in New York where video feeds would be reviewed by a supervisor. The umpire crew chief wouldn’t see replays— instead, the supervisor would describe what he saw, but leave it up to the umpire to make the final call.

It was not certain whether managers, umpires or the video supervisor would ask for a replay, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations were in progress.

Last month, after Carlos Delgado of the New York Mets and Alex Rodriguez of the New York lost home runs because of missed calls, umpires said they were open for discussion.

“We’d be all in favor of listening to whatever proposals they might have,” veteran ump John Hirschbeck, president of the World Umpires Association, said then.

Umpires, however, remain adamant that they do not want replay used to review close plays on the bases or ball-and-strike calls.

“I think the umpires do a good job on it. If they would like some additional help, I would find nothing wrong with it,” Baltimore hitting coach Terry Crowley said Friday night before the Orioles played Pittsburgh. “Every once in a while they get one wrong, but I would bet they get 99 out of 100 right, probably more.”

Last November, general managers voted 25-5 to try replay on boundary calls. At the time, Selig took the recommendation under advisement.

Selig, like many of the game’s traditionalists, always liked the human element of baseball, and that meant tolerating an occasional wrong call by an umpire. He also worried about further bogging down a sport that has been criticized for its slow pace.

Count Pittsburgh outfielder Jason Michaels in that corner.

“Here’s the thing: I guess I’m old school, but I think human error is part of the game,” he said. “It’s always been that way. I would think I’d be against it.”

In recent years, the new and cozy ballparks have made it more difficult for umpires with their quirky dimensions, odd angles and yellow lines that denote home runs.

“We’re putting these umps in a very difficult position making a call that is already challenging just because of the dynamic of the play,” Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said before the Rockies played at the Chicago White Sox. “We live in a technological society right now that we can get it right. The guy at home sees it right. That for me is where it really gets confusing. You can sit in your chair at home and make the right call, but the man getting paid who’s the expert is put in a box where you don’t know.”

AP Sports Writers David Ginsburg in Baltimore and Andrew Seligman in Chicago and AP freelance writer Ian Harrison in Toronto contributed to this report.

Does Major League Baseball Need Instant Replay?

Carlos Delgado's Blown Homerun call Sunday Night has reignited the debate for Replay In Baseball.

This Is My Baseball Topic For today: Does Major League Baseball Need Instant Replay? According to ESPN.Com:

"Major League Baseball is making tentative plans to experiment with instant replay in the Arizona Fall League, according to a baseball official with knowledge of those discussions.

If that experiment proves practical and successful, MLB then is likely to continue the experiment next March during the World Baseball Classic and spring training games.

If no insurmountable problems arise, baseball could begin using replay -- though only to decide home run calls -- as soon as next season."

The lack of Instant Replay not only screws the players, but it screws the fans who suffer with agony at the unjust actions of a blind umpire. Instant Replay would fix this.

How should Major League Baseball Use Instant Replay? Homeruns Is a good start, but I also want to see it used for "fair/foul" or "catch/trap ball" as well.

Here is two examples from this season of why Major League Baseball should use replays for catch/trap ball:
From April 5,2008: Braves Vs Mets: From Braves.Com:

"With the bases loaded and one out, third-base umpire Bruce Dreckman ruled that a diving Mark Kotsay caught Jose Reyes' sinking liner in shallow center. Immediately, Kotsay threw the ball back to the infield to seemingly retire Angel Pagan, who had raced to third base without tagging and even momentarily passed Ryan Church, who didn't advance after seeing Dreckman's out call.

After short consultation, the umpires reversed the call, gave Reyes his RBI single and advanced each of the runners one base. Cox conceded the right call was made and indicated the first umpire error prevented him from arguing about the fact that Pagan had passed Church."

Here Are Two Examples of Major League Baseball Needing Replay for a Homerun:
On Sunday night, umpires at Yankee Stadium reversed their correct call and concluded a shot by Carlos Delgado of the Mets was foul.


A night later, umpires in Houston mistakenly ruled a ball hit by the Cubs' Geovany Soto off a center-field wall was in play when it should have been a home run. Soto turned the hit into a three run inside-the-park home run anyway.


And on Wednesday night, a ball hit by Alex Rodriguez that struck a stairway beyond the outfield fence and bounced back into the outfield was ruled a double when it should have been a home run.


If You're Going to take steroids away from the players, then at least give glasses to the umpires!