Buck was saying that there was a possibility that I.R, May be tested because of all the bad calls? Would love to see it.

Selig recently made some strong statements AGAINST it. Hopefully the owners will pressure him the other way......

"The more baseball people I talk to, there is a lot of trepidation about it and I think their trepidation is fair," Selig told reporters before Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday. "I've spent a lot of time [on this] over the past month and will spend a lot of time in the ensuing months as well. I don't want to overreact. You can make light of that but when you start to think you're going to have more intrusions -- and even if they're good intrusions -- it's something that you have to be very careful about. Affecting the game on the field is not something I really want to do."

"Life is changing and I understand that," he said. "I do like the human element and I think the human element for the last 130 years has worked pretty well. There have been controversies but there are controversies in every sport."

<sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4606976

It is the "I do like the human element." Statement that really upsets me. Some people believe missed calls are part of the charm of the game, as much as a 100MPH fastball, hot dogs, and singing take me out to the ball game. For ME personally, the human element of major league baseball is the battle between the teams. Umpires are there to enforce the rules only and their mistakes should NOT have any effect on the outcome. Let the players decide games, not human error.

It is the "I do like the human element." Statement that really upsets me. Some people believe missed calls are part of the charm of the game, as much as a 100MPH fastball, hot dogs, and singing take me out to the ball game. For ME personally, the human element of major league baseball is the battle between the teams. Umpires are there to enforce the rules only and their mistakes should NOT have any effect on the outcome. Let the players decide games, not human error.

Very well said!

And IMO It would make the game so much more enjoyable for everyone!

Just do not understand why they insist on letting mistakes decide games when there is technology that could correct it!

the NFL doesn't let mistakes decide games, and somehow replay didn't ruin the league.

They will have to pay another umpire to sit in the booth and watch replays. MLB doesn't like to pay umpires salaries at all much less $100,000 to sit in a booth in case something happens.

How about making it only for the playoffs and WS and eliminate the 2 down the OF lines, since they just get in the way most of the time anyway vs. actually helping get the calls right (see disputed HR call for A-Rod in game 3 as an example), and put one in the booth. That way MLB saves money by paying one less umpire per game, and gets better overall officiating in the process.

Will Never Happen!!!

Makes way too much sense!

Our Baseball Commissioner has his head in the sand!

I agree, human element of the game should only involve the players. The umpires should not have any affect on the game whatsoever, they are NOT part of the game. Umpires have done fine for the past 130 years, but the fact is They HAD TO use umpires all this time, not because it was some great addition to the game or because it was the best possible option, it was the ONLY option. Now that there are other options, changes should be made.

And saying that every sport had controversy thus it's okay, is also ridiculous. That's basically saying there's no need to try to improve anything because other sports have flaws too.

The game would be so much more enjoyable if the umps did not have any affect on the games. No more whining about bad calls, no more conspiracy theorists about the umps being paid off, etc etc. Teams will be simply outplayed by another in fair ground, no other excuses.

Honestly I have nothing against umpires, despite all the complaining, I feel they've done the best they could and most of them did a pretty good job. But the fact is there are now better alternatives. Before when bad calls change a big game, there's nothing we can do, so we deal with it. Now that there IS something we can do, it's ridiculous that we still just take it. That's like me telling my boss: "nah I'll just calculate everything by hand, it worked well before we had computers".

"Our Baseball Commissioner has his head in the sand! "

How did he get sand way up there? On second thought nevermind. I really don't want to know.

I agree. The history argument is a weak one. For most of baseball's history batting helmets weren't used. Does that mean we should go back to playing that way? MLB only started using 4 umpires for games in 1952. Why did they switch to using 4? Because it allowed them to focus on their particular base and get the calls right more often. How would this be any different?

---

Edited 11/3/2009 2:57 pm ET by cabanaboyken

The problem is where do you draw the line in instant replay in baseball? Right now all they have is "boundary" calls which consists of whether a ball is fair or foul for a home run or over the wall, etc... I think it should be a given that a close call play at a base should be evaluated whether a player is out or safe because umpires make mistakes a lot on those calls. Also check swings should definitely be evaluated. It's ridiculous how bad the calls are on check swings. Other than that, I don't see where you can use instant replay. You obviously can't use instant replay for balls and strikes because the strike zone is different for each umpire. The only other option would be to get more precise calls by not even having a home plate umpire and just a k zone that is viewed in a booth to automatically show it as a ball or strike, but that will never happen.

Unfortunately those 2 extra umpires down the lines are written into the Umpires labor agreement with MLB. It's just a way to get more umpires more post-season pay and games.

Plus, what you're saying makes too much sense. Why would you do 162 games (minus the 4 weeks vacation umpires get per season) of something one way and then out of nowhere put 2 more guys in the rotation. It gives different responsibilities to different guys, different shift to different guys and if you ask me, most umpires aren't used to the 6 man system. The only time they do it is All-Star game and World Series.

It's not what there used to so they make more mistakes than normal imho.

ANd honestly the only reason they were even put there was to help out on HR calls right down the line, with the thinking that an umpire stationed closer would have a better look. But those calls they can already use replay for, so those umpires aren't needed at all. As for balls that land fair or foul down the line in play it's actually easier most times for the base umpire to clearly see that one since they are not moving to potentially get out of the way of the ball out there.

On a homerun fair or foul call down the line usually the best view is from the second base umpire, that is of course if he doesn't have other places to be looking at the time. Down the line in the outfield is not an easy place to see a homerun ball unless you're standing at the foot of the fence.

There is a reason the referees in football don't wait till the ball is snapped to turn around and go running for the goal post on field goal kicks.

I didn't say it was sound reasoning. Not a lot of MLB decisions seem to be. Just giving my opinion on what their reasoning was for sticking umpires down the lines like that in postseason play.

During the playoffs this year the umps have made way too many crucial errors on calls that were obvious. I see nothing wrong with instant replay and getting to the truth.