As one who has long opposed the idea of instant replay in baseball, I have to admit the umpires are making a strong case for introducing replays on a game-wide basis. How can they be so bad?
Three weeks ago they couldn’t count to four, as in four balls. The other night an umpire couldn’t see a tag right in front of him. The tag was clear enough that it was seen by everyone watching on television and the fans who remained in the 19th inning at Turner Field in Atlanta.
The call by umpire Jerry Meals would have been bad in any circumstance, but the timing made it worse. It decided the outcome of the game between two playoff contenders, the Braves and the Pirates.
To digress for a moment, I can’t believe I just used the words Pirates and contender in the same sentence. How, after a major league-record 18 consecutive losing seasons, are the Pirates contending for the National League Central title?
They may not maintain that status for long, but they have a better chance of doing it if the umpires make the right calls. If Meals had called Julio Lugo out at the plate, the Pirates could conceivably have escaped the 19th with a 3-3 tie and a chance to pull out a win.
The Meals’ mess was not unique. Two other times earlier in July bad calls brought out the worst in umpiring …
In a game between the Mets and the Yankees July 1 Jerry Layne called Jose Reyes out at third base on what he said was a sweep tag by Alex Rodriguez. Replays said otherwise.
In a July 6 game in which the Red Sox edged the Blue Jays, 3-2, umpire Brian Knight called Edwin Encarnacion out at home for the final out of the game.
“We should still be playing,” John Farrell, the Toronto manager, told reporters after he saw a replay. “That play is right in front of Brian Knight. It was clear that Edwin did a good job sliding around the plant leg of Tek (Jason Varitek). His swipe tag missed him by no less than a foot.”
Swipe tags, which have become increasingly popular, even among catchers, have seemingly created problems for umpires because tags are less obvious and more difficult to discern. Some people think players have adopted the tag for reasons of style rather than effectiveness.
Whatever the reason, the swipe tag is here to stay, and umpires have to improve their views of them. If they don’t, baseball may be forced to expand the use of replay, which made its controversial entry into baseball a couple of years ago.
Until now, replays have been used for boundary calls, primarily for home runs. Commissioner Bud Selig has said repeatedly that the use of replay will not be expanded, but if his umpires continue to embarrass baseball, what choice will he have?
Several hours after the Meals call ended the 19-inning game, Frank Coonelly, the Pirates’ president, who formerly was a labor lawyer in the commissioner’s office, registered a protest with that office.
“The Pittsburgh Pirates organization is extremely disappointed by the way its 19-inning game against the Atlanta Braves ended earlier this morning,” Coonelly wrote in a letter released by the Pirates. “The game of baseball and this game in particular, filled with superlative performances by players on both clubs, deserved much better. We have filed a formal complaint with the Commissioner.
“While we cannot begin to understand how Umpire Jerry Meals did not see the tag made by Michael McKenry three feet in front of home plate, we do not question the integrity of Mr. Meals. Instead, we know that Mr. Meals’ intention was to get the call right. Jerry Meals has been umpiring Major League games for 14 years and has always done so with integrity and professionalism. He got this one wrong.
“For Pirates fans, we may have lost a game in the standings as a result of a missed call but this game, and the gutsy performances by so many of our players, will make us stronger, more unified and more determined as we continue the battle for the National League Central Division.”
Again, I have to ask the question whoever thought we would have heard the president of the Pirates talk about a battle for a division championship? It was almost worth Meals terrible call to hear that. Well, not really, but it was good to hear a realistic response from Major League Baseball.
In a subsequent statement, Joe Torre, executive vice president for baseball operations, did not try to cover up Meals’ mistake.
“Unfortunately,” said Torre, a former player and manager, “it appears that the call was missed, as Jerry Meals acknowledged after the game. Many swipe tags are not applied to the runner with solid contact, but the tag was applied and the game should have remained tied.
“I have spoken with Jerry, who is a hard-working, respected umpire, and no one feels worse than him. We know that this is not a product of a lack of effort.
“Having been the beneficiary of calls like this and having been on the other end in my experience as a player and as a manager, I have felt that this has always been a part of our game. As a member of the Commissioner’s Special Committee for On-Field Matters, I have heard many discussions on umpiring and technology over the past two years, including both the pros and the cons of expanding replay. However, 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. Obviously, a play like this is going to spark a lot of conversation, and we will continue to consider all viewpoints in our ongoing discussions regarding officiating in baseball.
“We expect the best from our umpires, and an umpire would tell you he expects the best of himself. We have to continue to strive for accuracy, consistency and professionalism day in and day out.”
I have opposed replays because they are intrusive and time-consuming; games are long enough without adding time for umpires to study replays. I also have believed that players and managers make mistakes so why not umpires? That’s part of the human element of the game.
These recent blown calls, however, indicate the umpiring is getting worse and open baseball to ridicule. Expanded replay is coming and will arrive if the umpires don’t stop messing up. Baseball lives on its integrity. If fans lose faith in its integrity, Selig, the owners and the players might as well take their millions and go home.
I offer one stop-gap measure before baseball is compelled to surrender to expanded replay. Give the manager the right to dispute calls and request, at least, that the four umpires discuss the play in question, even if it’s the play that ended the game.
Maybe in the Meals’ incident, one of the other umpires saw the tag and could have enabled the crew to get it right. In the present system, no umpire, unless asked, will tell another umpire he blew the call.
The commissioner could institute that step immediately and avoid at least some bad calls. The umpires say they want to get all of the calls right. Selig could give them a better chance to do that.