For now, video will be used only on so-called "boundary calls," such as determining whether fly balls went over the fence or whether potential home runs were fair or foul.
Video will be collected at the office of Major League Baseball Advanced Media in New York. If the crew chief at a game decides replay needs to be checked, umpires will leave the field, technicians at MLBAM will show umpires the video and the crew chief will make the call.
Video will be collected at the office of Major League Baseball Advanced Media in New York. If the crew chief at a game decides replay needs to be checked, umpires will leave the field, technicians at MLBAM will show umpires the video and the crew chief will make the call.
Baseball starts instant replay Thursday
NEW YORK (AP)—Major League Baseball reversed its long-standing opposition to instant replay and will allow umpires to check video on home run calls in series that start Thursday.
The start date comes nearly 10 months after general managers voted 25-5 to use the technology, and following MLB agreements with the unions for umpires and for players.
In this July 23, 2008 file photo, umpires from left to right, Jeff Kellogg, Sam Holbrook, Mark Wegner, and Chad Fairchild, who raises his arm to signal a home run, confer as Arizona Diamondbacks' Stephen Drew, top, looks on as the umpires meet to see if there was fan interference on the grand slam hit by Chicago Cubs' Reed Johnson in the eighth inning of a baseball game in Phoenix. Major League Baseball reversed its long-standing opposition to instant replay and will allow umpires to check video on home run calls in series that start Thursday, a person familiar with the announcement told The Associated Press.
“I believe that the extraordinary technology that we now have merits the use of instant replay on a very limited basis,” commissioner Bud Selig said. “The system we have in place will ensure that the proper call is made on home run balls and will not cause a significant delay to the game.”
Three series are scheduled to start Thursday, with Philadelphia at the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota at Oakland and Texas at the Los Anageles Dodgers. 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.
Selig, who opposed replay in the past, said he won’t allow its use to expand to additional types of calls.
” My opposition to unlimited instant replay is still very much in play,” Selig said. “I really think that the game has prospered for well over a century now doing things the way we did it.”
Video from all broadcast feeds will be collected at the office of Major League Baseball Advanced Media in New York, where it will be monitored by a technician and either an umpire supervisor or a retired umpire. If the crew chief at a game decides replay needs to be checked, umpires will leave the field, technicians at MLBAM will show umpires the video and the crew chief will make the call, overturning the original decision only if there is “clear and convincing evidence.”
Leaving the dugout to argue a call following a replay will result in an automatic ejection.
Selig said the use of replays may shorten games because it might eliminate some arguments.
“While the use of instant replay is an experiment, we hope that over the balance of this season it will prove to be a success,” players’ union head Donald Fehr said.
The players’ association agreed to replay for the balance of the season but retained the right, through Dec. 10, to ask for additional bargaining for future years. If players don’t, the replay agreement will run through 2011.
Baseball had been the last holdout among the major professional sports in the United States. Replays were first used in the NFL in 1986.
In the NHL, video review has been in place since the 1991-92 season to check whether the puck crossed the goal line completely, went in before time expired or the net was dislodged, and wasn’t kicked or batted in intentionally.
In the NBA, replays have been viewed since the 2002-3 season to decide whether players got off shots before time expired and since last season to aid decisions following altercations and flagrant fouls. In grand slam tennis tournaments, a Hawk-Eye system has been used to decide close line calls since the 2006 U.S. Open.
International soccer has refused to embrace aiding referees, with FIFA’s International Football Association Board voting last March to stop all experiments with technology that could determine whether balls cross goal lines.
YahooSports.com
<!-- Play Ball! — Sign up for Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball '08 today. -->
NEW YORK (AP)—Major League Baseball reversed its long-standing opposition to instant replay and will allow umpires to check video on home run calls in series that start Thursday.
The start date comes nearly 10 months after general managers voted 25-5 to use the technology, and following MLB agreements with the unions for umpires and for players.
In this July 23, 2008 file photo, umpires from left to right, Jeff Kellogg, Sam Holbrook, Mark Wegner, and Chad Fairchild, who raises his arm to signal a home run, confer as Arizona Diamondbacks' Stephen Drew, top, looks on as the umpires meet to see if there was fan interference on the grand slam hit by Chicago Cubs' Reed Johnson in the eighth inning of a baseball game in Phoenix. Major League Baseball reversed its long-standing opposition to instant replay and will allow umpires to check video on home run calls in series that start Thursday, a person familiar with the announcement told The Associated Press.
“I believe that the extraordinary technology that we now have merits the use of instant replay on a very limited basis,” commissioner Bud Selig said. “The system we have in place will ensure that the proper call is made on home run balls and will not cause a significant delay to the game.”
Three series are scheduled to start Thursday, with Philadelphia at the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota at Oakland and Texas at the Los Anageles Dodgers. 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.
Selig, who opposed replay in the past, said he won’t allow its use to expand to additional types of calls.
” My opposition to unlimited instant replay is still very much in play,” Selig said. “I really think that the game has prospered for well over a century now doing things the way we did it.”
Video from all broadcast feeds will be collected at the office of Major League Baseball Advanced Media in New York, where it will be monitored by a technician and either an umpire supervisor or a retired umpire. If the crew chief at a game decides replay needs to be checked, umpires will leave the field, technicians at MLBAM will show umpires the video and the crew chief will make the call, overturning the original decision only if there is “clear and convincing evidence.”
Leaving the dugout to argue a call following a replay will result in an automatic ejection.
Selig said the use of replays may shorten games because it might eliminate some arguments.
“While the use of instant replay is an experiment, we hope that over the balance of this season it will prove to be a success,” players’ union head Donald Fehr said.
The players’ association agreed to replay for the balance of the season but retained the right, through Dec. 10, to ask for additional bargaining for future years. If players don’t, the replay agreement will run through 2011.
Baseball had been the last holdout among the major professional sports in the United States. Replays were first used in the NFL in 1986.
In the NHL, video review has been in place since the 1991-92 season to check whether the puck crossed the goal line completely, went in before time expired or the net was dislodged, and wasn’t kicked or batted in intentionally.
In the NBA, replays have been viewed since the 2002-3 season to decide whether players got off shots before time expired and since last season to aid decisions following altercations and flagrant fouls. In grand slam tennis tournaments, a Hawk-Eye system has been used to decide close line calls since the 2006 U.S. Open.
International soccer has refused to embrace aiding referees, with FIFA’s International Football Association Board voting last March to stop all experiments with technology that could determine whether balls cross goal lines.
YahooSports.com
<!-- Play Ball! — Sign up for Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball '08 today. -->
i agree viejo
baseball is a beautiful sport because you can go out there and argue with an umpire, kick some dirt on him and get ejected
it is a game of balls and strikes and umpire decisions on every play.
there are 162 games, you dont need replay that badly
in the nfl, or college football if you lose 1 game, your whole season could be done
in baseball thats not the case
keep it pure and play the game
baseball is a beautiful sport because you can go out there and argue with an umpire, kick some dirt on him and get ejected
it is a game of balls and strikes and umpire decisions on every play.
there are 162 games, you dont need replay that badly
in the nfl, or college football if you lose 1 game, your whole season could be done
in baseball thats not the case
keep it pure and play the game
