The Final 9

By BRUCE WEBER

Getting it right is a necessity in genetic testing, a plus in a spelling bee and a paramount virtue in journalism. But in sports it might just be overrated.

This week, Major League Baseball introduced instant replay as a tool to adjudicate troublesome home run calls, making it the last of the major American sports to use technology to help officials get it right.

Tennis has the electric eye to monitor selected line calls. Basketball lets the referees check the videotape to see if a player released a shot before the buzzer at the end of a period and also to review fights and flagrant fouls. In hockey, they’ll look again to see if the puck did or didn’t sneak entirely across the goal line. And in football it seems they’ll review just about anything.

The chief argument in favor of instant replay is that it preserves the integrity of the game, that athletes work too hard and are too good at what they do to have their skills and the nature of their competition marginalized by the human frailties of ostensibly lesser mortals who sit in judgment of them. Of course, the games existed perfectly well with their integrity perfectly intact before anyone ever uttered the phrase, “Let’s go to the videotape.” And if it was integrity that the replay was preserving, we wouldn’t limit its use, would we?

Instant Replay May Be Moving Into Foul Territory....

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

Major League Baseball will institute the use of instant replay on Thursday to determine disputed home run calls -- fair or foul, in or out of the ballpark, fan interference -- Commissioner Bud Selig announced on Tuesday.
The system, which has been under study since this past November when the general managers voted 25-5 to explore its use, will launch on Thursday when Minnesota opens a four-game series at Oakland, Texas is in Anaheim to play the Angels, and the Phillies are at Wrigley Field to play the Cubs.

Since it was determined that the use of replay should start when a series opens, it will be in use for all games beginning with Friday's action. Musing that implementing replay was really not like dealing with "Einstein's 'Theory of Relativity,'" the Commissioner said the apropos time to move ahead with it was now.

"I believe this is right," Selig said during a late afternoon conference call unveiling the new system. "I think the umpires believe it. I think the players believe it. The evidence [for using it] became overwhelming the more I looked at ballparks. You've got an umpire running out and he's 300-400 feet away, and it became impossible [for him to make the right call]. I'm delighted we're able to make this adjustment.

"As you well know, anytime you try to change things in baseball, it's both emotional and difficult, but this [decision] everyone really thought was in the sport's best interest. And that's why I made it."

Limited instant replay debuts Thursday....

By Alyson Footer / MLB.com

HOUSTON -- Instant replay will serve as a valuable tool to umpires while making home run calls, but that doesn't mean the proverbial "human element" will no longer be a factor.
Instant replay will be used as somewhat of a last resort. According to 24-year umpiring veteran and crew chief Dana DeMuth, the "old rules" of making calls on disputed home run balls will still be very much in effect.

But if after steps one (umpire makes the call), two (manager argues the call) and three (crew convenes to discuss the call) the umpires cannot conclude whether a home run is indeed a home run, they'll turn to the newest step -- instant replay -- to help make the correct determination.

In the past, when an umpiring crew would gather to discuss -- and sometimes, overturn -- a call, they would use a democratic system of sorts. If they were split 2-2, they'd stick with the original call.

Now, if they're split, they'll turn to instant replay to serve as the tie-breaker.

Umpires see replay as an aid....

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

WASHINGTON -- Commissioner Bud Selig said after the closing of Thursday's joint meeting of the 30 club executives that he could implement instant replay for disputed home run calls before the end of the season.
"I'm hoping we can get the bugs out sometime before the postseason," Selig said. "Whether we can make that timetable or not really hasn't been determined."

The owners, eight of whom sit on the executive council along with Selig, were briefed about the replay plan on Wednesday and the full body of executives heard the details on Thursday morning.

Selig: Work continues on instant replay....

By Jerry Crasnick

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball continues to work feverishly on its plan to blend technology with the human element on the field. Barring a glitch, the kinks could be ironed out in time to prevent a dreaded umpiring fiasco on a national stage in October.

Commissioner Bud Selig said Tuesday that instant replay, a long-debated topic in baseball circles, is being looked at "intensely," and that a system could be in place in time for postseason play.

Selig gives state of MLB address, says instant replay near....

By Buster Olney

In an instant replay plan currently being considered by Major League Baseball, video review of disputed calls would take place at a central location and would be the responsibility of the umpire crew chief at each game, according to an umpires' union memo obtained by ESPN The Magazine.

Major League Baseball is attempting to institute instant replay on home run calls before the end of this season, according to two sources familiar with those discussions. However, in order to accomplish that, MLB still needs to settle on a replay system that would satisfy everyone involved, from the umpires to commissioner Bud Selig.

An outline of how instant replay might work was detailed in the memo, sent to umpires by their union this week. On Friday, USA Today first reported that the umpires were advised that instant replay could be in use as soon as Aug. 1.

Major League Baseball officials said Friday that the details of the plan being discussed are still preliminary.

STORY....

by FOXSports.com

Fair or foul? The perpetual debate may be over soon.

Major League Baseball wants to begin experimenting with instant replay by Aug. 1, according to a report on the USA Today Web site.

Two "high-ranking officials within the World Umpires Association" told the paper that MLB approached the umpires Wednesday, asking that replay be used on "boundary calls" — those which determine whether a home run has cleared an outfield wall or has stayed fair.

Negotiations still must take place before the rule is enacted, the report said, and MLB spokesman Rich Levin said there is still a lot to work out.

STORY....

By Jayson Stark
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.


A top baseball official confirmed to The Associated Press Thursday that he will formulate a proposal for instant replay, although he wouldn't put a timetable on a replay plan.

"The times are such that our fans are used to seeing all the high technology and they're used to seeing the other sports that use these systems to make determinations, and the fans are clamoring for all the sports to look at that," said Jimmie Lee Solomon, the sport's executive vice president for baseball operations.

Story....