Are baseball umpires getting help from the booth?

Scary_Tiger · #1 06-23-2007, 11:52 PM

Two very close calls in the Padres/Red Sox game got overturned, both correctly, but IMO there's no way they overturn these calls based on what one of the other umpires saw.

Brian Knight was the 3rd base umpire and ruled a diving trap by Manny a catch. Manny tumbled in a manner where his body blocked it from the 1st and 2nd base umpires. Did the home plate umpire honestly get so much of a better look to rule that a single?

Later in the game a home run hits a weird part of the foul pole which extends from the main pole and juts left. As a result the ball hit off it and bounced to the right. (Instead of normal foul pole action.)

It seems very obvious to me that at this point in time, umpires are effectively getting instant replay and somewhere there's someone forwarding what the correct call is.

Am I a crazy conspiracy nut? I'm of the opinion they should, but I think they should admit to it.

andyfox · #2 06-24-2007, 01:19 AM

I don't understand overturning calls anyway. Aren't calls supposed to be umpires' judgments? What is the difference between overturning an umpire's ruling on a trapped ball call vs. overturning an umpire's ruling on a called strike, or safe or out at first base?

danvh · #3 06-24-2007, 02:09 AM

Hasn't there been multiple cases of baseball umps overturning calls based on instant replay.

lippy · #4 06-24-2007, 02:33 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand overturning calls anyway. Aren't calls supposed to be umpires' judgments? What is the difference between overturning an umpire's ruling on a trapped ball call vs. overturning an umpire's ruling on a called strike, or safe or out at first base?

[/ QUOTE ]

4 eyes are better than 2, and 6 than 4 and so on.

I'll give you the most rudimentary example.

Imagine a close play with at first. The first basemen has to go up the line to catch the ball. The ball beats the runner.

F1V = Field Ump 1's View: It is his call. He will see the first baseman catching the ball w/ his foot on the base.

PUV = Home Plate Ump's View: He is watching the play and can see that the first baseman has pulled his foot.

The confer, HP overrules F1, the system worked.

Overturning calls is really, really necessary. There are bound to be time when an ump in proper position gets a bad view of a play. When there are more umps, they can confer and usually come up with the correct call.

If you have 4 trained eyes seeing the same thing, a conference of them all will usually illicit the correct result.

It's also important to note that, although there is an Umpire-in-Chief, these conferences are not formal.

Imagine the Manny trap (I haven't seen the play at all, this is only for example), this could be a conversation;

2BU; I saw a catch
1BU; Yeah, me too.
HPU; Nope, definitely trapped it
3BU; Yeah, doubt any of us could tell
2BU; Alright, we'll overturn it.
1BU; Okay, Jesus, this game is going really long.
2BU; Yeah, [censored] Pitcher is throwing a lot of balls
3BU; Yeah, hey, Rick, did you hit that young Asian girl last night?

etc, etc. They come to a consensus really quickly, in most cases, and keep talking to make it look more legitimate.

PokerFink · #5 06-24-2007, 03:06 AM

Baseball not using instant replay is retarded. The wildcard worked. Interleague play worked. Instant replay will work. [censored] being traditional; traditional sucks.

/rant

lippy · #6 06-24-2007, 03:33 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Baseball not using instant replay is retarded. The wildcard worked. Interleague play worked. Instant replay will work. [censored] being traditional; traditional sucks.

/rant

[/ QUOTE ]

It would slow the games down too much.

Scary_Tiger · #7 06-24-2007, 03:34 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Baseball not using instant replay is retarded. The wildcard worked. Interleague play worked. Instant replay will work. [censored] being traditional; traditional sucks.

/rant

[/ QUOTE ]

It would slow the games down too much.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, lets have the umps have little conferences and chat it up cause that's so much faster.

mo42nyy · #8 06-24-2007, 05:52 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Baseball not using instant replay is retarded. The wildcard worked. Interleague play worked. Instant replay will work. [censored] being traditional; traditional sucks.

/rant

[/ QUOTE ]

The wild card is a joke and one step closer to rendering the regular season as meaningless as the NBA and NHL regular season.
Interleague has worked to the extent of helping a crappy NL team sell out a series against the Yankees.

Uglyowl · #9 06-24-2007, 08:57 AM

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The wild card is a joke

[/ QUOTE ]

Business wise the wild card has been a gold mine for MLB. Most will disagree with you by the way.

andyfox · #10 06-24-2007, 02:19 PM

Your detailed technical drawing notwithstanding, suppose the second base umpire has a better view of whether a pitch is inside or not--I imagine sometimes he does. Should he overrule the home plate umpire's decision. I imagine the 3rd or 1st base umpire has a better view of a tag play at home sometimes. Again, should that be overturned?

A manager can't argue balls and strikes. Why should he be able to argue "out" and "safe" calls, or fair and foul calls?