Yes, I know it’s football season, but the other day I came across this article:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130918&content_id=61017384&vkey=news_atl&c_id=mlb
After doing some research apparently this particular umpire (CB Bucknor) has had some issues in the past with calling balls and strikes.
http://deadspin.com/5921148/better-know-an-umpire-cb-bucknor
http://www.complex.com/sports/2013/06/mlb-umpire-cb-bucknor-calls-player-out-two-strikes
http://38pitches.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/why-c-b-bucknor-is-not-a-good-umpire/
I’m not writing this as an op-ed piece meant to bring down a guy who has been an umpire since 1996. The guy obviously knows the game of baseball, enjoys the spotlight and enjoys his job. Even with all of these ejections, players/coaches squaring up with him, etc he seems to remain fairly calm and handles the situation admirably. His “crisis handling” skills are certainly not in question.
But, let’s get to the point. Baseball is boring. Sorry folks it is. You can make whatever excuse you want. The worst part is, you get to a penultimate moment in the game, a place where you are REALLY INTERESTED in what’s going on and the WHOLE THING is RUINED by a BLOWN CALL. I would say a vast majority of the blown calls I’ve seen recently were specifically about balls and strikes – the instant reply system that MLB is trying out right now I think can be considered a success for the other ones.
Hey, I love tradition. I live in a very historical city and we enjoy seeing horse drawn carriages, people dressing up in “period” attire and I love attending historical dinners, etc meant to remember a pivotal occasion in US history.
BUT, baseball is supposed to be a somewhat “modern” game. They have embraced (to some degree) instant replay for example. Baseball parks have gotten a lot nicer than what I remember growing up in the late 70s and early 80s. Every billboard is a giant HDTV, anybody remember the old flip cards out in the outfield telling you balls/strikes and the scores of other games?
So we have come a long way, so why do we still rely on umpires behind home plate, behind the catcher, in what many have called the worst place on the field to observe balls and strikes? It makes absolutely no sense.
A simple solution to those “traditionalists” out there (yes, you know who you are, you’re the ones who still get “bled” by leeches when you’re not feeling well):
Keep the umpire behind home plate. He’s still important and has a great perspective on foul balls and (obviously) plays at the plate. He can also be helpful on occasion by calling safe/out plays at 2nd base, balks and other miscellaneous disagreements with managers. He’s still the “guy in charge” as anything relates to the officials on the field of play.
BUT, instead of having the umpire decide on ball strikes use the TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE to us and instead give him a buzzer or maybe a green/red light in his mask that instead tells him if the pitch is a ball or strike when it crosses the plate. Something like this for example:
See the bottom right corner. This is a technology via TBS called “Pitch Trax”. C’mon man, TBS has this, but MLB refuses to use it, really?
THIS WOULD ELIMINATE all discussions about balls and strikes unless the technology wasn’t working. OK, technology sometimes fails, in that case we would resort back to the umpire calling balls/strikes. SEE? We have a built-in failsafe!
I predict this would make the game more interesting, focusing more on the real strategy of the teams, performance of the players and NOT so much of an emphasis on where so-and-sos strike zone is.
Then again, maybe this baseball thing is a microcosm as to why so many of us are resistant to change…
Are you?
