Posted on 06/02/2010 6:52:08 PM PDT by Museum Twenty
An open letter to the President of the American League and the Comissioner of Baseball:
Gentlemen:
I have loved baseball my entire, rather long life.
Regarding tonight's game in Detroit, you both, for the integrity of the game, have a duty and responsibility to reverse the call. Fix it. Get it right.
It is sufficiently clear. Statistics regarding the 28th batter can be reversed out.
A concept such as “we don’t change calls after the fact” holds no water in these rather unique circumstances. Fix it. Get it right.
There is the concept of a protested game, when the actual outcome of a game can be reversed after the fact. By the League President.
There is the concpt of “thrown games,” when the Comissioner can do as he sees fit to fix things, to get them right.
That is what leadership is about. To do otherwise is simply pigheaded stubborness. Do not hide behind the skirts of the law.
Put an asterisk in the Rulebook under your unilateral authority for the integrity of the game: Replay can be used when the call for the 27th out of a Perfect Game is in dispute.
Gentlemen, fix it. Get it right.
Thank you.
What about the Pine Tar game?
But scorekeepers have been known to reverse their judgments the next day. I don’t see why he can’t ‘review’ the play and declare an error on the pitcher, and at least the kid gets on the no-hitter list. There’s plenty of precedent for scorekeepers changing their minds.
Sorry. The Scorekeeper didn’t make the call @ 1st. His job is NOT to DECIDE balls, strikes or outs. He can designate a hit or an error, but he CAN’T call a ball or strike or foul or a run scored or an out or whatever. His job is statistics — to record the events of the game, NOT to call the game.
This isn’t on the Scorekeeper, it’s on the Ump. And NO Ump is going to review his own call and reverse it once play has resumed — he hasn’t the power to do so. In fact, neither does the Commish, the League President or any other figure in or out the sport.
An Ump CAN, and occasionally has reversed himself — immediately, BEFORE play resumes. I’ve BEEN the Ump in Little League, high-school ball, Company Softball, etc. Say you inadvertently give the Ball sign and KNOW you meant to give the Strike. You MAY reverse this before play resumes, if you KNOW you fumbled it. Otherwise, once play resumes, you’re stuck with it and so’s the player.
If you DO reverse yourself, SOMEBODY is going to be unhappy ... so ? That’s life. Deal with it ...
The rules REQUIRE the Ump to make the correct call. The players aren’t supposed to be penalized unduly because of a momentary lapse on the part of the Ump. But, he ONLY gets ONE opportunity to make it right. Once the pitcher starts delivering the next pitch, however, his ONE opportunity is gone forever.
I don’t recall an Ump ever reversing himself because of a tirade by the players or managers. I do recall discussions between the Umps that produced a different call — rarely, but it has happened. The Crew Chief asks ‘You sure ?’ and some discussion might ensue to lock it down. And of course, the Ump CAN defer to another Ump who might have ( or assert ) a different / better view of the call he made before play is allowed to resume — rarely, but it has happened.
This is just baseball, pure and simple. It’s what you get when you put human beings into the mix — imperfection.
And ... come on, it’s only a game, guys.
One Man’s Opinion ...
21stCenturion
Oops. Clarification needed here ...
If I yell ‘Ball’ but signal the Strike, I MUST correct myself before allowing play to resume. If I signal one but really meant to signal the other, I CAN change the call, but I am often reluctant to do so.
If there is an immediate argument, I will rely on asserting my judgment — that’s what Umpires DO. If there isn’t an argument, I am serenely willing to admit to myself that I made a bad call and endeavor to better going forward.
But I will NOT change the call in response to an argument by the players or managers. Sometimes, if ALL the other Umps are morally certain it was a bad call and say so with reasoning, I MAY defer to their superior numbers and certainty. But, I am not REQUIRED to if, in my own judgment, I have already made the correct call. And NO ONE has the authority to change my call during or after the game. It stands, regardless.
One Man’s Opinion ...
21stCenturion
Yeah, I agree. And unlike basketball and football, baseball doesn’t have a clock. You’ve got to pitch and get those last three outs. There’s no running out the clock. And have you ever noticed that the last minute of an NBA game lasts an hour? Baseball is also a more difficult game to master. Danny Ainge couldn’t play baseball but was an NBA standout. Ditto, Elway. Neither could cut the mustard in professional baseball. Sorry, but I’m not impressed with a seven footer dunking a basketball. But I’m immensely impressed with the fact that Joe Sewell once had over six hundred at-bats and struck out only four times. I’m also impressed that Babe Ruth hit more home runs in a single season than any other team in the American League. And yes, baseball is much more cerebral than the other two. There are more great books written about baseball in a year than all the books ever written about basketball and football. Basketball and football may be more popular, but so what; rap and hip hop are more popular than Beethoven and Mozart. And I’m sick and tired of a bunch of inarticulate morons expressing their so-called individuality with tattoos all over their bodies. Expressing individuality my ass, They’re merely copying what millions of others are doing.
Want a real game? Try lacrosse. There ya go.
But will waste considerable time each week in the fal, the prime time for saltwater fishing, inside watching them. Like the alone time I take it?
:)
No, I totally agree with you, this isn’t on the scorekeeper at all - he’s just in a unique position now to make something a little better and really kind of put in the face of the system, that’s all.
In conclusion ... I gotta get back to MY life ...
The Scorekeeper’s role and that of the Ump do NOT overlap. The Ump doesn’t know or care if the play was ultimately scored a hit or an error. That ‘call’ is pretty much the limit of the Scorekeeper’s role in recording the events of the game.
The Ump, on the other hand, is completely and SOLELY responsible for deciding runs, outs, and whether the actions of any player, coach or manager is consistent or compliant with The Rules. He makes Rulings concerning these actions continuously throughout the game. His rulings are binding on all parties and not subject to revision by ANY person in or out of the game.
Of course, if he makes enough bad calls to raise a stink about his competence, he may well be sent back to the stands as his only role in the game.
As to whether the Scorekeeper can or should review and revise the scoring in order to “make things a little better” or to “put it to the system” ... Well, I just say “Shame on you !”. What ARE you, some kind of closet Progressive ? That certainly is NOT within the spirit of Baseball or good-sportsmanship as I know it.
One Man’s Opinion ...
21stCenturion
This is acting within traditional roles of the parties involved. How is it "progressive" to simply ask why something is done one way, and then still act within defined limits. The spirit of baseball should not be to propagate errors. How this even vaguely qualifies as poor sportsmanship is a complete mystery.
OKay. Let’s review the bidding ...
The Ump called the runner safe. That’s a hit. Period. Full stop.
The Scorekeeper has NO discretion to revise or amend that event. Period. Full stop.
There was no ‘error’ on the play. The Ump’s bad call cannot be scored as an ‘error’ — it’s a ‘hit’. Period. Full stop.
There was NO ‘no-hitter’ as soon as the pitcher delivered the next pitch. Period. Full stop.
The pitcher faced 28 batsman, all legal and according to the rules, to complete the game. It ain’t ‘perfect’; it ain’t a no-hitter. It IS a one-hit shutout. Period. Full stop.
You ask “all I questioned is why, in the case where everyone on the planet knows there was neither a hit nor an error, why do we need to record it as a hit.” ? Well, it’s a ‘hit’ because the Ump called the batter safe at 1st on the play. This was ‘locked-in’ as soon as the pitcher delivered the next pitch. So ‘everyone on the planet’ recognizes that the Ump blew the call. It doesn’t change the official and final scoring of the game. Y’know, life’s a bitch and then you die. Deal with it.
You say “The spirit of baseball is not to propagate errors”. Actually, ‘the spirit of baseball’ has nothing to do with that. The spirit of baseball is that imperfect humans succeed while failing to hit the ball over 70% of the time. The spirit of baseball is that imperfect humans make innumerable judgment calls of balls and strikes and fair or foul balls and may only get it right less than 80% of the time. The spirit of baseball recognizes that a ‘bad hop’ can decide the outcome and there’s simply nothing the most masterful fielder can do about it. The spirit of baseball is ennobled by the acceptance of imperfection while continuously striving to do better, going forward.
Once the play is called, the call is made and won’t be un-made. I believe, as many other purists do, that even the marginal encroachment of instant replay to decide if a hit is a homer or foul violates the spirit of the game. We had a pretty good handle on the game for well over a century without this particular feature. And don’t even get me started on the ‘designated hitter’ abomination ...
The suggestion of ‘poor sportsmanship’ arises when you suggest that something — ANYTHING ! — be done to make an unhappy outcome somehow ‘a little better’ ( Damn the Rules ! ) or that the Scorekeeper ‘pencil whip’ a certain hit into an error simply to create an artificial semblance of a more ‘just’ outcome in response to the ump’s ( admittedly ) bad call so that a one-hit shutout can be ‘magically’ transformed into a mendacious no-hitter.
( How’s THAT for a majorly run-on sentence. I must really be getting wound up on this’n ... )
I nominated you as a closet Progressive because THEY’re the one’s who seek to modify reality in service to some ‘feel good’ expectations that we can say or do or wish for whatever we want ( Damn the Rules ! ) as long as we’re only trying to make things a little or as a way to ‘put it TO the system or whoever I disapprove of’.
A is A. It is what it is. Wishing won’t make it so. Roses have thorns. NOTHING wrought by the hand or mind of man is, nor ever will be, ‘perfect’. There can and must be only one ‘winner’ — that’s why we do not tolerate ‘ties’ in baseball. Good sportsmanship encompasses ALL of the above and does so graciously.
One Man’s Opinion ...
21stCenturion
Would love to read the rest, but you told me to "full stop." That means don't go anymore.
Only one of us knows what ‘full stop’ means and has applied it correctly.
Your little semantic hand-wave to excuse your departure from the argument isn’t even witty, let alone germane.
I have been willing to be reasonably argumentative, ‘til now. You have ceased to hold up your end. Instead, you have merely achieved a ‘plonk’. ( As Steve Jobs used to say, ‘You have set your Bozo Bit, and it’s ‘write-only’. )
Have a nice life.
21stCenturion
Only one of us knows what ‘full stop’ means and has applied it correctly.
Your little semantic hand-wave to excuse your departure from the argument isn’t even witty, let alone germane.
I have been willing to be reasonably argumentative, ‘til now. You have ceased to hold up your end. Instead, you have merely achieved a ‘plonk’. ( As Steve Jobs used to say, ‘You have set your Bozo Bit, and it’s ‘write-only’. )
Have a nice life.
21stCenturion
Only one of us knows what ‘full stop’ means and has applied it correctly.
Your little semantic hand-wave to excuse your departure from the argument isn’t even witty, let alone germane.
I have been willing to be reasonably argumentative, ‘til now. You have ceased to hold up your end. Instead, you have merely achieved a ‘plonk’.
Have a nice life.
21stCenturion
Learn the difference between officiating the game and maintaining the statistics, and perhaps you can talk to baseball fans at some point in the future.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.