Posted on 09/06/2015 2:36:32 PM PDT by EveningStar
Having umpires call balls and strikes is one of the most fundamental aspects of both the game of baseball and the profession of Major League Baseball umpires. But as we get better at recognizing what is really a strike it is becoming painfully obvious that it is time for the umps to give up the responsibility.
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Yes. YES! K-zone is far more consistent. Stil need a home plate umpire but he’s like the other base umpires. So sick of lousy balls and strike calling.
Concur with the article. Feed the info to the ump and let the ump make the call.
Bullshit.
Mysterious plates on other bases....
I used to like basketball and then basketball stop enforcing the rules. I no longer watch basketball, it’s jungleball now not basketball.
There is a ball behind in the scene but If you zoom up this vid to a high % the catcher clearly also has a ball in his bare tagging hand. (In fact it looks like 2 balls are in his grasp!) Awe the hell with it, I’m gonna go mix another adult beverage!
I listen on the wireless set.
“I think traveling calls went bye-bye when Michael Jordan rose to fame.”
I remember once taping a game with Jordan and kept very close count for one half. He touched the ball 41 times and committed 43 violations — 34 traveling, 5 palming, 4 offensive fouls. I think he did more to debase a major sport than any other single person. When I compare what he accomplished to Bird and Magic, they transformed the sport into something magnificent. Jordan made pro basketball something I have not watched seriously in twenty years, and not at all for maybe six or seven.
...about toenail fungus?
Well, management (and the tv networks) love offense, that’s pretty much the path the NFL has gone with pass defense officiating too.
MJ gave them what they wanted.
If you’re a football fan, read Bill Polian’s new book. He gives a lot of insight on how the “competition committee” shapes the game.
There is no need for any umpires at all! Plays at the plate, just like close plays at the bases can be appealed to the video gods, so why bother at all, just have a video umpire in the booth decide all the plays, and simply indicate if the player is safe or out by lighting either a green or red light on the scoreboard!
Probably best that players (batters) call the balls and strikes themselves similar to golf where the player counts the strokes and assesses penalties.
I see that. My bad.
Baseball is distinctive among sports in that the players are all individual actors. There is lots of teamwork - but if somebody goofs, everybody knows who it is that botched it. Baseball is the sport which, uniquely, can have an All-Star game and pretty much everything works. A football all-star game, nobody is really in sync because the players havent practiced with each other.under the coaches system. Basketball, same thing. Soccer is probably the same. But baseball, batting is the same, pitching is the same, playing outfield is the same, playing any position is the same. Somebody gets traded to a new team, they play their first game as soon as they get to the stadium. The only exception, to some extent, is the relation between the pitcher and the catcher.The result is that if you show someone up, you do it individually and publicly. And you might have to back it up outside the rules.
Right, players and coaches LOVE having unreliable umps, that’s why they so regularly scream at the ump until he throw them out. They’re telling the ump how much they love him.
Meanwhile, back in reality, crappy umps have been killing the game for 20 years.
Are you OK with Magic Johnson? He palmed the ball every time down the court.
What are you talking about? Magic was notorious for palming the ball. He did it all the time.
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