Umpires to Tech: You're Out!

wired news ^ | 6 18 03

[freepatriot32]

It may be baseball's biggest technology controversy since lights were installed at Wrigley Field.

Like Chicago's beloved baseball park, the umpire's home behind the plate is a somewhat sacred spot. So adding technology that claims to improve the game does not sit well with everyone, especially those who control the play on the field.

Major League Baseball umpires are fighting the QuesTec Umpire Information System, a series of cameras that track each pitch and compare the machine's ruling with the ump's call. The technology, which first was tested by the major leagues in 2001, is currently used in 10 ballparks.

Major League Baseball says that it is using the technology to better define the strike zone and make it more consistent from ump to ump.

[Hodar]

a series of cameras that track each pitch and compare the machine's ruling with the ump's call.

Let's see, computer based rulings, based on machines that never blink, yawn or get tired. I think they would be very accurate, much more accurate than a mere human. So, how does this benefit the Umpire? He's either confirmed by a sophisticated machine, or made to look foolish by the machine. There is no way they can win, so of course they will oppose it.

[krb]

It's just one more step on the way to this:

[newgeezer]

Show me any union(ized employee) who wants a machine to either do or track some work.

[billbears]

Great. Heck why bother with baseball at all? Why don't we just get the machines to play it for us? I'm sure they could hit the ball better than a poor human. Out there? For now, yes, but ten years ago, I wouldn't have bet umpires were being replaced by machines. Heck, what use is it for a coach to run out on the field to argue a call? That in itself is going to take some more emotion out of the game

[JmyBryan]

Yeah look how Wimbledon has been ruined. (sarcasm)

I'll take a perfect mechanical official anyday. I hate bad calls. Giving Maddox 4 inches off the plate and Michael Jordan 3 steps is not my idea of "heart and soul".

[kellynla]

Yea I know what you're saying but I guess I am just a baseball purist. Heck, hollering at the umpires' calls is all part of the game and entertainment. No fun arguing with a machine. They can't holler back. LOL

[SJSAMPLE]

Umpires and referees are part of the game, and history, of sports. Taking them out takes away the personal element of the game. Bad calls are as much a part of sports history as the good ones.

[Final Authority]

I am a hockey fan a still a player. It would be great if an objective system could be employed to officiate NHL games. Officiating is a joke right now and it will destroy the game. When teams that specialize in holding and hooking in the neutral zone are allowed, without consequence, to beat teams with skill, the game suffers. NJ Devils are such a team and should have never won the cup. The problem is that the 'Ducks worked their way up the ladder in a similar way. These teams are coached by shrewd people who know how to bend the rules to advantage. In the early part of the season where the rules were in force these teams were not anywhere nearly as competitive compared to teams from Boston and other cities.

[Prodigal Son]

The machines have got to go. The umpires are part of the game as well as their fallibilities and idiosynchrosies. Players have to learn umpires just like they have to learn different ballparks and pitchers. It's what makes the game what it is. Imagine how far this could go.

My wife (a German) is fascinated by my love for the game as well as by its quirky rules. One thing that she finds odd is if a player misses touching a base while he's rounding them, even if the umpire sees it, he says nothing unless a member of the opposing team asks. Also, think of the rulings to first or third base regarding check swings for strikes. If the catcher doesn't appeal nothing happens. There are many quirks in baseball and they ought to be protected. What next- make all the outfields the exact same size?

Altering the game like this just isn't American somehow. If an umpire has a totally irrational strike zone, baseball ought to get him out of the game. Consistency in what this or that umpire calls a ball or strike is the key- not making them mere mindless automatons. I, for one, have always been amazed at how accurate the umpires were on things that were barely visible to the unaided eye.

I say chuck the machines out the door.

[Final Authority]

With respect to the three steps allowed NBA star players now, I say that this one allowance causes me to not watch basketball anymore. Even when the Celtics were at the top, with the big three, Parrish, McHale, and Bird, Jordan could walk all day but if Parrish so much as slid his foot 1/2 inch he was called for traveling. No wonder the ratings are now off the chart, in the gutter.

[OrioleFan]

Let's see, computer based rulings, based on machines that never blink, yawn or get tired.

Or hold a grudge:

Earl Weaver (at meeting with Umps at home plate before the start of a game): "Hi, Ron."

Ron Luciano: "You're outa here!"

[poindexter]

Oh, great...RoboUmp!

[Final Authority]

If a machine was calling balls and strikes in '86, Schiraldi would have defeated the Mets and Boston would have won the series, He was squeezed over two batters and Buckner would have never suffered the embarassment. On the other hand, Clemens would have won his 300th game a year or so ago. He used to get squeezed and lose it thereafter. On some games however, he would get the outside low calls where no batter could put it in play. This makes for problems.

[Lost Highway]

I for one don't really care wether they use the machines or not but I do know that baseball has many bigger issues to take care of first.

Superball cores
Strike zone is half what the rule book says
Cracker jack box parks
Too many teams
Too many games
Too many steriod users
4 hour games

Yawn.

[gunnedah]

Baseball like most sports and wrestling have to control their venues according to the market.
Umpires control the games more than most people realize so does the powers to be.
There is no longer anything that cannot be controlled in sports.
We alter the balls, the rules and we play to the crowds to make money.Everything is all about the bucks and not the real competition.
You cant compare records athelete any longer. In the old days players would booze and party, today they party and take steroids. It is all showmanship and has little to do with natural ability.
As long as they all can do it I guess the playing field is to be considered to be level, but what about the participant that will not adhere to these measures?

[discostu]

The umps brought this on themselves. There's not a one of them that's consistent about the size and shape of "their" strikezone, and every one of them believes "their" strikezone not the league's. Now the league is double checking them. It's not like they're trying to automate the strike calling process, just using tech to verify the quality of their work.

[azcap]

RELAX Baseball Purists - No one involved in that article or anywhere else is the Leagues are advocating replacing umpires with machines. There is almost universal consensus among players, owners, and officials that human umpires are an irreplaceable part of the tradition, the sport, and the entertainment value of the game. Human error is accepted and bad calls become a part of the baseball lore. The QuestTec system is simply a way of measuring performance. Why shouldn't umpires face the same technical scrutiny that players face every day. Do you think the pitching coach is going to give up his radar gun or the NFL is going to ban stop watches from practice? This is nothing more than union employees crying about an objective measurement of their performance - since when is that news?

[discostu]

Has it ever been any use for coaches to run out and argue calls? Do the umps ever change their mind? All it does is waste time and as for taking the emotion out of the game, very few things are more mind numbingly dull than watching two people yell at each other and not being able to hear what they're saying. It should be an automatic ejection and suspension.

[Ronin]

Not being much of a baseball fan, I personally don't have a stake in this, but my gut reaction would be to keep the umps and kick out the machines.

It's a game. Games are made of players and the umps are players too.