{"id":1985,"date":"2009-02-05T07:01:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-05T07:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=1985"},"modified":"2010-04-02T15:34:19","modified_gmt":"2010-04-02T14:34:19","slug":"a-challenge-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=1985","title":{"rendered":"A ‘challenge’ for the future?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baseball’s cautious acceptance of technology will continue in 2009.\u00c2\u00a0 This will be the first full MLB season played using the video replay system for \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcboundary calls’ and it was announced<\/a> recently that the World Baseball Classic in March will also be adopting it.<\/p>\n

However, MLB’s use of replays seems insignificant compared to the similar developments in cricket. \u00c2\u00a0The England cricket team has plenty to get confused about during their current Test series against the West Indies (most notably the recent sacking of the manager and captain and the potentially divisive IPL auction<\/a>), but the introduction of a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdecision referral system’ just adds to the potential for embarrassment.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

More importantly, the new system takes a swipe at one of the founding principles of the game.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a\u00c2\u00a0development that\u00c2\u00a0will make opponents of the instant replay system in\u00c2\u00a0baseball fear the worst.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Cricket has been unusually keen to keep up with the latest technology.\u00c2\u00a0 The sport is constantly trialling new rules and procedures and the latest harebrained idea is being forced on the England-West Indies Test Series at the moment.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Players will be allowed to refer decisions that they think are incorrect to the third umpire, who will then use the TV footage to assess whether the original decision was right or not.\u00c2\u00a0 Both teams are allowed two unsuccessful appeals in each inning before running out of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcchallenges’.<\/p>\n

Such a referral system has been explicitly ruled out (for the moment) by MLB commissioner Bud Selig.\u00c2\u00a0 Players and managers are not allowed any official input into whether the umpires check the video replays for a boundary call.\u00c2\u00a0 They may try to convince them that a second look would be a good idea, but ultimately the umps are there to manage the game and it is completely their decision.<\/p>\n

No other type of system would have been introduced in the sport’s first move down the technology route.\u00c2\u00a0 All relevant parties had to agree to the rule change and the Umpires Union wouldn’t have signed up to anything that seriously compromised their role. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Selig’s argument behind introducing a limited \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcvideo replay’ system in baseball centred around an understanding that, for various reasons, it can be extremely difficult for umpires to see whether a ball went for a home run or not in some cases.\u00c2\u00a0 Technology exists that could be used relatively quickly to aid this decision-making process, so it was\u00c2\u00a0agreed that it should be embraced.\u00c2\u00a0 This wasn’t for the teams’ benefit; it was for the umpires’.\u00c2\u00a0 MLB was introducing an extra tool that the umpires could use to make these tricky decisions if they felt they needed the help.<\/p>\n

That move divided opinon among fans, but there was a common, widespread fear that once the technology was introduced for one part of the game, it would slowly begin to be used for other types of decision as well.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is exactly what has happened in cricket.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s\u00c2\u00a0a problem exacerbated by the breathtaking incompetence of the International Cricket Council, the latest example of\u00c2\u00a0which\u00c2\u00a0is the new \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcreferral’ rule.\u00c2\u00a0 Watching players desperately making \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcT’ signs after an LBW decision may provoke ridicule, but allowing them to formally challenge an umpire’s decision is a serious attack on the spirit of the game.<\/p>\n

The issue was highlighted by Andy Bull, a sports writer at the Guardian who wrote a very complimentary article<\/a> about the Trescothick benefit baseball game in October last year.\u00c2\u00a0 As he explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“According to the Laws of the game, ‘It is against the spirit of cricket to dispute an umpire’s decision by word, action or gesture’. Not any more”,<\/em> adding: “With the landscape of international cricket developing so swiftly, this comparatively major change seems to have gone almost unnoticed. A small but significant section of the Laws has been temporarily suspended”.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Everybody knows that when it comes to the calling of balls and strikes in a baseball game, the umpire’s decision is final.\u00c2\u00a0 Anything more than a short cry of discontent will see a player thrown out of the game quicker than panic spreads throughout Britain at the first sign of snow.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

But perhaps one day that simple truth will be removed.\u00c2\u00a0 Has the introduction of video replays for boundary calls started us down a path that will see players formally issuing challenges against a called strike three?<\/p>\n

Bud Selig does have his faults, but I don’t think he’ll be following the ICC on this one.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether his predecessor will or not is another question, although you would hope that common sense would prevail.<\/p>\n

Sadly for cricket, common sense isn’t high on the list of qualities possessed by\u00c2\u00a0its ruling body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baseball’s cautious acceptance of technology will continue in 2009.\u00c2\u00a0 This will be the first full MLB season played using the video replay system for \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcboundary calls’ and it was announced recently that the World Baseball Classic in March will also be adopting it. However, MLB’s use of replays seems insignificant compared to the similar developments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[553],"class_list":["post-1985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb-2","tag-mlb-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1985"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7281,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985\/revisions\/7281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}