Thursday, June 3, 2010

How to make MLB better (and make sure yesterdays disgrace never happens again)

A perfect game is one of if not the hardest thing to accomplish in professional sports. Only 20 have ever achieved it (Two earlier this season ironically) And yesterday we saw something that has never before happened in the history of baseball. The Umpire called the runner safe on what was a clear out and therefore the play was officially scored a hit, thus stealing the perfect game from Galarraga. Did this happen in the 4th inning? NO! It happened on the final play of the game!!

The Umpire immediately realized his mistake upon looking at the replay, and tearfully apologized to everyone who would listen. Today Selig the inept commissioner of baseball did not reverse the call.

This is 2010 not 1953...we have the technology to eliminate this kind of thing, and do it in a way which ironically will speed up the game. The NFL uses instant replay, so does the NHL, and Tennis has the most foolproof system of all...and it's great!! Here is what I propose...

  • Today two doubles were overturned in MLB ironically and called homeruns due to instant replay!! Time to expand it..
  • Utilize a replay ump to review these plays
  • Outlaw the silly arguments where the manager or coach flings his hat and kicks the dirt and jaws with the ump..(these take time)...instead..give each manager 2 challenges per game.....just like the NFL..these can be done quickly
  • In critical "game is on the line" situations...any close play must automatically be reviewed by the replay ump......
  • In closing...the great game is better than this...we are better than this....humans beings evolve, we get better.....I'm not proposing we change the distance from the mound to the plate..or make it 4 strikes instead of 3..I'm saying we use technology to make right calls to protect the integrity of the game!

While on the subject of MLB..here is another suggestion to help make the games come in around 2.5 hours..like Hockey does, and like Basketball does......

  • No more 7th inning singing of "God Bless America"!!!
  • No more batters stepping out of the box
  • No more pitchers taking a lap around the mound
  • Teach pitchers not to be "strikeout" pitchers
  • Limit team conferences on the mound to 3 per game (just like a timeout in the other sports---in Hockey each team gets only one 30 second time out!)
  • No more managers running onto the field of play to argue calls (this doesn't happen in the other 3 sports)
  • Make a foul territory rule where the field must be a certain size of foul territory...(The way Dodger Stadium used to be) This will increase the frequency of outs.
Thoughts? Suggestions?

5 comments:

Brett said...

I totally agree on every point. If you put together a petition I will be the first to sign it.

Garrett said...

Ladies and Gentleman...One thing I love about Brett is his subtle sardonic..sarcastic sense of humor :)

(He doesn't care about sports)

dole2obama said...

Big guy-
Do you remember when we were kids and we would go nuts when Tommy came charging out of the mound to get in the face of an ump? Baseball is a distraction from life and is just meaningless escapism. It is a great sport due to its traditions, lack of clock and plain old human errors. The last thing we need in baseball are more rules and regulations. I love managers like Lou Pinella and Tommy because they wear their heart on their sleeve and can make a spectacle after a bad call. I say leave the game how it is and accept human frailty.

Garrett said...

Big Guy Why accept human frailty if we don't have to? How would you feel if it was Kershaw who was robbed of a perfect game and we were there? Or if the Dodgers were robbed of making it to the playoffs, or lose the World Series because of an obvious bad call. Should we just say "Aw Shucks" or should we figure out ways in which it can not happen?

P.S. Do you think that MLB should no longer use video review for homeruns?

P.P.S. We have the technology, lets use it to make the game better while maintaining the integrity of the game.

Garrett said...

Ah yes Captain...but if you read my blog post I don't want to change the width of home plate..I just want to make sure the calls are right. Why settle for human error? I felt like we were living in bizarro world with that call...everyone knew it was the wrong call...it was a terrible day for MLB..Selig could have reversed the call and made a public statement that such a thing will never happen again.