MLB umps strike out again

The power of the unions in MLB live on ... and while Congress had to intercede to get drug testing implemented, don't expect the same here. The fact is that umpiring has been bad for very long time, and getting worse since there is no standard to live up to.  It is a boys club with too many juniors being employed .. and unlike every other sport, including colleges, the best rated officials are not selected for post-season.

I couldn't agree more.  I can accept that officiating mistakes will be made, but when there is either new technology or other methods to minimize these occurrences, they should be used.  

100% in agreement.  It makes no sense not to have the strike zone computerized, and the fact that Fox has a strike-zone indicator on the screen for every pitch only magnifies how often the umps get it wrong.  As I've said before, baseball is the easiest sport to use replay in. The fact that it hasn't been implemented only shows the basic unfairness of MLB.

Bob,

This comment doesn't really have anything to do with the current topic, but I would really like to read your thoughts on the current Raider coach Tom Cable's situation, and the Raiders' claim that ESPN is seemingly trying to 'get dirt' on him.

Bob,

Granted the umpires in this MLB post-season have been deplorable, but to infer than the NFL is significantly better in officiating their games is absurd.

The Steelers alone were the recipients of two horrendous recent post-season calls, one that ended their season & the other that was not only one of the worst in NFL history, but also one that nearly derailed a record setting Super Bowl run, that culminated in the first & only #6 seed winning an NFL title.  I'm sure that everyone remembers the latter, Troy's INT reversal in Indy (Jan '06).  As for the former, vs. Jax (Jan '08) on the Garrard 4th down QB keeper that netted over 20 yds. & chip-shot FG position, it was clear to anyone that there were multiple (as many as 3 or 4) blatant holds at the line of scrimmage, later confirmed via letter of apoolgy from the NFL office.  Sorry that your season's over, but we blew it.

The NFL's problem is not only in the post-season either, just more magnified.  Last Sunday there were two passing plays that were ruled as TD's, yet neither was as obvious to be an undisputable TD as Hines Ward's grab vs. Cle. or even Limas Sweed's at Cincy:  

- MIN @ GBP...with the score at 24-20 in the 3rd Qtr., Favre hits his TE (same dude that was flagged for the trip vs. Pit, who also happens to be the player that leveled the official on the KO ret. TD in that same game)  about a yd. in the endzone, as the catch is made the TE lands on his left hip & looses the ball IMMEDIATELY...TD is the call & no challenge from McCarthy???

- SEA @ DAL...Dal receiver pulls in a pass between the 5 yd. line & the goal line & looses the ball just as he breaks the plane of the goal while diving for the endzone...thought you had to not only secure the ball, but basically get up with it & hand it to the official.

Bottom line is, not only does every NFL crew officiate a game differently, a players status as a revenue source for the league comes into play so frequently in today's NFL that it's apalling.  Brady & Peyton are better protected than ANY other QB, other such as Eli, Favre, Brees, Palmer, Rivers & Cutler also, either get the benefit of the doubt moreso than most or whine & cry everytime a defender breathes on them while they're in the pocket.  Meanwhile the QB that has been hit more than any since he's been in the league, just goes about his business & just keeps winning!  

Don't know if anyone else has noticed as well, but everytime Brady has been hit this season, where an absurd roughing the passer call has been flagged; barely brushing his helmet (& while he throws himself to the ground, he purposely knocks his own helmet off to embellish) or being blocked into his legs (turns & points to ref to toss the laundry), not only has the NFL not admitted that any of the calls were bogus, but the guilty player has been fined by the league in every instance, don't believe this to be the case for all players who have roughed any other QB.

(I implied nothing of the kind. -- Bob Smizik)

in some strange way, disagreeing with the Ump on the call of balls and strikes is so ingrained in my history as a baseball fan, that i honestly view it as part of the game.  from Little League on up, batters are at the mercy of how a home plate umpire calls the pitches.  what's more, the image of the Ump behind home plate -- immortalized by Norman Rockwell, among others -- and the manner in which a particular Ump calls strikes are part of the overall atmosphere, tradition and drama/theatrics of the sport.  i think too much of that would be lost in going to computers behind the plate.

(In my plan, chancellor, the ump would remain behind home plate. He would make many calls there (interference, hit batsmen, foul/fair ball, safe/out) and would also be the person to tell the world what the computer had called the pitch. His job would be the same -- and so would the strike zone. -- Bob Smizik)

Bob, have you ever umpired?  Calling balls and strikes is not quite as easy as saying the strike zone is the width of homeplate.  The ball is moving, the catcher is moving, the batter is moving his bat.

You're not going to convince me that the computers can even get it right.  

(Yes, I have umpired on the Little League and Pony League level. My remembrance is that I had to concentrate only on the ball -- not the catcher, not the batter, as you suggest -- and its relationship to home plate and the batter's strike zone.  I found calling balls and strikes the easiest part of the job. -- Bob Smizik

Bob,

Calling balls and strikes may be the easiest part of the job but it's also likely that you get one or two or six calls wrong each game.

I think the balls and strikes aspect of the game is fine for the most part butthen again, I might just be a Joe West apologist.

(Missing some pitches is one thing and completely understandable. Each umpire having a different definition of the strike zone, as some of them do, is another thing altogether and not understandable. There's no excuse for that, no reason for that. -- Bob Smizik)

I agree with you Bob.  And another reason to remove umps from calling balls and strikes, Don't managers get ejected if they argue a called ball or strike?

I think it was interesting in game 3 (I believe) when A-Rod hit a ball that was initially called a double but turned out to be a home run. What's interesting is that the guy on base in front of him should never have been on base. The Fox monitor showed that a close pitch was on the lower outside corner for strike three. The ump called it a ball. A-Rod's shot should have been of the solo variety.

Balls and strikes calls are just as important as boundary calls. Review all of it or review none. Had they reviewed none, A-Rod's hit would only have accounted for one run. Two lousy calls would have balanced out.

Bob,

By comparing boundary calls (out of bounds) in a football game to balls & strikes (essentially a judgement call, as it's human nature for every umps strike zone to differ somewhat) in a baseball game, when fair or foul would have been a more apt analogy, I assumed that you were comparing MLB umpires to NFL officials...my bad!

Replays also show certain pitches should be hit by batters but oftentimes they are swung at and missed.

Another replay in last night's game showed that a two run double by Alex Rodriguez should have been caught in the air resulting in a one run sacrifice fly.

Of course an earlier replay showed that the runner on third should not have been there either as he should have been retired at first on a groundout to the shortstop.    Alex Rodriguez's fly ball should have been the second out of the inning and no run should have scored.

Baseball will never be a perfect game.

Bob -

I don't see the need for a computer to make the calls.  MLB just needs to tell the umps that the strike zone is the same for all umps and all pitchers or you are done....

Joe Buck annoys me.  Ever since the fake Moss mooning a couple years back.  

(You're carrying that grudge too long. He's top notch. -- Bob Smizik)

A lot of you are missing the point.  Baseball shouldn't be perfect, but very few baseball calls are judgment calls.  A balk, when to apply the infield fly rule, when a runner goes outside of the basepath, that's all I can think of (although i'm sure there are more).  It's not like football or basketball, where most fouls rely on judgment.  Where judgment call be eliminated in those sports, such as whether someone beats a buzzer, steps on the 3 point line, or steps out of bounds, it is eliminated. Also, play stops for a long time after each at bat in baseball, giving ample time for review of a close call (wouldn't work in basketball or football).  And having a computer call strikes would not impact the game at all.  Players will never be perfect (and shouldn't be, it would take the fun out of it). The refs/umps should be.

(Uh, here's a few more judgment calls in baseball: Every ball and/or strike; every out at every base, be it tag or force. -- Bob Smizik)

I've never understood why major league baseball can't get umpires on the same page regarding the strike zone. With today's technology it would be simple to implement electronic ball strike calls during games and evaluate umps based on their ability to make correct calls. it could be used for training umps and also minimal expectations could be defined to stay at the major league level.

I mostly adhere to the school of thought that the referees and umpires in a game should not be noticed. Now Chancellor Pink does make a eloquent case for retaining the occasional kerfuffle with the home plate umpire in baseball -the invocation of Norman Rockwell has made my day! And who here did not enjoy Carlos Zambrano going thoroughly berserk after Nyjer Morgan scored on a close play at home, and Zambrano got tossed for bumping the ump??

But Bob's proposal would retain the ump making such calls (though I also like video replay in those cases). I support having some modern system calling "strikes and balls" to rectify the undue influence the men in blue currently have over the game.

I thought the HP ump last night called a horrible game. Burnett was painting the outside corner and the ump was completely ignorant to the fact that he as hitting the black and called every pitch a ball. you can not survive as a MLB pitcher if you can't get the corners called in a game.

The missed call in game 5 by the HP ump when the philly player (think it was Howard) never touched home plate was terrible. Just like the phantom tags they always call at 2nd base. Replay can work, should work, and needs to be implemented. Not for balls and strikes but definitely for HR's, close plays at the plate, and judgement calls that determine the outcome of games.

Bob, do you know if there has been any discussion of implementing something like you describe?  Even tennis did it!

your plan has more appeal fleshed-out, Bob.  but i also like Kevin Morris' idea of using the computerized system first to merely evaluate and train umps to do a better, more consistent job behind the plate.

let's be honest, since baseball began, there have literally been a dozen or more questionable/bad calls behind the plate every game, yet the game of baseball has survived just fine.  in fact, some might argue it has thrived due in part just to such controversies.  and as with any area of potential major change, i am left with the notion that just because we CAN do it does not necessarily mean that we SHOULD.

TBowTime-

How convenient for you to only point out the calls that went against the Yanks, when they have enjoyed the vast majority of the crooked umpiring to be in their favor during this '09 post-season.  Burnett was most definitely not painting the corners, ala last Thursday, he was off last night & anyone that knows anything about the game & is honest in their assessment will tell you the same.  He was the recipient of several calls off the plate, including one that was farther outside (it was to a LH batter, not sure which Phillie) than any other strike called in the entire series, if not the entire post-season & was verified by FoxTrax.

Strike zone umpiring should, could and will be easily automated....the only reason it is not today is pure FEAR.  

Fear and loathing of loss of control, technogical displacement, relevancy, etc....all rubbish.  Still need the umps to USE the technology, setting the parameters of the tools and do what they do best, make the judgement calls.

It will happen sooner rather than later.....within 5 years I'll wager.

BTW, Tim McCarver is an absolute clueless color commentator that we are subjected to by FOX during the WS and he gets worse every year.....he says something completely inaccurate, inane or off-topic EVERY inning.....the best one last night was after Victorino got hit, he said...."That happens a lot - batters getting hit while holding the bat"

THANK YOU TIM....I'll alert the media!

BlitzBurgh Dude,  I won't infer that MLB umpiring is worse then the NFL ... I will state it outright.  First of all, I believe baseball is by far easier to officiate than football.  Sure, borderline strikes and bang-bang plays are not easy, but at least the umpires are able to ge the best angles to call these plays, whereas that is certainly the the case for any other sport.  Also, in every other sport, at least the officials try to jusdge by the rulebook most of the time, whereas umpires openly state that have their own strike zone ... and even vary from that dpending on the player inviolved.

For decades there has been way too many obvious wrong calls in post-season games (Denkinger, Marsh, Gregg, Garcia, etc -- plus whoever blew that that foul call at Yankee stadium in the ALDS, to name just a few) that warrant total revamping, but as long as the umpires uinion is so strong we will have to suffer.

NFL refs do get it wrong in a harder sport and environment to work in ... plus they also hindered by a micro-managed and often ambiguous set of rules.

Bob,  I don't consider those judgment calls at all.  Those are calls where there is a right and wrong answer which, given the right angle and measuring tool, can be definitively determined.   They may be close calls, but there shouldn't be judgment involved (which, I thought, was the point of your article).  Very different than an actual judgment call, like who initiated contact or whether someone established position in basketball, or when a player establishes or loses control of a football, or whether a pass was uncatchable or a hit too late.    

(You and I have a different definition of ``judgment.'' To me, making a safe or out call or a ball or strike call is the definition of judgment. -- Bob Smizik)

csf,

Why then, in a sport where it is often said (& agreed upon by me) that offensive holding can be called on any play, that an NFL officiating crew will call 3-5 holding calls against one team & none against the other in the same game.  It's not an anomaly either, it happens frequently.

Correct me if I'm wrong...NFL officials will make the same judgement call differently based on the team & the player, it happens so often that it's blatantly obvious.  MLB umpires judge balls & strikes differently depending on the umpire, as opposed to being based on who the pitcher or batter is, as most criticism is usually that an ump's strike zone is either liberal or tight during a game, not that it changes from batter to batter.  I'll take the judgement that is unbiased over one that favors the annointed stars, every time!

No officiating irritates me more than the NBA. If you are a superstar you're allowed to do everything but eye gouge, and you can run from mid-court to the basket without dribbling.

I'll never forget Shaq being allowed to repeatedly push Mutumbo out of his way in the Finals. Once he elbowed Mutumbo in the face and Mutumbo got called for a foul! Absurd.

Amen, Bob.

what?  the NBA isn't choreographed/fixed like the WWE & ECW???

First, a disclaimer:  I despise bad officiating, even if my team benefits.

That said, I can accept a varying strike zone – especially pitches too far inside and outside – as long as they call it the same for both teams.  Because then both pitchers & hitters adjust.  

Although, Bob, it’s worth mentioning that almost all umps chop it off too low (few if any call strikes “at the letters” per the rules, despite that reemphasis 2-3 years back).

I’d be happy if the umps can just start performing the basics, like correctly calling runners safe/out depending on if feet are on/off the bag when fielders have ball in glove.  The noteworthy “work” by umps Tim McClelland in the Angels/ Yanks series and Ron Kulpa in the Phils/ Rox series was so particularly horrid that it made their crew look dirty.  (I’m not accusing anyone, just noting that it HAS happened, recalling the NBA’s Tim Donaghy).

As a young man, after watching replays I recall being constantly amazed at how MLB umps missed very few calls on bang-bang.  Now the opposite is true.  Unsure what happened, but something certainly has.  Must be the DH rule.