Umpires will be allowed to check video on home run calls after Major League Baseball, the guardians of America's most traditional sport, reversed their decades-long opposition to instant replay. "Like everything else in life, there are times that you have to make an adjustment," the commissioner Bud Selig said. "My opposition to unlimited instant replay is still very much in play. I really think that the game has prospered for well over a century now doing things the way we did it."
Selig, 74, who described himself as "old fashioned" and an admirer of the "human element", softened his opposition following a rash of blown calls this year. For now, video will be used only on the so-called "boundary calls", such as determining whether the fly balls went over the fence, whether the potential home runs were fair or foul and whether there was fan interference on potential home runs.
"Any time you try to change something in baseball it's both emotional and difficult," Selig said. "There's been some concern that, well, if you start here, look what it's going to lead to. Not as long as I'm the commissioner." Replay will go into use with three series scheduled to open today: Philadelphia at the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota at Oakland and Texas at the LA Angels. For other games, replays will be available to umpires starting tomorrow.
Fan interference has been a big issue in baseball, with almost constant debate since Jeffrey Maier reached over the wall and gave Derek Jeter a home run during the 1996 AL Championship Series. Many blown calls have occurred at newer ballparks, where fans are closer to the field have the ability to reach over fences. "In this day and age, where all these ballparks are being built now where people can reach out over the outfield fence and catch balls, fan interference is becoming more and more of an issue," the Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine said.
The Detroit pitcher Kenny Rogers called the decision "a slap in the face of the umpires that have been here for a long time" and said the decision might have been made because Alex Rodriguez lost a home run on a blown call May 21. "It overshot the mark by far just because, what, in a Yankee game someone didn't get a homer? Please. It's happened thousands of times," Rogers said. "That's part of the game. It's the beauty of the game. Mistakes are made."
The general managers voted 25-5 last November to recommend use the technology, and the lawyers spent recent weeks finalising agreements with the unions for umpires and for players. Video from available broadcast feeds - not every team televises every game - will be collected at the office of Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) in New York, where it will be monitored by a technician and either an umpire supervisor or a retired umpire.
If the crew chief at a game decides replay needs to be checked, the umpires will leave the field, the technicians at MLBAM will show the umpires the video and the crew chief will make the call, overturning the original decision only if there is "clear and convincing evidence". Leaving the dug-out to argue a call following a replay will result in an automatic ejection. Replays of the boundary calls will not be shown on stadium video boards, the MLB executive vice president for baseball operations, Jimmie Lee Solomon said. But MLB said replay delays will be offset by fewer arguments.
Replays are not new to American sport. The National Football League first used them to aid the officials in 1986, the National Hockey League in 1991 and the National Basketball Association in 2002. They have also been used at Wimbledon and in cricket matches. The equipment to help determine calls was in place at this year's Little League World Series. * AP
