Baseball is one of our oldest traditions, but perhaps it’s time for “America’s pastime” to fully embrace the 21st century.Baseball has implemented a form of replay that has helped alleviate some of the errors made by umpires, but for the game to truly be as mistake-free as possible, it’s time for them to adopt a more modern replay policy.The current policy, adopted in 2007, only allows for replays in very specific instances.If an umpire has a question of whether a potential home run ball landed in fair or foul territory, an instant replay could be used to determine a correct ruling.It can also be used to ensure a ball actually left the playing field and did not just hit the top of the outfield wall.The final instance in which instant replay could be used is to determine if a fan or spectator interfered with a ball.We’ve seen instances when replay was necessary just in these playoffs alone.Saturday night in Game 3 of the World Series, we saw a ball hit by Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez hit a camera in the outfield stands and get ruled a double.Luckily for the Bronx Bombers, this was a case where replay could be used, and the call was eventually overturned and correctly ruled a home run.Teams are not always fortunate, as both the Yankees and the Angels had close plays called inaccurately against them.In Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, third base umpire Tim McClelland made two truly horrible calls that could have been overturned if more types of plays were reviewable.The poorer of the two calls happened at the top of the fifth inning when McClelland missed an obvious double play.Angels catcher Mike Napoli caught Yankees catcher Jorge Posada in a run down between home plate and third base and chased Posada back to the bag where Yankees second baseman Robinson Canó had already advanced.Napoli tagged Canó first and then Posada in what should have been a simple call resulting in two outs for the Yankees.McClelland missed Canó’s foot not being on the bag when he was tagged and ruled him safe anyway.The other play involved New York outfielder Nick Swisher who attempted to tag up on a fly ball out and advance for a run.McClelland ruled Swisher had left third base too early and called him out — another call television replay showed McClelland got wrong.”I’m just out there trying to do my job and do it the best I can,” McClelland said in a postgame press conference.Sorry, Tim, but your best wasn’t good enough.But a new instant replay with the power to overturn calls would have been good enough.Baseball needs to adopt a more comprehensive replay policy to cover things like this.It’s working out well for other sports.I’ve seen plenty of instances in football when calls are confirmed or overturned that sway the momentum of a game. Tennis has a replay system that judges whether balls are in or out of bounds. Hockey and basketball have forms of a replay, and even the Professional Bull Riders Association has replay rules.Many of the arguments against replay are foolish at best.
Some argue human error is a part of baseball and has always been a part of baseball, so the system should remain the same.This argument makes no sense. Tradition for the sake of tradition is asinine. If something can be improved, there’s no reason not to make improvements.Those, including Commissioner Bud Selig, who argue pace may be affected and games will run long are just as bad. Sure, it’ll take a little longer for games to play out if replay is implemented, but games are already two and a half to three hours, so what’s another 10 minutes to make sure the umpires are getting it right. Baseball needs to change the system.Things like fair and foul balls and outs on the base paths should be included under the replay rules.They shouldn’t have to be subject to human error. They’re too important.It won’t tarnish the game in any way to have a system of checks and balances to make sure nothing goes wrong in a big way.Johanathan Brooks is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Powder Springs, Ga. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_jbrooks.–Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]