Obviously, we’ve reached a crossroads in professional baseball regarding the quality of officiating in the league. It is no secret that the quality of arbitration has declined considerably in the last twenty years. In fact, I would have to say that umpiring in Major League Baseball has become nothing short of atrocious, and not just behind the plate, but on the field as well.

In recent seasons, new technology has been implemented to monitor an umpire’s performance when calling balls and strikes behind home plate. “QuesTec,” as it’s known, has had its share of defenders, as well as those who have outright rejected it and prayed for its demise. To say the least, most refs look down on him when subjected to them while calling a game. They tend to call a game much “tighter” when they know “Big Brother” is watching. I have also noticed that there are more confrontations between coaches and referees when QuesTec is present. It ostensibly tests the stress and tolerance limits of both sides of the equation.

However, I have always felt that the inception of this technology occurred simply because the call and strike parameters lacked consistency between the two leagues. For years, National League umpires have been accused of having a more lenient or relaxed strike zone. On the other hand, American League umpires are known for their tighter strike zones.

For me personally, the notoriety for quality officiating was born during Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, between the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals. Don Denkinger, the first base umpire in that game, made one of the biggest umpiring errors in baseball history. In the bottom of the ninth inning, the St. Louis Cardinals clung to a 1-0 lead and were on their way to winning the championship (at that point in the Series they were 3 games to 2). Borrowing some of the history from baseball-almanac.com, “Reliever Key Dayley replaced reliever Danny Cox for the Cardinals and turned in a scoreless effort before the bottom of the ninth inning. In a brilliant move, Dick Howser ( Kansas City Royals manager) sent Darryl Motley, a right-handed pinch hitter, to face left-handed Dayley.

“St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog reacted to Howser’s move by calling up right-hander Todd Worrell from the St. Louis bullpen to replace Dayley. As the chess game continued, Howser countered with Jorge Orta instead of Motley. The The lefty responded with a hot grounder to first baseman Jack Clark, who fielded it clean and threw it to Worrell, who had run to cover first base.

“Umpire Don Denkinger called Orta safe, even though everyone else in the park was convinced he had trailed Worrell by a pace. TV replays indicated Denkinger was wrong, but the disputed runner stayed on first. Steve Balboni followed Orta with a textbook pop-out, but Clarke (still upset about the failed call) was unable to field the ball.

“With two runners on (including pinch runner Onix Concepcion) Jim Sundberg bunted with a force out at third. As rotating lineups continued, Hal McRae stepped up to the plate (by Buddy Biancalana) and was intentionally walked after the Los Angeles catcher Cardinals. Darrell Porter committed a pass that moved all runners forward. Dane Iorg drove Concepcion home with a single to right field closely followed by Sundberg, who prevented Porter’s tag at home and the Royals tied the Series with the 2-1 win.”

Although the Series was now deadlocked at 3 games apiece, the Cardinals were so devastated by Denkinger’s mistake that it came as no surprise when the Royals handily defeated the Cardinals in Game 7 by a score of 11-0, making the Royals in the World Series. champions Simply put, Denkinger’s terrible call gave the Royals the series. For months and even years afterward, Denkinger received tons of “hate” mail and even death threats.

Recently, Clint Hurdle, the manager of the Colorado Rockies, was said to be “actively campaigning” for instant replay in Major League Baseball. Bob Watson, who is vice president of field operations in the commissioner’s office, said this will be a hot topic at the November general managers meetings in Orlando, Florida.

Keep in mind that the players union and Bud Selig (MLB Commissioner) have to approve this measure to make it happen. Selig, in my opinion, has been a mediocre commissioner at best. He has or has not made key decisions during his tenure. One of his two biggest mistakes that he made involved how the home team was decided for the World Series. As a result, it is no longer done on a rotating basis: whichever league wins the Summer Classic (also known as the All-Star Game), they are given home-field advantage in the Series.

Your second biggest mistake is actually bigger than your first. Instead of doing his job as Commissioner, he conveniently lingered on the steroids issue, blaming everyone but himself for the problem, and now the federal government is involved in an area he has nothing to do with. namely professional sports. Thanks again, Mr. Commissioner.

Why do I focus on Mr. Selig’s ineptitude as a commissioner? Because he plays such an important role in the decision-making process that has the potential to impact professional baseball like he never has before. He’s obviously going to vote against it, as he’s been quoted as saying that he didn’t want the human element removed from the game. But, what to do when that human element has become so questionable that it is necessary to introduce technology like QuesTec?

Would it come as a surprise to anyone that today’s major league umpires feel insulted by the use of QuesTec? How do you think they’ll react to instant replay reversing one of their decisions on the field? Since the big issues here are credibility and integrity, I have no doubt (unfortunately) that Major League Baseball has no choice but to introduce the use of instant replay.

Credibility and integrity are supposed to be the foundation on which arbitration is based. But is this the case anymore? Obviously, professional football felt it was necessary, so necessary that it has become a permanent fixture in the NFL. It is also used in professional hockey to check whether or not a goal has actually been scored. So the NHL obviously felt the need to review the officials’ calls. There has even been some clamor for it to be implemented in the NBA.

And now, one of the NBA officials recently came under serious scrutiny from the FBI because he allegedly made bad calls to influence the outcome of the point spread when the game ended. The fact that he had a serious gambling problem didn’t help either. I’m willing to bet this will be a serious catalyst for implementing instant replay in the NBA.

Needless to say, I am saddened by the fact that we are faced with this dilemma. Unfortunately, the quality of arbitration has declined so much in the last 20 years that I don’t think it will improve any time soon. QuesTec has been a mere sugar coating or Band-Aid to the problem. Now, there is no choice but to leave quality arbitration in the hands of a camera and its operator. In that sense, Mr. Selig, you are very wrong when you say that instant replay removes the human element from the game. I don’t see any robots operating those cameras that televise a game, do you?

On a final note, baseball fans everywhere, whether they’re at the ballgame or watching it on TV, will be subject to enduring a longer stay in the ballpark or having their butts glued to the couch for even longer periods. longer in time. time of which they have been accused. And to make matters worse for viewers, there will be more commercial breaks to deal with every time the game is delayed by a questionable call review.