Instant Replay in Baseball

Major League Baseball, for the first time, may institute a replay system for the start of next season. After a series of bad calls, particularly in regards to home runs in the past week, baseball seems to be in a panic to fix a system that has been in place for more than 140 years.

Now, I'm a big believer in tradition. I think there are many things that baseball has added that they could be removed(such as the designated hitter), but there also have been some good changes over the past 140 years (the Wild Card and 6 divisions).

Instituting a replay system for use in some circumstances would be a good idea for Major League Baseball. Blown calls that should be easy to make should not be the determining factor in a baseball game. A team should never win a game on a blown home run call. I think it would be ok to review home run calls, fair/foul calls, and safe-out calls on the base paths. Balls and strikes should never be reviewed though because that would be ridiculously difficult.

For the story about General Managers voting 25-5 in favor of some form of instant replay from last November, click here.

Here is the opinion of Fighting Fish 1st baseman Mike Jacobs and Astros manager Cecil Cooper. Also, a contrasting view from Cubs manager Lou Piniella.