Instant replay for baseball?

David Pinto reports the following:

The general managers voted 25-5 to use instant replays to decide boundary calls:

The recommendation, by a 25-5 vote, was limited to boundary calls - whether potential home runs are fair or foul, whether balls go over fences or hit the top and bounce back, and whether fans have interfered with a possible homer.

That seems to be a reasonable recommendation. Fans of the 1996 Orioles would approve, I'm sure.

Sounds fine to me. These have got to be the hardest calls for an ump to make just because of the distances involved, but should also be fairly easy to determine from replay evidence, unlike (say) a ball/strike call, where you can never be sure of the angle. Good move, baseball, if it happens. This Chron story fills in the details.

In a vote more symbolic than substantive at the annual general managers' meetings, the GMs voted 25-5 in favor of recommending the use of replay. It's doubtful replay could be approved for next season.

Commissioner Bud Selig, who has been against the use of replay in the past, will study the matter further. Even if he approves it, the 30 owners and the players' and umpires' unions would have to give their OK.

About an hour after baseball executive vice president Jimmie Lee Solomon announced the vote, baseball president Bob DuPuy put the matter in perspective.

"GMs make recommendations," DuPuy said. "They don't have rule-making authority."

I hope the unions and Beelzebud get on board, because this just makes a lot of sense to me. I can see the concern that Will Carroll raises - it's a lot easier to undo a fair call than a foul call - but I don't think it's insurmountable. Give it a test drive in spring training and see what happens. Brian McTaggart is also on board.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 08, 2007 to Baseball