MLB approves pitcher headgear - Duh! Now let's strip hitters...

Give me all your fearless X-gamers, base jumpers and assorted adrenaline junkies inventing new ways to get hurt and there is still no more dangerous and nerve-wracking job than pitching a baseball with the suppressed reality that in an unexpected instant, you might not be able to prevent a liner from hitting your skull at 100+ mph.  

It’s amazing Tampa Bay pitcher Alex Cobb came back last year to go 5-1 down the stretch after being hit in the head by a line drive in a June 15^th game versus the Royals.  He "only" suffered a

MLB Replay - Part III - How will it work?

In my first two blog entries on the subject of MLB's expanded use of instant replay (IR) beginning this season, I argued that while IR might be the greater good, it comes at the expense of some of baseball's unwritten rules and traditions.  Hardcore baseball fans can debate this all day long like they might the Pete Rose hall of fame issue; traditionalists don’t want to tinker with the game while techno-geeks won’t be happy until balls and strikes are called by nuclear powered hover-bots.  As the debate rolls on, lets look at the specifics of how IR will be implemented as it has some interesting components...

MLB Replay - Part II - It won't disturb the game as we know it...

Two comments in last week's announcement by MLB, about the implementation of expanded replay beginning this year, caught my attention.  The first, by MLB reporter Paul Hagan:

“The way baseball games are governed on the field changed dramatically Thursday.”

The very next statement by the commish, Bud Selig went like this:

“I’m proud of the changes we’ve made…because they won’t disturb the game as we know it.”

Hmm, pondering both of these statements made me think of that line in the Dire Straits song “Industrial Disease”, “two men say they’re Jesus, one of them must be wrong…” On the surface the first is about officiating, the second about the game itself, but you really can’t change one without affecting the other.  I touched upon the cost of this change as it might affect umpiring in my last blog entry and now I want to consider Selig’s statement.  “…won’t disturb the game as we know it.” 

MLB Replay - Part I - A dramatic change to the way the game is officiated. Indeed!

MLB announced on Thursday that beginning with the 2014 season, they’re expanding the use of instant replay (IR) to include safe/out, catch/no catch and most other action around the diamond. There are too many tentacles to this story to address in one blog entry so I will start with the first statement in yesterday’s announcement on mlb.com, made by reporter Paul Hagan:

 “The way baseball games are governed on the field changed dramatically Thursday…”

Look, ask any umpire, professional or amateur, and they will tell you all they want is to get the call right. IR is a tool that will help do that so what's the big deal? The NFL’s use of IR has been a great success by any measure, but in baseball, the word “judgment” as in “umpire judgment” carries a deeper meaning. There are calls all over the diamond where the umpires use their discretion, based on the nature of the action, to dish out baseball justice that stays close to the inherent spirit or soul of the game. Let me give you an example. In last fall ’s MLB playoffs,