Part of an article written yesterday.
“We didn’t have one issue,” Byrnes said. “Going in, the crew chief said he was skeptical. But by the end of two days, he said it allowed him to do his job as a home plate umpire so much better. He could focus on check swings, foul tips, plays at the plate. He didn’t have to worry about calling balls and strikes.”
Over the years, I have given MLB a lot of unsolicited advice. In one glorious moment, I was chewed out over the phone by Bud Selig while driving my son to buy his first baseball glove. But this radical change in policy should be a no-brainer, embraced by everyone.
There was a time when professional tennis was full of petulant brats arguing line calls with hapless umpires. The invention of Hawk-Eye technology put images on a screen, showing everyone where the ball had landed. Tempers cooled immediately.
The technology was only an extrapolation of data, and not a real picture. But it gave the illusion of fairness, order and control. And there was no one to argue with.
Major League Baseball could use more technology and less pigheadedness. The Pitch f/x technology is already installed at all ballparks, a three-camera system that records the trajectory of a pitch within a one-inch margin for error. Surely, it can be tweaked for greater accuracy, if needed.
So fed up with this ump ********.