Bud Selig is admittedly old-school, unfamiliar and uncomfortable with most technology. Yet he now is putting significant trust in technology.
On Thursday, Major League Baseball will become the last of the four major professional sports to use instant replay.
"I believe this is right," Selig said. "The evidence became overwhelming."
The commissioner is taking the rare step of putting in a new rule during a season. For now, only calls involving home runs – fair or foul, over the wall or not and fan interference – will be subject to review. The umpires' crew chief will decide what is reviewed and make the final decision on the call.
Each game will be viewed by a technician with access to all available television feeds at MLB's advanced media headquarters in New York. When a call is to be reviewed, the technician will consult an umpires' supervisor or a former umpire at headquarters.
A crew chief wanting to use replay will call the technician, who controls the feed to a monitor. Telephones and monitors have been installed at each ballpark. And it's the crew chief's decision whether evidence to overturn is conclusive.
The agreement reached among MLB, the Major League Baseball Players Association and umpires' union stipulates only that replay will be used the rest of this season. In the offseason, they can work out any kinks, but all sides expect limited replay use for the final three years of the collective bargaining agreement.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers complained that replay was being instituted only because a blown call took a homer from Alex Rodriguez at Yankee Stadium in May.
"I don't like it," Rogers said. "I think that it overshot the mark by far just because, what, in a Yankee game someone didn't get a homer? Please. It's happened thousands of times. That's part of the game. It's the beauty of the game. Mistakes are made."
Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella questioned why baseball is rushing to make the change without first educating managers and players about it.
Piniella said he was under the impression managers could request a review of a call.
"What's the format? I'd love to be able to throw a red hankie or a green hankie," Piniella said, referring to the NFL system in which a coach throws out a red flag to challenge a call. "Imagine being able to throw something on the field and not be ejected."
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