Baseball, We Are in 2009. Can You Come Join Us?

I say I'm going to give you $100.  You're reaction? Heeeck yeah! Now I tell you it's my contribution to help you buy that Ferrari you want.  Not so excited are you.  The same concept is true with time.  How long is 30 seconds?  If you have to be silent for that long, it feels like an eternity.  If I ask for 30 seconds of your day and you're not busy, you're more than likely going to oblige.  Where am I going with all this? Here:

I'm sick and tired of all the excuses of why baseball doesn't have replay.  There are a million excuses, but they are all just that, excuses.  No one has a valid reason of why, in 2009, we don't have expanded instant replay in baseball.  So I'm going to rail through all the excuses, tell you why they suck, and then go home tonight and watch with frustration as the umps inevitably blow an obvious call (hey, we're battin over .500 in these playoffs of games with blown calls so I'm probably right) cause baseball is stuck in the stone-age.

1) "It'll take too long"

Really? How long does it take to see that you've missed a call in baseball? To answer a question with a question, how long does one replay take? How many replays are done of every pitch between pitches? At least three.  It's not that hard to have an ump in the booth and a field side monitor and get a call corrected quickly.  In fact it will take LESS TIME than a manager coming out and throwing a fit.  Here's how you do it.  Each manager gets one challenge per game, and on top of that you go by the college football system where every play is replayed in the booth.  If it's blatently obvious that an ump missed the call, then the booth umpire will buzz down to the crew chief, who will take a look at the field side monitor (or God forbid the giant scoreboards) and confirm the call.  It will take 30 seconds and nobody's mad.  If a play is closer (such as a bang-bang play at first) than a manager can challenge. No added time. No problem. Suck it up.

2) "I like the human element"
Me too. The players are human. I like that. I'm not saying a manager can challenge every safe and out call at first, however if in a clutch spot he has a valid point, why should the umpires be able to effect the game?  I'm not saying use questec for balls and strikes which in my mind should remain unchallengeable for now, but a fair/foul call or an out/safe call should be able to be challenged.  These are not judgement calls. These are fact. Technically strikes and balls are too but there is far more interpretation involved in where the strike zone is as compared to did the ball hit the line. Errors are part of the game for the players and they happen, they're playing it.  The umpires aren't playing the game.  They aren't on one of the two teams.  They don't have to be perfect, but their errors can't effect the game.  The athletes make too much money and baseball is too big of a business to have their biggest games not being decided by the guys earning the big bucks.

3) "It'll show up the umpires"
Football officials don't seem entirely offended. Neither do NBA refs. All officials want to get it right. The end. They don't want you to know who they are, and they don't want to effect the game. They want to do their job, get their paycheck, and go home happy with no beer or popcorn thrown on them. Replay would allow this to happen.

I have a lot of respect for umpires.  They do their job knowing that if they slip up one time, they're going to have thousands, if not millions of people nation and world-wide upset with them cause the call didn't go their teams way.  Knowing that, why not give them a little help? Clearly the technology is there, we get to see it on this magical device called the television.  Why can't they? Oh that's right! Cause baseball is stuck in the stone age.  The managers, many of whom are 60 and 70 year old men still wear the same uniforms as the players.  The concept of the Wild Card was considered radical when introduced less than 20 years ago; and the commissioner goes by the name of Bud, and his suits look like 3rd generation hand-me-downs.  Baseball, we are in 2009.  Can you come join us?