Ugh! Another End of the Game Celebration Ruined by Replay!

Yes!  What a catch by Odubel Herrera!  Let the celebration begin!  That's three in a row against a team that was considered the best in baseball a month ago. 

Wait, what?  Replay review?  You mean we can't celebrate just yet?

Ugh!

Replay review. A way to drag things out some more. A way to slow momentum and kill the spur of the moment emotional highs. Looked like a great play, but let's wait to see what the replay umpire in New York says. 

Twice in the last eight days a replay review has interrupted a Phillies end of the game celebration. Last week, against the Marlins, replay took away a walk-off win and subjected us to six more late night innings.  I have to get my kids up and out to school in the morning for crying out loud. 

Last night, the replay review was mercifully short. It was clear that Herrera made an incredible leaping catch right in front of the wall for the final out. But, hey. Let's give it a look just to be sure. 

So instead of running off the field in celebration, the team waited. Instead of tweeting what a fantastic catch, I waited. Dear Lord, it sapped some of the fun out of that ending. 

Proponents argue that replay lets the umpires get it right. But that doesn't always happen. Sometimes, even with our advanced super high definition technology, we can't tell for sure if the runner beat the force or if the fielder trapped the ball. Sometimes, it's just that close. 

For well over one hundred years we just accepted that umpires are human. They have human senses and sometimes get things wrong, especially in close plays. It didn't stop the sport from being fun. Heck, at times it just added to the endless arguments sports geeks love. 

What exactly has replay added?  I admit, it has ended on the field arguments over close plays. But, it just seems to me that while those arguments have gone away, players now are just more willing to argue over balls and strikes than they were before. 

Really, what replay has added is time. Dead time. Waiting time. When will New York make the call?  I can attack a village in Clash of Clans in the time it takes to get a decision. Does baseball really want me to turn my short attention away from the game?

And often, to effect that there was not sufficient evidence to overturn a call. How satisfying. 

As the Commissioner's Office looks for more ways to enhance the pace of play and speed up games, I have a sure fire suggestion. Just end the replay review already. 

William J. Kovatch, Jr. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hall of Fame Should Reverse the Slight to Dick Allen

Image
Despite a career average of .292, 351 total home runs, 1,119 total RBIs, the 1964 NL Rookie of the Year award, seven All-Star appearances, and the 1972 AL MVP award, during his fifteen years of eligibility of 1982 through 1997, Dick Allen never garnered more than 20% of the vote from the BBWAA for Hall of Fame induction. The oft-cited reason for this has been the character issue. Baseball writers viewed Allen as a divisive figure in the clubhouse. Bill James has accused Allen of “manipulat[ing] racism as an explosive to blow his teams apart.” But far from manipulating racism, Allen was a victim of racism, who was saddled with an undeserved reputation because of his reactions to regrettable treatment by players and fans alike.  Allen broke into the major leagues in Philadelphia, a city Curt Flood described as “[t]he nation’s northernmost southern city.”  Philadelphia was infamous for its treatment of Jackie Robinson when he broke the color barrier in 1947. The Phillies, led b
Read more

Jimmy Rollins: The Best of the Phillies Shortstops

Image
From a certain set of Phillies fans, Jimmy Rollins gets no love.   It’s hard to see why.   Rollins is only the all time Phillies leader in hits (2,306) and doubles (479).   In stolen bases, he’s second only to the legendary Slidin’ Billy Hamilton, whose numbers may be inflated due to how stolen bases were credited in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.   He’s second only to Mike Schmidt in extra base hits and total bases.   In triples, he is third behind Hall of Famers Ed Delahanty and Sherry Magee. Certainly, in a team that has suffered through the likes of Steve Jeltz and Ivan DeJesus, Rollins has been a highlight of the shortstop position. Having grown up in the 1970s, I loved Larry Bowa.   He was a team leader.   In his twelve years with the Phillies, Bowa batted .264 with 1,798 hits and 421 RBIs.   But, in his fifteen years with the Phillies, Rollins edges out Bowa, his mentor, with a .267 average, and 887 RBIs.   Additionally, Rollins’ career fielding
Read more

Dick Allen: Integrating Philadelphia’s Baseball Culture

Image
Much of what has hurt Dick Allen in reaching the Hall of Fame has been his reputation in the press of creating racial divisions on the teams for which he played. This is a reputation that has been perpetuated unfairly. To the contrary, Allen has been caught in a world where American society in general, and baseball in particular, has had to come to grips with racial discrimination. While white America preferred to sweep the problem of racial discrimination under the rug, players such as Allen were outspoken, refusing to let the issue be covered up. It is his outspokenness, when many Americans preferred to turn a blind eye to societal ills, that handicapped Allen’s chances of being inducted into the Hall, and which to this day haunts his candidacy.  Some have called Allen Philadelphia’s Jackie Robinson. And rightly so. Allen’s career was marred by racial discrimination by fans in Philadelphia. His endurance of this mistreatment, while acting as one of the greatest power hitters o
Read more