11/05/24
August 09, 2002
Replace the umpire with a machine?: "If they get this system working differently than it is, and every pitch is called by the system and called accurately, how are you going to resist the pressure to have the system call the balls and strikes? I don't think you're going to be able to do it."
If the best defense for umpire ball-and-strike calls is that Major League Baseball wants to retain "the possibility of error," it's only a matter of time before computers replace them.
posted by rcade at 07:48 AM on August 10, 2002
My understanding (and it's Saturday, so I'm too lazy to do a Google search) is that MLB has had a system installed in parks for the last two seasons or so that does just this. It calls all the balls and strikes for every game and then burns the result onto a CD for the umpire to review. Did I make that up? Guess I had to go to Google after all: here's a pdf on it.
posted by yerfatma at 10:04 AM on August 10, 2002
balls and strikes are not the only things they call
There's also plays at the plate and the bases. I don't like the idea of having computers make the calls on balls and strikes, but I do think there should be more consistency in how the umpires call the strike zone.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:13 AM on August 10, 2002
Let's hope the computerized strike zone software was programmed by Eric Gregg.
posted by herc at 12:20 PM on August 10, 2002
I think that humans calling it and the inconsistencies inherent in that system are part of the nuance of the game. Its a reward for consistently accurate pitchers and a penalty for consistently wild ones. When a control pitcher like Greg Maddux is hitting his spots, umpires get in the rhythm of calling strikes. Then the catcher and pitcher incorporate that into the strategy. The catcher will set up further and further outside, Maddux will kep hitting the glove spot-on, and the ump thinks "Who am I to call a ball when that's exactly where he wanted to put it?" Works the other way too, a guy who has walked two batters in a row all of the sudden doesn't get the corners anymore, he has to prove to the ump he can put it down the middle. Hitters get the same treatment. Ron Luciano (rip) wrote about never calling a strike on Rod Carew. He figured Carew was such a good hitter with a keen sense of the strike zone that if he passed on a pitch it must be a ball. Luciano said "That's why we were such a good hitter" Some will disagree, but I think that's a really cool part of the fabric of the game.
posted by vito90 at 04:28 AM on August 11, 2002
Is there anything more frustrating than an inconsistent strike zone? Bring it on. This isn't quite the "death" of the umpire, anyway, as balls and strikes are not the only things they call. For example, their most important duty, throwing out obnoxious managers, would remain fully intact.