MLB pursuing replay in August
Home run calls area of concern
NEW YORK - Instant replay might be coming to Major League Baseball in an instant.
Moving faster than expected after a rash of blown calls, baseball wants to put replay into effect by August for home run disputes in hopes of fine-tuning the system by the playoffs.
MLB and the umpires' union need to reach agreement before replay can be tried, and the sides have started talking. Previously, it was thought replay would get its first look in the Arizona Fall League and then the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB's executive vice president for baseball operations, is pushing for replay by Aug. 1; Rob Manfred, MLB's executive vice president of labor relations, suggested Aug. 15.
"It's all still premature," MLB spokesman Rich Levin said yesterday. "A final decision has not been made."
USA Today first reported on its website yesterday that baseball planned to use replay this season, saying MLB wanted it by Aug. 1.
Commissioner Bud Selig will ultimately decide when MLB wants to put replay in place. A staunch opponent in the past, he started leaning toward its limited use after a spate of missed boundary calls - fair or foul, over the fence or not.
The NFL, NBA, NHL, some NCAA sports, and major tennis tournaments employ replay in various forms.
A person briefed on MLB's preliminary plan told the Associated Press that baseball wants to create an NHL-style "war room" in New York where video feeds would be reviewed by a supervisor. The umpire crew chief wouldn't see replays - instead, the supervisor would describe what he saw, but leave it up to the umpire to make the final call.
It was not certain whether managers, umpires, or the video supervisor would ask for a replay, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations were in progress.
Last month, after Carlos Delgado of the Mets and Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees lost home runs because of missed calls, umpires said they were open for discussion.
"We'd be all in favor of listening to whatever proposals they might have," John Hirschbeck, president of the World Umpires Association, said then.
Umpires, however, remain adamant that they do not want replay used to review close plays on the bases or ball-and-strike calls.
Last November, general managers voted, 25-5, to try replay on boundary calls. At the time, Selig took the recommendation under advisement.
Selig, like many of the game's traditionalists, always liked the human element of baseball, and that meant tolerating an occasional wrong call by an umpire. He also worried about further bogging down a sport that has been criticized for its slow pace.
In recent years, the new and cozy ballparks have made it more difficult for umpires with their quirky dimensions, odd angles, and yellow lines that denote home runs.
