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Expanded instant replay might open more opportunities for women umpires, who've been caught in the traditionalists' world for too long.
Jan 5, 2012 - Video review will be expanded under baseball's new Collective Bargaining Agreement. From August 2008 through the end of the 2011 season, umpires were authorized to use instant replay only to resolve home run/no-home run disputes. The new agreement calls for the use of instant replay to resolve fair-or-foul calls, whether a line drive was caught or trapped, and fan-interference calls around the ballpark.
The CBA is an agreement only between the owners and players. The major-league umpires -- as represented by the World Umpires Association -- haven't yet approved the expanded replay. MLB is in discussions with the umpires union to iron out the details: how will umpires decide on the field that instant replay is warranted; will umpires leave the field of play to review the play themselves, as is currently done with home run/no-home run calls; and when will the new rules go into effect, among others.
Other ideas for expanded replay were not adopted in the new CBA, including the use of replay on disputed safe/out calls, giving managers a right to "challenge" a certain number of plays, and employing a fifth "video only" umpire to review all plays (but not balls and strikes). But are these options too far behind?
In August, 2010, the Little League World Series adopted all of these instant-replay rules. As the Amateur Baseball Umpires' Association noted at the time:
Bud Selig and Major League Baseball might want to take note of their kiddie counterparts when it comes to the use of modern technology.
Managers at this month's Little League World Series will be able to challenge certain calls -- including force outs, tags on base paths, missed bases and hit batters -- under a revised instant replay system, according to guidelines announced by the league Monday.
The replay system has been in place the past two seasons but could only be used on plays that should have resulted in a dead ball but were called otherwise by the umpire, such as questionable home runs and other close plays at the outfield fence.
Replay reviews were used only twice each season and none of the disputed calls were reversed.
Managers will be limited to one unsuccessful replay challenge in the first six innings and one unsuccessful challenge in extra innings.
Umpires will still have the option to call for a replay.
An umpire not on the field and a Little League official will make up the replay team, which can review up to 12 camera angles provided by ESPN before deciding whether to reverse the call.
And how did these expanded replay rules work in practice? In the 2010 tournament, for all games but the final one, replay had been used 16 times, with eight calls upheld and eight overturned. The total delay time for all 16 reviewed calls combined? 52 seconds. It takes some managers longer than 52 seconds to go from the dugout to the field to argue one disputed call.
Whether Little League's success with expanded replay -- and its widespread use in other professional sports -- will lead to more replay in Major League Baseball is anyone's guess. Interestingly enough, Joe Torre, who resigned yesterday as MLB's executive vice president of baseball operations, has been a vocal opponent of expanded replay. And as the person within MLB responsible for overseeing the umpires, his opinion carried great weight. With Torre gone, there may be an opportunity for proponents of expanded replay to make additional progress.
Which leads to an interesting question. Will expanded instant replay make it easier for women to become Major League umpires?
There's never been a female major league umpire, and only six women have umpired in the affiliated minor leagues (meaning those leagues affiliated with Major League Baseball). According to an August story at espnW, the last female umpire in the affiliated minor leagues was Ria Cortesio, and she was fired by the Double-A Southern League in 2007.
Prospective major league umpires begin their journey at one of two accredited umpiring schools, both run by former MLB umpires: the Jim Evans Umpire Academy and the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School. The top 10 to 20 percent of students at these umpiring schools are invited to participate in an evaluation program run by the Professional Baseball Umpires Corporation. Those most highly evaluated by the PBUC then move on to umpiring jobs with rookie or short-season Single-A leagues. The rest have to start over with school (which costs nearly $3,000 a session) or find another line of work.
The lucky ones who make it to the affiliated minor leagues have to work their way up, just like the players do. If minor league umpires don't advance from Single-A to Double-A and from Double-A to Triple-A in a certain number of years, they are let go.
Throughout this process, students and minor-league umpires are evaluated by older, more experienced umpires. And sometimes, whether overtly or otherwise, those older, more experienced umpires make it difficult for women to advance. Here, for example, is an excerpt from an undated Question & Answer post on MLB.com with Major League crew chief Tim McClelland:
I am a female and would like to be a professional umpire. I have a good eye but feel because I am a woman there will be opposition to my entry. What should I do? Has there ever been a female umpire? --Beth
McClelland: . . . . The thing to do is go to umpire school, try your best, finish in the top ten percent and get put in the minor leagues. It's a long road to haul -- I wouldn't wish it on a female because not only do they have the complaints and problems you go through as an umpire, but then they have to deal with working in a male-dominated sport. But it can be done. There's no rule against it.
There's no rule against it.
Indeed, the first woman accepted into umpire school and given a shot in the minor leagues had to sue to gain that right. But getting your foot in the door and succeeding in the "male-dominated sport" are not the same. Some older, more experienced umpires do not think women are capable, despite what the law says. Others hold women candidates to a higher standard. And others are simply resistant to any kind of change.
And therein lies the opportunity. Expanded instant replay has and will continue to change major league umpiring. Traditionalists resist the change, but it's here. And as technology advances in ways that make instant replay more accurate and more efficient, it will be used in more and better ways.
As major league umpiring adapts and changes, so too will the minor leagues and the umpiring schools. They'll need to, in order to prepare young umpires to work in an expanded-instant-replay world. And as with other professions, technological advances will, hopefully, level the playing field for aspiring women umpires by making the profession more about getting the call right than about doing it the way it's always been done.
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Will Expanded Instant Replay Lead To More Women Umpires?
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Comments
"Which will happen first?"
Female umpire in the majors
Pirates win World Series
-Now you’re just being mean.
— Pirates fan
by bucdaddy on Jan 5, 2012 11:17 AM EST reply actions
C'mon Bucdaddy.
I think the Pirates are going to win the World Series every year. So yeah, Pirates win World Series first.
You gotta aim high to fail so big. - Trace Beaulieu
by IAPiratesFan on Jan 5, 2012 12:49 PM EST up reply actions
Just as female drone pilots now fight wars from a base in Nevada,
the application of new technologies in baseball will give women a better chance at umpiring in MLB.
In the Judge Judy tradition, women doubtlessly will be ready to show wisdom and restraint in making the right calls at home and on the bases. Quite seriously, I look forward to it.
"Elder White! Look at the talent on those Cubs!" Harry Caray, KMOX Radio, 4/22/62
"And you have to wonder – What's the matter with Broglio?" Harry, KMOX, 5/24/64
by ernaga on Jan 5, 2012 11:58 AM EST reply actions
Bring on the meritocracy
In how many professions is gender a basis for qualification? Certainly not umpiring. I’m all for female umpires. I certainly wouldn’t tell my daughters they can’t do something simply because they’re female.
by GBSimons on Jan 5, 2012 12:24 PM EST reply actions
52 seconds?
I have a difficult time buying a total delay time of 52 seconds for 16 reviews. I guess it depends on how you interpret the definition of delay, but just over three seconds each seems far too short.
by GBSimons on Jan 5, 2012 12:25 PM EST reply actions
Yeah, 52 minutes is more likely.
by hotwater2 on Jan 5, 2012 1:38 PM EST up reply actions
If you saw the games, you'd understand.
It was clear that the plays were “close” and very easy for the umpires and coaches to simply look towards the replay judge. In about the time it took for ESPN to rerun the play for the viewing audience, the replay judge was able to make that call that quickly most of the time. No more than it takes an official scorer to look at a tough play on replay and determine hit or error.
by jdscott on Jan 5, 2012 2:25 PM EST up reply actions
Great article, Wendy, but a couple of points.
1) “Find another line of work.” Full-time umpire work is rare, obviously, but a number of umpire school graduates find very good part-time/supplemental work doing college, high school, and youth league games. I’ve met a number of “amateur” umpires – well-trained men (and a few women) who clear over $10,000 a year officiating games year-round in warm weather states (I’ve umpired in California and Arizona and now live in Texas).
2) The resistance from MLB to expand replay has little to do with the “human element” or resistance to change per se. It has to do with the fact that most people, even good fans, do not understand how baseball works in terms of live/dead play, which is something that umpires have control over. “Dead ball” calls instantly end play, and the reversal of that is very complex and confusing to implement, depending on a wide variety of situations that would mandate extensive rulebook changes as well as new training methodologies for umpires. One simple example: line drive fair/foul down the right field line with a runner on first. Umpire calls it foul, “killing” the play. If replay shows it was fair, where do you put the runner on first? Does he score? Does it matter if that runner was Carl Crawford or Jose Molina? Does it matter if he was running on the pitch? What about the batter? Does he get a triple in San Francisco because of the quirky angles of the outfield wall, but a double in Yankee Stadium because of the short right field porch? The same could be said with trapped balls, missed swipe tags, third out calls, etc.
The reason that the boundary call replays have been more or less successful is that the result of overturning the play is (usually) very clear. Umpires do not want to be in a position where they have to determine what the result of a play “might” have been, let alone explaining their logic to players, managers, and fans on every such play.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways replay could be expanded – and there’s no question that the “fifth umpire” option would save a LOT of time. I just like to point out that reversing quite a number of close calls would often lead to more argument and chaos. I think we’re likely to see some limited expansion with clear caveats about how to reverse certain calls – and as someone who usually argues on behalf of umpires, I’m all for it – but the days of managers being able to appeal any close play are still a bit far off.
by jdscott on Jan 5, 2012 2:23 PM EST reply actions
Good points
Even now, though, umpires have to make judgment calls on where the runner would have ended up when there’s been fan interference. So yes, some video review will lead to tough judgment calls but we have some of that already.
It may also be that MLB rules will need to be amended to account for the circumstance where video review results in a call being overturned.
I do think that a lot of resistance to more instant replay comes from traditionalists who simply believe that human error is, and has always been, a part of the game.
@hangingsliders
facebook.com/hangingsliders
by Wendy Thurm on Jan 5, 2012 2:45 PM EST up reply actions
Instant Replay is a Judgement Call Rooted in Values
Wendy, you make some good points in your article. For one, I like that you are writing about umpiring. Your slant is that you would like to make umpiring better and that instant replay could make umpiring better in so much as there is less to argue about and I suppose that if the powers-that-be are open to instant replay then they might be open to women in umpiring.
I’m not so sure, however, that openness is the key to why there aren’t more women in umpiring at the Major League level. Indeed, there is very few women umpires in baseball at most levels including minors and high schools. So there are a multitude of reasons, none of which I want to even claim to know what they are.
Regarding expanding replay, I think it comes down to a value-based decision. If you value perfection, then expanding replay is the way to go. If you value keeping the game more of a past-time or you value the profession of umpiring, then you are against it. (The latter is regards to if you automate anyone’s job, they are going to be less engaged in it.)
I think if umpiring where really bad, and it’s not, then I think, sure, let’s do instant replay. But umpiring continues to get better, and it’s becoming more of a partnership between umpires and teams (there are exceptions especially for some of the umpires at the MLB level who have been around for a long time and learned that being adversarial was a cornerstone to umpiring).
Most umpires are against instant replay. If you want to read my take on instant replay and that of amateur umpires, read my article on the subject in my “”http://goodcallsbaseball.blogspot.com/2011/12/amateur-umpires-say-no-to-expanding-mlb.html" >Good Calls – Baseball and Umpiring Blog".
Keep writing and don’t hesitate if I can offer any assistance.
Jim Kirk
CEO of Ump-Attire.com
Author of the Good Calls Baseball and Umpiring Blog
by Goodcalls on Jan 24, 2012 6:23 PM EST reply actions
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