Umpiring in MLB

[LMan]

Originally Posted by GarthB

I'm sorry to disagree, but reality requires it.

Fair/foul decisions are judgement calls.

Then how can tennis use technology to show a line call? That was a job performed by the 'human eye' for decades, and now its not (I watched the US Open this year).

Those WERE judgment calls, now they go to the computer. Please explain the difference b/w that and a ball that 'chalks' down the LF line, for example, but is called foul.

A fair/foul issue related to the field boundaries is susceptible to current technology, as in tennis. Discuss.

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by LMan

Then how can tennis use technology to show a line call? That was a job performed by the 'human eye' for decades, and now its not (I watched the US Open this year).

Those WERE judgment calls, now they go to the computer. Please explain the difference b/w that and a ball that 'chalks' down the LF line, for example, but is called foul.

A fair/foul issue related to the field boundaries is susceptible to current technology, as in tennis. Discuss.

Your first post didn't ssy that fair/foul decisions SHOULDN'T be judgment calls; you said that they weren't. That is patently wrong.

Who cares what tennis does? I don't see anything in the baseball rule book about fair/foul being called by a cyclops or a computer. In baseball, fair foul decision are still being made by human beings. Those human beings are called umpires.

The recent "huddles" on calls near the foul pole alone should indicate to most that humans are still judging fair/foul calls.

The last I knew, pros schools were still teaching that fair/foul decisions were judgement calls and the MLB still describes it that way. I don't know where you got your information. LLDan, maybe?

[Carbide Keyman]

Originally Posted by GarthB

Your first post didn't ssy that fair/foul decisions SHOULDN'T be judgment calls; you said that they weren't. That is patently wrong.

Who cares what tennis does? I don't see anything in the baseball rule book about fair/foul being called by a cyclops or a computer. In baseball, fair foul decision are still being made by human beings. Those human beings are called umpires.

The recent "huddles" on calls near the foul pole alone should indicate to most that humans are still judging fair/foul calls.

The last I knew, pros schools were still teaching that fair/foul decisions were judgement calls and the MLB still describes it that way. I don't know where you got your information. LLDan, maybe?

Now now, Garth, some might believe you are getting negative again.

[LMan]

Originally Posted by GarthB

I don't know where you got your information. LLDan, maybe?

Now that was uncalled for. I thought we were on better terms than this, Garth.

[mbyron]

As my earlier post suggested, the way to resolve this issue is to consider the contrast class. LMan: if a call is not a judgment call, what is it?

Again, the contrast class is a rules call. Suppose a batted ball kicks up chalk and I holler "foul ball!" O-Coach comes out to talk to me and asks what I saw.

If I say that I saw no chalk, then I have bad judgment. If I say that I saw chalk, and that a ball on the line is foul, then I've blown the rule.

Fair/foul is a judgment call. Whether the line is fair or foul is a rule.

[LMan]

Fair enough. I concede I am in error on this. The more I consider it, the more your position makes sense.


But don't use my name and Dan's in the same post again. I'd like to cling to a small shred of dignity, if possible.

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by LMan

But don't use my name and Dan's in the same post again. I'd like to cling to a small shred of dignity, if possible.

I apologize. I lost my head. It will never happen again.