Smittyisms

[Jim Porter]

Originally Posted by lawump

Jim,

I agree with almost everything your saying. In fact, that was exactly how it was taught to me at umpire school in 1997.

However, I will add this: MLB has changed. I have heard direct from a horse's mouth (one of my old mentors who is in MLB). Over dinner he bluntly told me that MLB had changed and had changed very quickly.

With the proliferation of TV cameras (EVERY game (especially now that Montreal is out of the league) has multiple cameras AND the stadiums have tv monitors located throughout the stadium), MLB umpires today ONLY care about getting the play right. And "right" now means: what everyone will see WHEN THEY LOOK AT THE REPLAY on tv.

*snip*

Do you realize you've made these comments to an employee of Major League Baseball? I watch games for a living. It's my job to pay attention to every pitch. It's my job to work closely with broadcast teams. It's my job to scrutinize every pitch and compare each location around the strike zone to what the PU is calling.

All I can say is the proof of what you say cannot be found in the pudding. MLU's are still calling individual strike zones. They're still rewarding pitchers. Phantom tags and neighborhood plays are still being called regularly. I know because I see it everyday.

And broadcasters have various ways of dealing with it in replays. Some of them don't mention a neighborhood or phantom tag play even when it's obvious in replays. Others, particularly former players, will sometimes mention the unwritten rules. I've yet to hear a broadcaster belly-ache over and scrutinize neighborhood play or phantom tag play. It's become an accepted part of the game.

Umpiring the game has indeed changed in the last few years, however. It just hasn't changed in regards to phantom tags, neighborhood plays, and strike zone management. Instead, crews these days are much more willing to meet and overturn a decision than they used to be in years past -- and even then, only under certain circumstances.

Ques-Tec has been useless because it's installed in so few ballparks. In some of those ballparks where it's installed it no longer works, so it's used in even fewer ballparks than originally planned. There are sweeping changes in the works that may very likely change all of that, but not until the Ques-Tec contract runs out at the end of this season.

But all of this is really beside the point, isn't it? None of us umpire games with multiple camera angles and super slow-mo instant replays, do we? So the old MLU techniques should still work well for us. Right?