The death of the neighborhood play...

[PeteBooth]

Rich here is the flip side.

Maybe in the not so distant future some high priced F6 / F4 is going to be lost for the season on a routine type play in which he is now "forced" to touch the base as opposed to "back in the day". R1 is going to come barreling into the bag and either F4/F6 lost for the season.

Guess what? Now the same people who were in favor of the call will now say
"What the heck is going on? The runner was out by a mile on a routine type play. why DO THE UMPIRES make F4/F6 touch the base when all is needed is to be in the "vicintiy" to avoid injury.

FWIW I now HATE replay even in Football. The replay rule was supposed to overturn OBVIOUS mistakes not replay every call a ZILLION times with different angles. Heck now-a-days you can go to the bathroom, get a drink and STILL a decision has not been rendered.

In a nutshell Replay along with "other things" has ruined the tradition of baseball.

You are correct though the NEIGHBORHOOD is dead at least in MLB and most likely division I college where games are shown on TV.

Pete Booth