1 in 5 wrong? Really?

[BSUmp16]

Originally Posted by mbyron

What a crock! I guess I have three choices now: "safe!" "out!" or "too close to call!"

Doh!!! There are three things an umpire should do before making a call - Pause.... Read... React. I think you skipped the second stage.

I NEVER said there are three choices. There are, and always have been, two choices to make on a play - Safe and Out. As I said, as the umpire you have to make one of those two choices.

Having said THAT, saying that there are no 'ties" in baseball is simply not true. If, on instant slo-mo replay it cannot be determined whether the ball arrived before the runner (or vice versa) then that is, for all practical purposes, a "tie - or "too close to call" (which according to this study happens about once every 12-14 games). Nevertheless you, as an umpire HAVE TO MAKE THE CALL - Safe or Out. How you, as an umpire, go about consistently resolving that decision - to arrive at the safe or out call, is up to you. But the fact remains, as this study proves, there are going to be situations where it is impossible for you tell tell definitively whether the ball or the runner arrived first, because it's "too close to call".