Perception

[CYO Butch]

Originally posted by JRutledge
Does anyone realize how hard it is to change any call? Especially in baseball?

It is really hard to do that, for one at least in baseball, plays happen and you just happen to be there. You do not tell the runner to round second and try for that extra base and you automatically make a call before the play gets there. Any umpire with any integrity could not even try to "cheat." This is not basketball where in individual official might have 15-20 calls a game potentially. In baseball with 4 umpires, they might be lucky if they have one call the entire game. And if he is on 3rd base, chances are he will be very possible that he will not have any close plays.

I do not see any problem with this, mainly because there is not much an umpire not behind the plate can influence. Baseball most of the time calls itself.

Peace

Frankly, I don't see how an official who works with any regularity at all could change his/her behavior for a particular game or situation. Don't all of you work very hard to make all your calls instinctive and automatic? If you had to think through each all as you make it, wouldn't it slow you down tremendously and be very obvious you were struggling? Unlike boxing or ice skating, where the officials' judgments are not displayed until after the fact, sports like baseball and basketball require instantaneous and demonstrable decisions by the officials. Does anyone think they could actually switch their decision making mechanism back and forth between automatic and biased and not have it obvious to everyone?