Will the cell phone make the MLB more transparent?

Major League Baseball (MLB) has had a long standing policy of not using instant reply to give umpires a second opinion on controversial plays. Instead, umpires will congregate on the field to discuss the situation leaving fans at the game in the dark. Following the umpire discussion, a ruling is made and the game goes on. The stadium announcer, using few words as possible, will alert fans in the stands to the ruling. But most fans at the game are still left in the dark wondering exactly what happened.

And this is where the cell phone begins to break down Major League Baseball’s walls of opacity.

According to an article in Wall Street Journal (sub. req'd), cell phones are bringing transparency to the traditional game of baseball. Below is a scalpel/suture abstract of the article…

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Flash back to last week and Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. Eighth inning, one out, Boston Red Sox leading 4-2. Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees is on first, with Alex Rodriguez at the plate as the tying run. A-Rod hits a squibber to Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo and then slaps the ball out of his mitt as Mr. Arroyo tries to apply the tag.

Fans in the stands that night say they saw the disputed play as a confusing near-collision, followed by a pantomime of huddled umps, gesticulating managers and hand signals. No announcement explaining what had happened was made, they say. And no replay was shown on the scoreboard -- in fact, Major League Baseball forbids teams from showing close or disputed calls.

Enter the cellphone.

"Immediately everyone began dialing up friends and family to find out what had happened," says Robin Mohapatra.

"After a minute or two, we called friends in Boston who gave us a verbal rundown of the replay," says Tom Thornton.

"Word spread through the crowd after fans called TV-watching friends," says Andrew Howse.
What those friends said was unambiguous: A-Rod was in the wrong and the umpires had made the right call. That might not have made Yankee fans any happier, but it did dispense with the idea that they'd been jobbed.

************************* And that my friends is how the cell phone is bringing transparency to the MLB.

Comments

[Troy Worman]

Excellent post.

[rose]

great pictures!