Get it right: Baseball in dire need of replay

A compromise: Keep instant replay out of baseball to appease the relics who stand on their dated grounds of tradition, but only if Bud Selig and his sightless umpires attend games wearing those Coke-bottle glasses Jerry Seinfeld sported in hopes Lloyd Braun wouldn’t be returned to the nut farm.

Now that would be funny.

But anything short of it, and the major leagues need to be introduced to a concept known as technology. We live in a world where we can track every pitch of our favorite team on a cell phone and yet pause when considering whether or not to make certain critical calls — and not-so-critical ones — are correct. Stupid.

Baseball needs instant replay. Home runs. Foul balls. Out or safe calls. Fan interference. All of it should be open to review, and a commissioner who plays the tradition card only when it best suits his particular stance shouldn’t be allowed to stall progress any more than he should be allowed out of his home with that hair.

Selig talking tradition is Roger Clemens acting the victim. Laughable. How much did tradition play in the concepts of wild cards and interleague play and deciding home-field advantage in the World Series by the winner of an all-star game whose starters are determined by ballot-stuffing fans? How much tradition is there in a baseball commissioner being paid nearly $15 million a year?

It’s probably nice for all those rock ‘n’ roll purists to spin vinyl records, but it doesn’t mean those who shuffle music on iPods are any less for the experience. The same thing applies with instant replay and baseball. Is it better to get calls right or continue supporting some obsolete theory about human error being part of the game?

Baseball needs to leave the purist arguments to “Star Wars” fanatics upset by changes in the original films.

“I’m an old-school guy, and yet getting calls right is always the most important thing,” 51s manager Lorenzo Bundy said before his team opened a four-game series against Fresno at Cashman Field on Friday night. “When the outcome of games are affected by (wrong calls), it’s big, especially in the major leagues. The bottom line is, if it would help get the calls right, let’s do it.”

It took three missed home run calls in the last week to again bring the idea of instant replay into focus, but it’s not enough to limit technology to whether a ball crosses a line or hits a yellow pole or if the next Steve Bartman touches a foul ball on the spectator side of a wall or in the field of play.

Think about it. Think of all the times television replays have shown a close play at home called incorrectly. Umpires are underappreciated for all the calls they get right, and yet it’s incredible how often they miss that particular one.

One possible option could somewhat mirror the NFL method: Give each manager two challenges per game for any judgment call beyond balls and strikes. If a call is overturned, you don’t lose the challenge. If it is upheld, you lose the second one.

You wouldn’t need an umpire to stand under a hood and watch replays, because just the idea of Joe West in such a position would frighten young children with visions of the “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Instead, a replay official could view the call from the press box and send a decision to the field.

Maybe a thumbs up or down on the scoreboard. Maybe he waves a red flag to overturn a call or a white one to uphold it. Maybe someone holds up a picture of Selig’s face with an X through it when the call is missed.

“When I’m pitching, I want every call, every strike, everything going our way,” said 51s left-hander Eric Stults, who has two years of major league service. “But I can see both sides of it. You want calls to be right, but when things have been done a certain way for over 100 years, some people just won’t want things changed.

“As long as (instant replay) wouldn’t slow down games too much, it’s a good thing.”

The fear of longer games shouldn’t be the determining factor by possibly ensuring a playoff or World Series outcome is decided on a bad call. There is a reason you set the DVR before attending any baseball game, why more kids keep embracing faster-paced sports instead of Little League.

There is an acceptable rhythm and pace to baseball (SLOW). It’s not a good or bad thing. It’s fact.

So is this: Instant replay in baseball needs to be here yesterday. Selig needs to embrace a new tradition, not to mention another artificial hairstyle.

Ed Graney’s column is published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.