Begone, Human Element

The world of baseball is still buzzing over the bad call at first base by umpire Jim Joyce that cost pitcher Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers a perfect game on 2 June 2010. We should all commend Mr. Joyce for his forthright honesty in quickly admitting his monumental mistake. Even more noteworthy is the exemplary class and dignity with which Mr. Galarraga responded.

What trips my chain, however, is the reason cited by numerous players and managers to explain why major league baseball (MLB) should not expand instant replay beyond present guidelines (i.e., determining if a fly ball is a home run or not). Almost to a man, they invariably state that the "human element" is an inextricable part of baseball.

Oh, please. Results on the field should be determined by player performance, not officiating blunders. On the day in question, the pitcher was perfect, but the umpire was not. There is no justice in penalizing players for the mistakes of umpires.

If there were a cost-free system that could guarantee correct calls 100% of the time, you can bet that MLB would adopt such a system in a heartbeat, and rightfully so. The human element involving players is indeed unavoidable and sometimes even grimly fascinating. However, the fate of players should not be determined by unrelated external forces like umpiring foibles. The human element with regard to umpiring should be minimized or eliminated altogether whenever possible. Expanded instant replay is a reasonable means to that end.

The only legitimate issue is what price people are willing to pay to make the correct calls, particularly if they might affect the outcome of a playoff or a World Series game. Mr. Joyce has been circumspect in his public statements about leaving it up to the commissioner's office to decide on any rule changes governing instant replay. However, given his obvious distress at having made the wrong call, I strongly suspect that Mr. Joyce would have welcomed the opportunity to pause an additional 60 or 90 seconds to review TV replays and insure the correct call.

You know that Mr. Galarraga would have welcomed that.