scorekeep
06-06-2010, 07:30 PM
I finally heard something from the announcers of a MLB that not only made sense, it made great sense. Before I write about it, I want to make sure everyone understands that I understand right now this would only work for pro baseball, because of the expense, and because they’re the only ones with access to the technology. So please don’t anyone go off half-cocked about it not working for any amateur level.
In a game this week, a player from the home team hit a ball to the 3rd baseman. He fielded it, then made a pretty bad throw, and the batter-runner was safe. I was watching the visitor broadcast, and they were saying the scorer made the right call, calling it an error. Shortly thereafter, the announcer said the scorer had changed his mind and called it a hit.
Notice that I’m not saying one way or the other if I thought it was a hit or error, and that’s because it doesn’t matter. After it was changed, the announcers went into a bit of a standard hissy because it went against their team, and then they started making comments about that being pretty much standard in the ML, where home team scorers had a habit of doing that.
As they talked about it, one guy mentioned that MLB had been looking at a possibility that could kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Evidently what was being kicked around was, having a 5th umpire at every game. This guy would sit in the press box with all the video feeds available, and be able to check IR to correct or verify calls. That sounded like it made great sense by itself, but then there was an added nugget.
What that umpire would also do, is be the official scorer! They went on talking about it, and how that would make a difference in the scoring, because that wouldn’t be someone who could be influenced by the team management or owner, one way or the other.
The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. How great would it be to have scorers who not only knew the scoring rules, but the game conduct rules as well! But to me the best thing about it would be that MLB would actually have to give some guidance about interpreting scoring rules the same way they give guidance about interpreting the other rules. IMHO, that would do more to help improve scoring throughout every level of ball, the same way it helps umpiring every level of ball.
One thing I believe it would really influence, is pitch counts. Not for the pros, but for anyone who requires or will require them to be used as pitch limitations. I’ve been in more than a few “discussions” with umpires about this subject, and when I suggest they be the ones who have anything to do with pitch counts at all, in general let’s just say it isn’t very well accepted. ;)
Its usually maintained that it isn’t their job to do such things, just as any other part of scoring isn’t, other than verifying when a run has scored, even though its in the rule book. Well, if MLB were to do something such as I described where the OSK would be an umpire, it would certainly blow at least one argument out of the water.
In a game this week, a player from the home team hit a ball to the 3rd baseman. He fielded it, then made a pretty bad throw, and the batter-runner was safe. I was watching the visitor broadcast, and they were saying the scorer made the right call, calling it an error. Shortly thereafter, the announcer said the scorer had changed his mind and called it a hit.
Notice that I’m not saying one way or the other if I thought it was a hit or error, and that’s because it doesn’t matter. After it was changed, the announcers went into a bit of a standard hissy because it went against their team, and then they started making comments about that being pretty much standard in the ML, where home team scorers had a habit of doing that.
As they talked about it, one guy mentioned that MLB had been looking at a possibility that could kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Evidently what was being kicked around was, having a 5th umpire at every game. This guy would sit in the press box with all the video feeds available, and be able to check IR to correct or verify calls. That sounded like it made great sense by itself, but then there was an added nugget.
What that umpire would also do, is be the official scorer! They went on talking about it, and how that would make a difference in the scoring, because that wouldn’t be someone who could be influenced by the team management or owner, one way or the other.
The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. How great would it be to have scorers who not only knew the scoring rules, but the game conduct rules as well! But to me the best thing about it would be that MLB would actually have to give some guidance about interpreting scoring rules the same way they give guidance about interpreting the other rules. IMHO, that would do more to help improve scoring throughout every level of ball, the same way it helps umpiring every level of ball.
One thing I believe it would really influence, is pitch counts. Not for the pros, but for anyone who requires or will require them to be used as pitch limitations. I’ve been in more than a few “discussions” with umpires about this subject, and when I suggest they be the ones who have anything to do with pitch counts at all, in general let’s just say it isn’t very well accepted. ;)
Its usually maintained that it isn’t their job to do such things, just as any other part of scoring isn’t, other than verifying when a run has scored, even though its in the rule book. Well, if MLB were to do something such as I described where the OSK would be an umpire, it would certainly blow at least one argument out of the water.