Should MLB Move To Robot Umpires? Let's Investigate

He crouched in his normal position behind the catcher and signaled balls and strikes.

“Until we can trust this system 100 percent, I still have to go back there with the intention of getting a pitch correct because if the system fails, it doesn’t pick a pitch up, or if it registers a pitch that’s a foot-and-a-half off the plate as a strike, I have to be prepared to correct that,” deBrauwere said before the game.

It didn’t appear that deBrauwere had any delay receiving the calls at first, but players noticed a big difference.

“One time I already had caught the ball back from the catcher, and he signaled strike,” said pitcher Daryl Thompson, who didn’t realize the technology was being used until he disagreed with the call.

Infielder L.J. Mazzilli said a few times that hitters who struck out lingered an extra second or so in the batter’s box waiting on a called third strike.

“The future is crazy, but it’s cool to see the direction of baseball,” Mazzilli said.

So an Indy League toyed with robot umps in their all star game this week.  SMFH.  Lieutenant Frank Drebin is rolling over in his goddamn grave because after reading this.  You mean to tell me baseball is evolving to take the human element out of the game?  That umpires are just going to be cronies for computer systems that tell them what call to make?  That baseball will eventually be better off once the kinks are worked out?  THAT WE WON’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH JOE WEST, CB BUCKNOR OR ANGEL HERNANDEZ FUCKING UP GAMES ANYMORE?

Is that what you’re telling me?  What in the fucken heck?

Real talk… I get that a lot of us are creatures of habit, especially baseball players.  We like routines and hate change.  Count me as one of those.  When replay was implemented in baseball I loathed it.  “I LOVE HUMAN ERROR, IT’S PART OF THE GAME!” I yelled at the clouds.  But as it sits today it’s for the better.  That said, if there were replay in 2005, the World Series could have gone a little different but we are NOT talking about that.  Cleanest sweep in the history of baseball.

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~ anyways ~

Let’s talk about rule changes with regards to people hating change:

– Did you know that until the 1920s it was completely legal to spit on and/or doctor the ball with lubricant in order to snap off better breaking pitches?  That said, pitchers who were already throwing spitters were grandfathered in and allowed to throw them.  BI-PARTISAN POLITICS PEOPLE CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!! Baseball survived.  I’m sure some people were fucking pissed that they could no longer see those 1-0 barnburners because a doctored ball is impossible to hit though.

– Oh and speaking about pitching, pitchers were required to throw underhand until the 1870s.  Imagine going up to the plate and seeing a bunch of Kelly Wunsches and Byung Hyun Kims.  That’d be fucking weird.  Especially when all of a sudden it’d be okay to see a Roger Clemens over the top power hook the next year.  Hitters must have hated this rule change.  Baseball survived.

– Balls could bounce once and count as an out until 1864.  This was because it was rare that fielders used mitts at the time, so this allowed them to let fly balls bounce once so they didn’t snap any fingers.  Baseball survived.  I’m sure people were fucking pissed about it though.

– Ground Rule doubles were actually home runs until 1930.  This one gots me wondering: how many home runs did the 1927 Yankees hit do you think were actually ground rule doubles?  I had never heard this rule until today but it blew my mind that Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig might not have as many career dingers as we thought.  That there should be a BIG FAT ASTERISK by his name and that 714 could in fact be a phony number.

I bet The Babe was fucking pissed with this rule change though.  That said…. baseball survived.

And that’s my point.  In spite of change, we almost *always* get over it.  Pitch clocks, robot umps, replay, and whatever else may be on the horizon is probably a good thing for the game once it’s all tightened up.  Again, do you want Joe West blowing a call for your team in a game 7?  For sure not.  The most important thing is getting the call correct, and it’s good that MLB is actively trying to do that.

Count me in for #TeamRobotUmps