dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

neco Loc: Western Colorado Mountains

This has to be the best buy in the USA even if it goes to $80!

mikenolan Loc: Lincoln Nebraska

Sorry, the umpires make something like 5X the national average salary and there are some totally incomprehensible calls being made! Yeah, the players are overpaid primadonnas, but they deserve competent umpiring.

Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

Call reviews have taken umpires out of the game in almost every sport, big mistake, if the ss makes an error, game still carries on. If an ump misses a call, game should also carry on. The umps, refs, judges are part of the game!!!

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

So that 5X give players the right to verbally attack an insult. Even debatable calls of play.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Seems to work quite well in TENNIS, HOCKEY, CRICKET (not much played in the U.S. - but you do have an international team) and RUGBY where it is particularly effective. Limited appeals is the answer (unless successful) but I think RUGBY has it spot on. The REF can all up for a review and decides what the review will cover. For example, if he wants to see if the ball has touched the ground he can ask for just that. If it has he will award the try irrespective or not of a foul being made earlier that he did not spot. Alternatively, he can ask "is there any reason I can't award a try", then the video referee can go back much further to check. Once a request has been made the final decision rests with the off field official.

As for verbal abuse, the ref. will stand for little of it. Often he'll let the flack fly, then call over the Captain to sort out the player. The referee can, of course, send him off or sin bin him for 10 minutes if deemed appropriate punishment.

Meanwhile, Football (soccer) continues to live in the dark ages with fragrant fouling and abuse almost being the norm amongst some of the top flight.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, people have gotten nastier, not hesitating to attack others verbally and even physically. MLB players are paid millions of dollars a year because they can hit a ball with a stick. Millionaires seem to think they are on a level about the rest of us and can do whatever they want.

mikeg492 Loc: WIlmington, NC

The majority of MLB players make the league minimum which is close to 180 a year. I have a son playing college baseball right now and he grew up working with current and former MLB players to get there. I personally don't believe in mouthing off to umpires when you realize the players are very good judges of balls and strikes and the umpire takes the bat out of their hands it keeps them from being the million dollar player. More times than not the replay of the strike in question is questionable on which way it could go at best and the pitcher gets the call. Now the problem with that is the pitcher already has the benefit because the batter has to hit something moving at 90 mph and has to guess what pitch and location it is going to be in. Also when you figure a 26 year old that can successfully hit often has been working on it for 22 years and is one of a few hundred in the world that can do it and field a baseball at a level to get to the MLB you see why they get paid well to do it. Just my two cents.

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

I agree with you. Some of the strike and ball calls I've seen are horrendous. I think that is basically what the players are bitching about. Safe and out calls are reviewable.

whitewolfowner

The umpires today have no ground to stand on for complaining. The players are getting sick and tired of their lousy calls. Many umpires in the majors don't even know where the strike zone is; it's terrible. And the base calling is not much better, either. I've seen pitches six inches out of the strike zone called as strikes. How can one go to bat with that crappy calling. Players are evaluated and paid according to their "numbers" and these lousy umps are destroying players numbers which can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions in their next contract negotiations. It would be one thing if umps were missing pitches that just caught or missed the plate by an inch or less but that is not the case. And there is no excuse for it either. When I was a child, back in the sixties, a player may argue over a called strike three and the replay most times showed the umpire was right; the ball did catch the strike zone by half the ball, but it did catch it and if the player was right, the ball was so close to the strike zone; no one could fault the ump for the call he made. It's totally different now where you'd swear half of those guys out there umping are legally blind. And it's not that hard either; the ump has birds eye view of the plate, as does the players. I know, I've done it myself. And even guys that played high school and maybe college ball and still keep playing on weekends during the summers have excellent eyeing as a batter whether the pitch is a ball or strike, so you can imagine how well a pro that plays every day can tell if the ball is in the strike zone or not. Yeah, they may get fooled by a great pitch here and there, but they know the pitcher got them when they do.