Penton: Ball or strike? Let the ‘robot ump’ decide
By Bruce Penton
“Well, it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the ol’ ball game.”
Maybe. Maybe not. Let’s see what the ABS system says first before we send that batter back to the dugout.
Welcome to the 21st century. The computer age has become totally involved in our lives, so why not baseball, too?
Starting this season, Major League Baseball — after extensive testing in the minor leagues and spring training games — has officially adopted the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System. Each team gets two challenges per game against perceived bad calls by the umpire and if they’re successful, they get another one. Two botched challenges, however, and the team cannot challenge again.
To simplify things, the baseball world is referring to the new system as robot umps. Technology has advanced to such an extent that a number of specialized cameras set up around the ballpark can zero in on the precise strike zone and tell whether a pitch was, in fact, a ball or a strike. If the pitcher, catcher or batter does not agree with the human umpire’s decision on a pitch, a challenge can be activated with an immediate tap on the head. Technology then takes over and, within a couple of seconds, makes the ultimate ruling.
MLB says fans overwhelmingly approve of the new system but it’s hard to believe that the umpiring union would be in favour. Too many overturned calls in the early innings of a game might get an angry fan base even more skeptical of the human ump’s skills, and verbally ride him even more as the game goes on. If the technology shows an umpire regularly missing calls, his career might be on the line. Overall, though, the ABS system has shown umpires miss calls less frequently than fans might believe.
In a story from Florida, The Athletic says “catchers proved far better than batters at deciding when to call for the robot to step in” during spring training games. Patrick Bailey of the Giants was successful in 10 of his first 12 challenges, the story said.
The ABS system might have come in handy during the recent World Baseball Classic, when the U.S. defeated the Dominican Republic in a semi-final game that ended on a pitch called a strike that was obviously low and out of the strike zone.
One change to be expected from the introduction of the ABS system is managerial ejections. Famous umpire-baiters such as Billy Martin, Earl Weaver, Bobby Cox and Lou Piniella would be muted in their objection to a pitch determined by a robot, although angry managers could still kick up a lot of dirt on a close play at home that they didn’t like. Technology can tell whether a pitched ball was in or out of the strike zone, but a ‘safe’ at home call still needs the human touch.
Eventually, say those close to professional baseball, MLB may go fully ABS. Fans may be forced to yell “kill the robot” but they’d have trouble finding it.
Headline at fark.com: “After having a torrent of ball-and-strike calls overturned in the first week of the MLB season, umpire C.B. Buckner undergoes an unscheduled vision corrective procedure.”
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, after a fan reminded him he said in 2009 that Dwight Howard, not LeBron James, would emerge as the NBA’s dominant champion over the next decade: “Doctors bury their mistakes; sports columnists print theirs.”
Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail, on the terrible New York Rangers’ season: “The Rangers don’t need a rebuild. They need therapy.”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: “The New York Rangers, last in the Eastern Conference, will not raise ticket prices next season. The Leafs, two spots ahead of the Rangers, have already raised ticket prices.”
Cathal Kelly again, on the Canucks’ poor season: “Some teams have the sort of year that gets everyone fired. Vancouver is having the kind of season that, in a more sensible world, would get the franchise’s charter revoked.”
Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Now bodycam footage shows Tiger Woods on the phone before he would talk to police after his latest crash. He then told officers: ‘I was just talking with the President.’ Was Tiger asking for a pardon or to be named Secretary of Transportation?”
Retired boxer George Foreman (snipped from sportscurmudgeon.com): “When I was a kid in Houston, we were so poor we couldn’t afford the last two letters, so we called ourselves po’.”
Headline at theonion.com: “Panicked Dodgers Owner Has No Idea How He’s Going To Come Up With $414 Million Payroll”
Another headline at theonion.com: “Victor Wembanyama Issued Technical For Punching Jumbotron”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, after Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley said he wants the Leafs to be more ‘data driven’: “Will data be the first-pass-out-of-the-zone defenceman the Leafs desperately need? Will data measure heart or character, some of hockey’s most important components? If data can play right wing on a line with Matthews, I’m all for it.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca