Ballgames That Begged for Instant Replay

Female umpire speaks out against baseball's 'stained-grass ceiling'

(NEWSER) - Forget blown calls. The real problem with umpires in the MLB, says Perry Barber: A complete lack of females. Barber, who has been in the business since 1981, works high school, college, spring training, and Independent League games—and tells DoubleX , “ We’re just going to have to storm the Bastille, baby, and flood the schools with women candidates and shatter what I call the stained-grass ceiling.” More»

Postseason miscues have MLB considering drastic changes

(NEWSER) - This year’s postseason has featured the usual thrills—pitchers' duels, come-from-behind victories—and an outbreak of something unusual: botched calls by umpires. The threat of more gaffes in next week’s World Series has the tradition-bound sport considering expanding the use of instant replay beyond the verification of home runs. And not everyone objects. More»

Machines might be able to do this job better

(NEWSER) - Joe Mauer smashed a ball to left field in the 11th inning Friday, and it landed fair, a foot inside the line. But it won’t show up on any box score, because umpire Phil Cuzzi, standing just 10 feet away, ruled it foul. It’s just one of several blown calls in this postseason, and as the errors pile up, some are wondering: Do we really need umpires—or could a machine do the job better? More»

(NEWSER) - Branch Rickey once complained that “there is nothing on earth anybody can do with fielding,” but that's about to change thanks to a complex new camera and computer system, the New York Times reports. The system, which will be unveiled for baseball executives tomorrow, records the exact speed and location of every ball and every player, giving stat geeks a mountain of new data. The idea is to get a better handle on intangibles such as which outfielder has the best arm. More»

(NEWSER) - Major League Baseball’s disabled list has expanded to include a previously touchy ailment, the Wall Street Journal reports—anxiety. Three players have recently sat out games because of publicly acknowledged cases of the “butterflies,” an admission unheard of just years ago. Though the airing of psychological problems is rare in baseball, they are openly spoken of in other sports from golf to archery. More»