Umps make 1 in 5 close calls wrong.

OTL did a study and Sen. Jim Bunning is upset about it.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=5464015

 

They should make umpiring a full-time job.

 

How about this suggestion from a friend of mine ... hire 30 retired umps (one in each city) to sit up in a booth and watch replays on every play (NOT ball/strike calls). Give him and the crew chiefs blackberries. Guy in the booth sees an obviously wrong call, he messages the crew chief to overrule the call.
Manager comes out to argue a call that umps got right, guy in the booth texts crew chief that call is correct.

Takes about 30 seconds.

 

I'm for that. Umps make mistakes. They are human. But in this day and age of technology, Mr. Lizard (Bud Selig) should seriously think about instant replay.

 

Nate Silver says ESPN is full of shit:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/08/espn-umpire-study-blows-call.html

Pretty dumb study.

 

Silver says that it's only 47 missed calls, about one every four games and calls that vindicating for the umps.

That extrapolates out to 662 missed calls over the course of the regular season and about four missed calls per night around the majors. Is having a blown call in about a quarter of all games played really all that vindicating?

 

When the calls are that close? Yes

 

Too efficient and makes too much sense. Fail.

 

The biggest gripe is Selig and Co. seem to be OK with getting it wrong part of the time.

Are they equally satisfied if the kid at McDonald's gets their change wrong occasionally, or the power company misreads their bill on the high side twice a year or how about if their doctor misdiagnoses them one in five visits?

I've always said I can live with the missed calls if organizations own up to them, but don't accept mediocre performances then either deny you got it wrong or ban someone from commenting on it.

Perhaps the biggest problem is sports officials are more juiced in than the auto unions in Detroit. I'd like to see a promotion and relegation system across the board. At the start of each season let it be known that X number of people will lose their job/be demoted at the end of the season. Grade them on every call, every game. "The bottom X guys are gone. Don't let it be you." Promote the same number from the level below.

I guarantee you'd see improved performances.

 

The game has got a lot faster, with better equipment and players stronger with better workout equipment.

It would make complete sense that you give the umpires another tool. Football and hockey has done it, but the dinosaurs in the MLB office refuse to adapt.

 

What I don't I understand is why there isn't more of an outcry for a better system for spotting the ball in football. Its all eyeballed. And there are plenty of times teams miss a first down by inches. To me that's just as big as this.