The Burrall Blog – A Big Problem For Baseball

6/4/10 – 1:37 PM

I’ve followed Major League Baseball basically my entire life, and I cannot remember a time where the umpiring was so generally poor.  Yes, these guys still do get most calls right, but more and more often these days, close plays are just plain called wrong.

The most egregious example came on June 2nd, when the Detroit Tigers’ Armando Galarraga was an out away from throwing, unbelievably, the second perfect game in four days in the majors and the third this season.  Jason Donald of the Cleveland Indians hit a sharp ground ball that Tigers’ first baseman Miguel Cabrera fielded after moving to his right.  Galarraga raced to cover first and took the throw, which beat Donald to the bag by a full step.

But that isn’t how first base umpire Jim Joyce saw the play.  He hesitated, then called Donald safe.  Television replays immediately showed – with no doubt – that Donald should have been out.

Joyce, to his credit, admitted his mistake.  And, to be fair, Joyce is regarded as a very good umpire and is well-respected – correctly, I’ll say.  He’s worked two World Series.  But this time,  Joyce blew the call and he eventually knew it.

This is an instance of a good umpire making a bad error.  But the problem remains that bad umpires keep making themselves look foolish.

Example: White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle was called recently for two balks in one game by umpire Joe West.  He didn’t balk in either instance, and Buehrle and his manager, Ozzie Guillen, were both ejected.  They both were fined for remarks made about West to the essence that West seems to be more concerned about his music career than being a competent umpire.  West even has a publicist, a singular trait among big league umpires.  But, neither were suspended by Major League Baseball.  And, West was fined.  In other words, MLB admitted without saying so what Buehrle and Guillen basically said – that Joe West has become an embarrassment to his profession.

Example: In a recent game, Houston Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt, one of the few bright spots on an otherwise awful team, didn’t feel like correct ball-strike calls were being made by umpire Bill Hohn.  Then, after one pitch which Oswalt missed outside, and knew he’d missed, he shouted something to himself.  Hohn heard it, and ejected Oswalt, even as the pitcher was saying, “I wasn’t talking to you!”  MLB said it would have a “stern” discussion with Hohn, whose repuation as an umpire may be even worse than that of West.

Example: On the same night as the blunder in Detroit, Seattle’s Josh Wilson was ruled safe at second base by umpire Dale Scott, negating a force play and allowing the Mariners to score the winning run against Minnesota.  Just as in the Galarraga play, the replay clearly showed that the umpire missed the call.

So, is the answer an expanded use of replay, like in the NFL and NHL?  Well, maybe.  Here’s a novel idea for Bud Selig and his minions: How about training umpires better so better umpires, ones that aren’t so arrogant and prone to thoughts of infallibility, can be hired?  Just a thought.