Instant replay signals new era in MLB

CHICAGO — A gray, rectangular box on the wall of the umpires' dressing room at Wrigley Field containing a phone and a high-definition TV signaled a new era Thursday as instant replay arrived in Major League Baseball.

An umpiring crew chief can call and ask a replay center in New York to send him all available feeds so he can review boundary calls — was a ball fair or foul, was it over the fence or not, did a fan interfere with a potential home run?

"Purists are not going to like this, and not everyone is going to like it," umpiring supervisor Larry Young said Thursday, before the Cubs played the Phillies.

"We are going to do our best to do it quickly and accurately."

Determining where home runs land — or if they are homers at all — can often be the most difficult call for an umpire. There have been 18 such plays so far this season, Young said.

If there is a question about a home run, the umpires will consult with one another, and the crew chief will make the decision. One umpire will remain on the field while the review is under way, a process that Young hopes will be completed within 2 ½ minutes.

Young said the video center in New York, where feeds from the 30 major-league ballparks is already being collected, will assist the game umpires with the replays but will have no part in determining the call.

A manager can't demand a review, although he can ask for one. And once the decision is made, he can't argue or he will be ejected.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who turned 65 on Thursday, was agreeable.

"We're only talking about home-run balls. We're not talking about plays at third base or balls and strikes or any of those things. We're just talking about a select portion of the game," he said.

The NFL first used replay to aid officials in 1986, the NHL in 1991 and the NBA in 2002.

It's also used in tennis.

"I'm a throwback old baseball guy and I like the way that baseball is played and I like the part where the umpires' decision held up. And at the same time it didn't mean that they don't miss them and they don't get them right. That's part of it," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Phillies reliever Scott Eyre, who started the season with the Cubs, had the same concern.

"If they have to do a replay, you're standing out there for five minutes doing nothing," Eyre said. "They want to speed the game up, make the call."

Mark DeRosa, of the Cubs, is in favor of replay.

"I know if I hit a ball and it's a home run and it gets called a double and they go to replay and change it, I'm going to be excited," he said. "And if it's reversed, it's going to be one of those things where it shouldn't have been a home run in the first place."