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Down By Contact

“The runner was down by contact so there will be no video replay review.”

How many times have you heard those words on an NFL Sunday and screamed at the television: “Why have instant replay if you’re not going to use it”? Well, you better get used to it because if baseball brings in replay to judge home runs or fair/foul calls you’re going to hear something similar at your local ballpark.

The “down by contact” rule is the only logical solution to the problem of continuing action in football. If a runner is down and the whistle is blown the players on the field stop doing what they’re paid to do. Run and tackle and recover fumbles. Even if replay shows that the runner actually fumbled the ball prior to being down, and before the whistle was blown, there isn’t any fair way to determine what would have happened next. If the referee hadn’t blown the play dead then the runner MIGHT have recovered his own fumble, or his teammate MIGHT have jumped on it, or one of the opponents MIGHT have picked it up and started running the other way, and he MIGHT have fumbled it back. Instant replay only works in football for those plays that have reached finality. Baseball is no different.

Here’s the good scenario. Runners on first and second with one out. The batter lifts a long fly ball to left field and it bounces off something near the top of the wall and comes back on the field. The umpires rule that it hit the top of the wall and is in play. Runners run, fielders field, and the play comes to some conclusion. Then a replay official in the booth looks at his monitor and determines that the ball actually hit a railing beyond the fence and should be a home run. He calls down to the field and a correction is made. Three run home run. Baseball fans rejoice because this proves instant replay works.

Here’s the bad scenario. Runners on first and second with one out. The batter lifts a long fly ball to left field and it bounces off something near the top of the wall and comes back on the field. The umpires rule that it hit a railing beyond the fence and call it a home run. Runners jog, players flip the ball back to the infield or into the stands, there is no continuous action. Then the replay official in the booth determines it actually hit the top of the wall and was not a home run. He relays the call down to the field and then … what happens? Where do you put the baserunners? How many runs should score? What about the possibility that the fielders would have executed a good relay and cut down a runner on the bases? Boos rain down from the stands as the umpires and both managers argue endlessly about the appropriate outcome to a play that never happened.

This same problem would happen with fair/foul calls. Balls down the line that are originally called fair but are shown to be foul are not a problem. The runners return to the bases and the hitter steps back into the box with an additional strike. If the hit was originally ruled a foul ball and replay shows it to be fair you run into the same problems as above. Once an umpire throws both hands over his head and screams “Foul Ball!” the players on the field stop doing what they’re paid to do. There is no way to fairly determine what would have happened if they didn’t stop the play.

The groundswell of popular opinion is almost entirely in favor of the idea of instant replay in baseball. I certainly would love to see technology play a larger role in the officiating of the game in general, so my objections are not in the “Umpires being human and making mistakes is part of the game” vein. The problem is that instant replay is not the cure-all it is being made out to be. Its use would have to be limited to very specific circumstances; balls originally thought to be in the park but found to be home runs and balls originally thought to be fair but found to be foul; or else it will end up causing more controversy than it solves.