After an increase of manager ejections on ball-strike calls, MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre has seen enough.
MLB managers arguing balls and strikes is a time-honored tradition, one Joe Torre would like to stop. After a rash of ejections, the Chief Baseball Officer fired off a memo to every team ordering them to cool it.
According to the Associated Press, who found a copy of the memo, he said:
"“This highly inappropriate conduct is detrimental to the game and must stop immediately.”"
Since the game began, umpires and managers squared off on their interpretation of what a pitch should be. Although the rule book states what is a strike, every umpire has his own preference. Some call a tight zone, or you have others who will call one on anything in the area code. They are human.
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For years, most arguments were letting off steam. From the different angles in the dugout, the upset manager really could not tell whether a pitch was a strike or not. It did, however, let people like Torre air what was on his mind, give a relief pitcher a few more warm-up tosses in the bullpen, discuss where to grab dinner or argue the strike zone.
Starting in the 1980s, if you left the dugout to argue balls and strikes, you were ejected. The status quo remained. There is no way better to fire up a team mid-game than getting thrown out. Sure, some umps can be inconsistent. Eric Gregg’s strike zone during the 1997 National League Championship was so wide, it made Livan Hernandez a star after striking out 15 in Game 5 against the Atlanta Braves. We still wonder how Bobby Cox, Atlanta’s legendary manager, did not get tossed.
Why then is Torre upset now, especially since he made the same arguments during his managerial career?
Replay. Specifically, high definition replay.
With clubhouse staff assigned to watch games and let managers and coaches know if a play should be challenged, everyone knows what the umpire is calling in real time. ESPN imposes the strike zone during their games. Some teams have a pitch locator on-screen for every pitch. MLB.com gives users the same opportunity in real-time. The information is out there the moment the pitch hits the catcher’s glove. That is the problem.
Now when managers are upset challenging a play, they needle umpires about the zone. Some players, such as David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox, ride umpires over balls and strikes. Ortiz and others can go into the tunnel after an at-bat and see how pitches are called. Never a shrinking violet, Ortiz has been tossed, along with a few of his managers, for not-so-politely trying to correct the umpire.
While some have pushed for robotic umpires behind the plate as every stadium is wired three-dimensionally for balls and strikes, the umpires union will never let it happen. As the rate of manager’s ejections grow, fines and suspensions will be used to temper technology.
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The days of Earl Weaver chest-bumping an umpire or Billy Martin kicking mounds of dirt over home plate are over. Now that managers can get exact information instantly, MLB does not want those days to return.