On the TunneySide of Sports July 29, 2019, #753 “Robot Umpires”
After further review… Well, you knew that the “Robot Umpires” topic would appear in the TunneySide, didn’t you? The Independent Atlantic League, an American professional baseball league located primarily in Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, used robot umpires in their 2019 All-Star game. Follow to that All-Star game, the I.A.L. announced it will use TrackMan, the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS), for the balance of the 2019 season. Would you bet that once installed, it’s here to stay?
Lots of questions:
- Do these robots have to take and pass the rules examination required by (even) Little League Umpires?
- What happens to the traditional “Kill the Umpire” (never did like that) that fans scream when a ball/strike call didn’t go their way? Does “Kill the robot” make sense?
- Will this robotic system find its way into the “big show?”
Wimbledon tennis championships use technology for balls landing on or out of the tennis lines. Tennis balls are hit with speeds of over 100 MPH, but then, a pitcher in baseball can achieve that velocity as well. Hmmm!
Let’s look at some history: For many years the National Football League heard from fans, owners, coaches, and others that the league should use “Instant Replay” to determine several plays on the NFL field that game officials were not calling correctly. In 1978 I officiated a Buffalo Bills at Dallas Cowboys pre-season game where the NFL office, accompanied by others, were in a booth at Texas Stadium experimenting with replay. That experiment was delayed for approval until 1986 – 8 years later – since many were uncertain. It was a good thing.
One can see how the use of replay in today’s NFL game has grown. I was in favor of replay in 1986, but its expansion in today’s game has taken a lot of game-responsibility out of the hands of on-field officials. If this robotic experience appears that it is getting balls and strikes called correctly 100% of the time and it is adopted by MLB, well, as my late friend and baseball announcer, Dr. Dick Enberg, used to say, “Oh, my.”
Sports are games played by human beings, not robots! Madden 2020 is doing well, but that’s where video games ought to stay – on the screen in your game room! Games of sport are played by people and people, you don’t need to be reminded, are not robots! People, being human, will make mistakes. If you want to watch something or someone who doesn’t make mistakes, avoid sporting events.
Will you log-in your thoughts about the use of robot umpires?
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