Joyce tops survey

[ehawkins1]

Good read:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5281467

[BrianC14]

Replay on the bases?

Yes: 22%

No: 77%

Maybe: 1%

Replay on fair/foul calls?

Yes: 36%

No: 62%

Not sure: 2%

Overturn calls in Galarraga game?

Yes: 13%

No: 86%

Not sure: 1%

Do you suppose that idiot Selig will pay attention here?

[kcfan102]

Do you suppose that idiot Selig will pay attention here?

No.

[Umpire in Chief]

I liked this article. For as much garbage we give the players and coaches this poll shows overall they "get it" To mechanize baseball too much would take away from the game.

[constable]

This is atleast 3 times that I can think of Bucknor has been voted the worst..

[Big Red]

Do you suppose that idiot Selig will pay attention here?

If it involves more money/power for him, maybe!

As I mentioned in another thread about Sell-out Selig, I strongly believe he's not going to stop w/ just a look at instant replay.

During his "tenure," there has always been an "anti-umpire" undercurrent in the front office and my is that these recent high-profile events (Joyce, West, etc) will lead Selig to believe, right or wrong, that he has the ammo AND public backing to take further unilateral action.

The recent removal of Solomon and the appointment of both McHale & Robinson in the operations dept is a case in point....I believe Jayson Stark is correctly reading the Selig tea leaves:

Personnel shuffle elevates Robinson

Along the public backing/opinion lines, I know we've alluded to it and even joked about it on this forum, but in all the years I've been watching/enjoying baseball, pro & collegiate, I don't recall seeing so much disdain/2nd guessing of umpires as I have this year, both pro and college. It was painful watching the Super Regionals over the last few days the way these announcers were CONSTANTLY bashing the crews; granted, not all but many and a few extremely vocal about it....every inning they were yapping about something.

I taped a segment from game 1 on Sat between ASU & Arkansas where the PU called a text-book case of batter's interference while the catcher was trying to throw out R1 stealing 2nd, and the comments by the announcers about the call were mind-numbing and they wouldn't let it go...I'll post in another thread after I download it.

Anyway... :wow:

[Umpire in Chief]

I know but the good thing is that the WUA just had their contract with MLB ratified at the beginning of the year so MLB will be hard pressed to make any major changes to the umpires and/or umpiring w/o the umpires consent.

I am an O's fan and as such love Robinson, but haviing a former player who has a strong voice in how umpiring is done could be dangerous. We discuss at length how little players and managers generally know about umpiring. Now I would be interested to see how Robinson works with Port and the umpire supervisors. If they work collaboratively it could be a good thing.

As for the increased eagle eye on the umpires, it's been building and reaches critical mass in the playoffs this past year. Now the cameras are actively looking for bad calls.

[Big Red]

Good to hear about the WUA contract...was not aware that they had just ratified it. Nice thing for them...hate for it be in negotiation after this year!

You hit on the million dollar word in all this: collaboratively. And unfortunately, that really hasn't been the case to date, but I'm with you...I hope Robinson can bring an open mind into this and open up the lines of communication/cooperation.

As I mentioned in another thread, there isn't even an umpire rep on the "Special Committee for On-field Matters," of which Robinson is a member, though there is a columnist member.

Before someone else points it out, yes there isn't a player rep on it either, but it has been discussed since the inception of the committe, and especially as of late...consensus is there will eventually be a player rep(s) on the committee, though there has been no discussion of an umpire rep.

Will be interesting to see how it all plays out...

[rth54]

Anybody surprised by how much love greg gibson got in the poll?

[Guest]

Anybody surprised by how much love greg gibson got in the poll?

As umpires, we are far more microscopic when it comes to the analysis of other umpires. Mechanics, positioning, handling situations, appearances, etc, cause us to "mark down" umpires who, by their calls, are among the best in the game.

Gibson and Tim Mac get love from the players because of their consistent strike zones. Oddly enough, Hernandez is in fact the only umpire to score 100% on Ques Tech or Pitch f/x 3 times but as we have seen, his zone can fluctuate at times and he can also run a little hot under the collar.