quote:Originally posted by Michael S. Taylor:
…I hope to hell to never see balls and strikes called by computer. As somebody that uses cutting edge technology on a regular basis, there are times when the old methods are better. …
Well Michael, you had to have an idea that that would evoke some kind of response, so I’ll accommodate. Hopefully we can keep it light.
Right now balls and strikes are being called by a computer. Its called the human brain. It gathers inputs, processes them, and spits out the result of all those computations, hopefully correctly. The only difference a mechanical computer would be, is more accurate because it would have much more accurate inputs to use in its computations.
So since the only difference is in the degree of accuracy of the call, I have to wonder why it is you think the old methods are better. Is it that you’re just a traditionalist and hate change of any kind? Or maybe you’re one of those folks who believes having the “human factor” involved in calling pitches adds another dimension to the game where the players have to be able to adapt to the different situation for each game.
I know it can’t be any worry about it taking any longer, because in fact it would be quicker. Since the pitch would be called long before it got near the catcher, and thus could never be influenced by either the catcher’s mitt, or whether or not he dropped the ball.
So what exactly is it about umpires calling pitches that is “better”?