To Err Is Human, To Consistently Err Is Umpiring.

Look, we all understand that umpiring is a thankless job. No matter what call you make, you're going to piss off the majority of any team's fanbase at any given time. Even if you know the call you made is right, you'll be mercilessly second-guessed and vilified by players, managers, fans and writers. It's tough for anyone to admit when they're wrong, and the pressure to do so is multiplied exponentially when it comes to a close game. So, while umpires may be a little short-sighted, they've been a part of the sport for so long that it's hard to imagine the boys in blue no longer calling games behind the plate.

Now, with that in mind, here's why human umpiring is no longer the correct way to determine calls in baseball.

You knew this was going to be referenced, didn't you?

Perhaps the most infamous blown call in baseball history took place on June 2nd, 2010, during a game between the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians. Normally, a game between these two division rivals before the All-Star break wouldn't receive any more attention than it needed to. But this happened to be a game in which Armando Galarraga, a journeyman pitcher who'd managed to find a semi-permanent spot in the Tigers' rotation, was throwing a perfect game. By now, even the most casual baseball fan knows the story: with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Galarraga (with the perfecto still very much intact) gets Jason Donald to hit a grounder towards first baseman Miguel Cabrera. Galarraga covers the bag, Miggy throws to him, and Donald is clearly out by a full step. The team and the fans begin to go crazy over this historic milestone...until first base umpire Jim Joyce calls Donald safe, leaving Galarraga with a stunned and disappointed smile on his face, the fans in the stands booing loudly, and Cabrera animatedly arguing that the call was blown. This story is mainly remembered now for the class with which both Galarraga and Joyce handled things: Joyce, upon being shown replay after the game (more on that later), tearfully admitted that he blew the call and "cost that kid a perfect game", Galarraga showed his respect when Joyce came to formally apologize, and it became a feel-good story for the ages. With one caveat: an appeal was made to Major League Baseball to overturn the call and credit Galarraga with the perfect game. Why wouldn't they? Joyce even admitted he made the wrong call; that alone should have sufficed. But Bud Selig, His Most Holy And Brilliant Commissioner, rejected the appeal. There was plenty of outrage, but the argument for instant replay being implemented across the game for such purposes gained serious traction.

Well, not really. It's almost 3 years to the day of the botched perfecto, and while replay has been instituted in some ways (reviewing whether a home run was fair or foul, which has actually been in place since the middle of the 2008 season), it's still leaps and bounds behind where it should be. With all the technology at our disposal, there is simply no excuse for baseball's continued ignorance and stubbornness to join the present. The problem, though, isn't that MLB isn't utilizing this technology; rather, that they're allowing these high and mighty umpires to continue making completely incorrect calls with no retribution. It's not so awful that a single person can't see every minute detail of a complex play, be it a stolen base, a questionable home run, or a botched defensive play. There are more umpires on the field in today's game (one behind home plate, one behind the pitcher, one on the first base foul line, and one on the third base foul line), and adding more would be invasive to the players in that they probably wouldn't be able to field properly. So it's not atrocious that there isn't ENOUGH umpiring. What is atrocious is that, when the wrong call is made, or that there's even a chance the call was wrong, baseball's higher ups act like it's damn near impossible to know for sure. This was true for most of baseball (and human) history, but it's not now. There are close to 100 cameras on any given major league field at any given time, pointed at any given spot, at any given angle. There are cameras overhead, in the stands, behind the fences, in the bullpen, even in the dugout. Any fan watching at home has the benefit of seeing any play slowed down several times, so even THEY can become proper armchair umpires (I have been guilty of this on many, many occasions). Hell, Joyce saw several videos of the call he missed in Galarraga's game (after the game, when it barely even mattered) and could see that he was wrong. Selig can talk endlessly (and often does) about the supposed cons of using instant replay, and he can act like they heavily outweight the pros, but if he truly believes in what he's saying, he may need to be institutionalized. So the technology's there. It's even being used in a lot of ways. But not in the most crucial way.

Does this look like a player who's lost his cool? Did this deserve an ejection?

Another problem with only going by what the umpire says is a deeply psychological one. In the past few years (ironically, almost immediately after this outpouring of good vibes from Galarraga's near-perfect game), we have seen a massive shift in the way umpires view the players, the game, and themselves. It seems like most umpires have developed God complexes in the wake of the "more instant replay" movement. Maybe they took it as a slight, which it most certainly was not. Human umpires are still completely necessary. Nobody wants to see a computer with a face guard behind the catcher, flashing STRIKE or BALL. That's what these multi-million dollar Jumbotrons in the outfield are for. We still need umpires to determine if a check swing went all the way through, or in some easier cases, if a player successfully stole a base. But whenever umpires are challenged, they've become much quicker to violence, losing their cool and ejecting managers and players with minimal provocation and even less justification. Just this season, we've witnessed Tampa Bay Rays starter David Price being thrown out of a game, as well as teammate Jeremy Hellickson who wasn't even playing that day, because home plate umpire Tom Hallion reportedly told Price to "throw the ball over the f**king plate" during a start against the White Sox a couple of days ago. Hallion later denied saying anything to incite Price and Hellickson, but was quoted as saying that Price's body language "insinuated that he was pissed off." So, let's get this straight: an umpire, who's supposed to be professional and subjective, is now allowed to argue with a pitcher, who might be understandably upset with the calls being made BUT ISN'T ACTUALLY DOING ANYTHING TO WARRANT AN EJECTION, apparently curse at said player (again, for THINKING the player MIGHT be upset), and then throw out not one, not two, but THREE players (Matt Moore, another teammate who wasn't pitching that day, was thrown out with Price and Hellickson) based on HIS transgressions. If any of this makes sense to you, please go to a therapist.

This is the real reason instant replay and other technological advances need to be implemented in baseball. Never mind the necessity of getting calls right, umpires have become all too human and are letting their emotions cloud their judgment. In an impartial game, they're becoming partial. But not to a certain team, or certain players, but rather to themselves. They're starting to believe that they are the end all authority on the field, maybe because they think implementing a service that will render them all but useless and defunct is too much of a threat for them to go out quietly. Nobody's saying human umpires need to be taken out completely, but their power needs to be restructured, and fast. And in that same vein, make instant replay an integral part of the national pastime. No more excuses need be made, and no more calls need be botched, just make this right so we can get back to enjoying the game again.