After a long sequence of botched home run calls this year, Major League Baseball is about to officially confirm what everyone knew was coming: starting on Thursday, umpires will have access to television replays to help them make "boundary" calls on the field. Boundary calls deal mostly with home runs and determining whether they're fair or foul or whether they cleared the fence or not in some of the newer parks. Baseball purists will yell and scream over this move, but it's one that's been a long time coming. Adding more objectivity into sports can't possibly be a bad thing. No one's suggesting that this system be used to call balls and strikes and suggesting that it's going to lead there is foolish. Both the NHL and NBA have limited replay systems that are generally quick and painless, and they haven't expanded much in scope since being instituted.
It's likely that the next few weeks are going to be filled with guys like Joe Morgan and Murray Chass railing against this move, but it's too late now. There's replay in baseball. This is not a bad thing. Let's not waste time or breath complaining about it.
