It still seems quite early in the season, but the calendar says that the first full month of the Major League Baseball season is nearing an end. As the shininess wears off, the reality of the grind is beginning to set in. The first month saw some great performances, unexpected performances, and, as usual, moments that will fill end of the year highlight montages. April also gave way to Major League Baseball’s brand new instant replay system. A sport governed by tradition finally embraced technology in an effort to get more calls correct. 

{Discuss replays and transfers on the BSL Board}.

The results have been positive. Despite the natural attention to the misses, more calls are being ruled properly. Even if some are not, the majority are correct. There is nothing but good in that. While the traditionalists will use phrases such as “human error” or “the human element”, the only important thing is insuring the sanctity of the results. And, despite the intrusion to the natural flow of the game, replay has been incorporated rather easily. 

The best thing that Major League Baseball did was call it a work in progress. The process is, indeed, a work in progress. It still takes a bit too long for umpires to collaborate before reviewing. There is still a gap in time where Managers can basically filibuster a game until he receives word that he should challenge. There was an incident during the Yankees-Red Sox game where Major League Baseball admitted that they didn’t have the proper angle readily available and the ruling was incorrect. 

As with anything, the negative is accentuated. Red Sox Manager John Farrell expressed that he had no faith in the replay process. Phillies Manager Ryne Sandberg also had problems with the system. Replays that still lead to wrong calls are inexcusable. Adding another three minute break to a game for a review could be troublesome. All of it, however, is worth it. With nearly 35 percent of reviews resulting in overturned calls, it is irrefutable that replay is working. Tweaks will be needed, but the game is better than it was last season. 

The biggest black eye of the 2014 season has been indirectly caused by replay. The transfer rule hasn’t been an issue in, well, forever. For the past few decades, a player would drop the ball when transferring the ball to his throwing hand. An umpire would immediately signal that the player lost the ball on the transfer and still rule that the ball was caught. It was the correct ruling. There is no debate. 

Evidently, there is a debate this season. 

During the first four weeks of the season, there has been at least seven occasions when a player appeared to catch a ball and then lose it as he was trying to get the ball from his glove to his throwing hand. This season, those plays that have always been deemed catches are now being ruled hits. With no change in the rule, it has been the umpire’s interpretation of the rule that has impacted the game. The results are poor calls and embarrassing results. Instant replay was never going to be perfect in year one. There is no problem there, even when the system fails like it did with the Red Sox and Yankees. There is no excuse for the transfer interpretation. It simply makes Major League Baseball and umpires look terrible. 

The rule hasn’t changed, but, as with all things in the rules book, they are a bit vague. The entire rule book can be found on Major League Baseball’s website. The following is the section of the rules dealing with catches and transfers:

A CATCH is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a ball in flight and firmly holding it; providing he does not use his cap, protector, pocket or any other part of his uniform in getting possession. It is not a catch, however, if simultaneously or immediately following his contact with the ball, he collides with a player, or with a wall, or if he falls down, and as a result of such collision or falling, drops the ball. It is not a catch if a fielder touches a fly ball which then hits a member of the offensive team or an umpire and then is caught by another defensive player. In establishing the validity of the catch, the fielder shall hold the ball long enough to prove that he has complete control of the ball and that his release of the ball is voluntary and intentional. If the fielder has made the catch and drops the ball while in the act of making a throw following the catch, the ball shall be adjudged to have been caught.

Those last two sentences are the cause of the debate. “The fielder shall hold the ball long enough…” is as ambiguous as it gets. What constitutes holding it long enough? A normal interpretation would be what has been done in the past. If a fielder makes a catch and in an attempt to throw the ball actually drops it, he has held it long enough. It’s common sense, no? 

Then, how can this be explained? 

Flaherty clearly catches the ball. He is clearly making the transfer to complete the double play. Again, he catches it. Moves his glove to his throwing hand, grabs the ball, and then drops it. He didn’t collide with anything. He clearly had the ball in his glove. The runner should be ruled out. He wasn’t. The Red Sox went on to tie the game and eventually win it. 

This goes beyond the execution of replay. How can an umpire, in the year 2014, get a call as basic as this wrong? Josh Hamilton would like to know the same thing as he clearly caught a ball in the outfield, took a step, and then dropped the ball as he was reaching to throw. 

Evidently, Major League Baseball has instructed umpires to interpret the rule this way. Whether or not this is true is irrelevant. The interpretation is wrong. These plays are impacting games. The wrong call may have caused the Orioles on Sunday night. At minimum, it makes pitchers throw extra pitches to get outs they should’ve already been awarded. It is rumored that MLB will instruct the umpires to go back to the traditional interpretation of the rule. 

There is a certain irony that in a year when Major League Baseball decides to deploy advanced technology to get calls correct that it decides to re-interpret a rule for the worse. Because of the poor interpretation, the negative vibes has been linked to instant replay. This has nothing to do with instant replay; this has everything to do with Major League Baseball making a colossal mistake with an interpretation that didn’t need to be fixed. There was no outcry for a change. There weren’t bad calls last season. Nothing gave any indication of this type of interpretation.

The unfortunate part is that this transfer interpretation has become an early storyline in a pretty compelling start of the season. Instant replay has been a storyline. The Brewers are a great story. Albert Pujols hit his 500th home run. Instead of just the good stuff mixed with a little instant replay controversy, the most impactful on-field happening is this silly new transfer rule.

The goal of instant replay was to get more calls right. That hasn’t been the problem. Major League Baseball and its umpires have failed to get a pretty simple rule correct. Once umpires switch their enforcement of the transfer rule, this will fade away as most controversies do. But, this controversy has already cost runs and, perhaps, games. Sadly, that contradicts everything that replay was going to fix.  

Gary Armida
Gary Armida

Orioles Analyst

First and foremost, a Father. After that, I am a writer and teacher who not only started my own company and published an i-magazine as well as a newsletter, but have been published by USA Today, Operation Sports, Baseball Prospectus, Baseball Digest, Gotham Baseball Magazine, and numerous other publications. As an educator, I have 20 years of classroom experience and am utilizing that experience in my current position as department coordinator. Wrote the book The Teacher And The Admin (https://theteacherandtheadmin.com/the-book/) and operate that website which is dedicated to making education better for kids.

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