Instant Replay in Major League Baseball

I confess to being something of a traditionalist when it comes to sports. When the National Hockey League instituted its post-lockout rule changes, I was dead set against almost all of them. I have since warmed up to most, but I can't see that happening with instant replay in Major League Baseball.

I do not, like some others, decry the intrusion of technology into baseball. Sports must adapt to the times. Marshall McLuhan once predicted that baseball could not survive the television age, but the game adapted and, while not unhurt by the rise of TV — football is even better suited for the medium than baseball, and exploited it to rise in popularity, largely at baseball's expense — has gained tremendous revenue from television broadcasts.

However, I do ask this question: what's the point? The obvious answer is to prevent bad calls from affecting the outcome of the game. But what's so horrible about that? Blown or disputed calls provide some of baseball's most cherished memories, from Sam Rice's famed catch in the 1925 World Series to the Jeffrey Maier fan interference call: remembered with joy on one side, with frustration and even anger on the other, such disputes help make baseball the great game it is — filled with passion, unpredictability, and stories fathers tell sons as they bring them up on the national pastime. The antics of enraged players and managers, from John McGraw to Phillip Wellman, also provide entertainment. Why take all this out of the game?

Major League Baseball says that it will only use replay for some types of calls for now. It would be a terrible mistake to expand its use. Even as it is now, it accomplishes nothing but delaying games at the potential cost of a few great arguments.