Re: [Phys-l] TV technology, the World Series and physics

[Marty Weiss <martweiss@comcast.net>]

a baseball fan wants excitment and fairness in ow the game is called behind the plate... umpires have plying their trade for over a hundred years.  not just anyone off the street can be an ump... years of traiuning and working in the minors before being accepted into the "show"... they are probably the fairest set of people in the world... far fairer than refs in any other sport.
beside... since all ballparks are different, the amount of homeruns and other things that vary with ballparks equalize out over a very long season... April games in New York are different than in an enclosed stadium like TampaBay, so over 162 games from April to October, things tend to equal out in the long run making the stats of baseball very informative and (what word do i want...) stable?  
  Players want fairness of umpiring and for the most part they get that.  Umps have different strike zones and no matter how much replay you have nothing will account for them calling balls and strikes differently.  A pitcher gets to know very quickly how an ump is calling the game and learns to adjust their pitching style... just watch the strike zone box on tv and you will see how they are calling the game... low and away is a strike for some and a ball for others.  These things tend to equalize out and you simply cannot apply high tech replays for every ball or strike that is questionable.

M


On Oct 20, 2011, at 3:18 PM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:

> I agree with what you say. However, park size affects numbers of home runs
> and long balls hit. And this determines game outcomes. And baseball, like
> any sport, is all about winning. And we want to get the calls "right," so
> replays would help here. It all depends on whether you (a baseball fan)
> want excitement or fairness. I wonder what the players want...
>
> F