As the Armando Galarraga/Jim Joyce "perfect game" brouhaha starts to die down, the proverbial boulder is starting to roll off of Bud Selig's back. That is, until the next time an umpire makes an egregious error.
↵On Monday, Selig stood behind his decision not to overturn Joyce's erroneous call, saying he felt "very comfortable" with the outcome. He also touched on the bigger issue in all of this:
↵↵↵"It is interesting," Selig said. "Most baseball people are really against instant replay. There's no question about that. I could sense that the last three days [in talking to people].
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"In the end, good or bad, I will do what I think is right. I'm going to take the responsibility for it. I've been at this the last 45 years of my life, and the last 18 [as commissioner], so I'll trust my own judgment."[...] But he made it clear that baseball won't rush to expand the use of replay beyond settling dispute home run calls.
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Bud Selig will not be able to run from this issue for long. Each time an umpire misses a call, it's scrutinized to the max because stadiums have the technology to break down every which angle. The fact that the three other major sports have broader uses for instant replay will not help Selig's "this has gone on for 130 years" argument. There's something to be said about tradition, but umpires missing calls for 130 years doesn't make it any more right today and he doesn't have to let it continue. These umpiring mistakes are flaring up like cold sores right in our faces. Bud Selig has the ability to do something about it with the technology that is readily available.