Baseball's first instant replay call upholds a-rod home run

Baseball entered the instant replay era last week, as umpires now have the option of consulting game tape to rule on what MLB refers to as “boundary calls”—essentially the determination of whether home run balls are fair or foul.  Many conspiracy theorists have suggested that the late season change was done at the behest of the New  York Yankees, who have argued that an early season Alex Rodriguez  home run was incorrectly called as a ground rule double.

On Wednesday night, A-Rod got his home run back and was ironically the sport’s first beneficiary of instant replay.  A-Rod hit a massive blast down the left field line off of Tampa Bay reliever Troy Percival in the 9th inning of a game against the Rays.  Third base umpire immediately ruled the hit a home run, only to elicit protests from Tampa catcher Dinoer Navarro and manager Joe Maddon.  After a brief consultation, the umpires left the field to “review the tape” and returned just over two minutes later with the announcement that the initial call had been upheld.

Crew chief Charlie Reliford suggested that while all four umpires agreed that the home run call was correct that since they had access to the technology they figured they should use it and make sure the ruling was correct:

"If there had been no argument, obviously we wouldn't have because all four of us believed the call was correct on the field. Because he (Tampa manager Maddon)disputed it, and it was very close, and now the technology is in place, we used it."

Troy Percival, who served up A-Rod’s home run blast, said that initially he thought it was very but after watching the replay wasn’t so sure:

"I thought it was clearly fair, but after looking at the replay, I wouldn't have known what to call, to be honest with you. The replay made it more cloudy for me."

A-Rod, obviously, had nothing but praise for the call and the replay evaluation:

“I'm the first player. Next time I'm going stealth and go under the radar screen. It's very fitting I'm involved. I was just glad we got the right call."

Rodriguez also indicated that he knew all along that they play would be reviewed:

"I had the best view because I was at home plate. I saw what Brian saw, and for sure I knew this was going to get replayed. I saw the way Navarro jumped and then Maddon jumped out of the dugout and I said, 'Here we go.'”

The Yankees, in the midst of a disappointing season, went on to beat surprising Tampa 8-4.  With the home run A-Rod moved ahead of legendary Phillies slugger Mike Schmidt for sole possession of 12th place on baseball’s all time home run list with 549.

Everyone involved seemed pleased with the replay process itself, indicating that it worked just as MLB had drawn it up.