Umpires or Emperors? When is their power too much?

As is known, I am an avid Phillies fan. But I also have family in Pittsburgh and (as is also known) I love a good underdog story. Mix that with the Pirates playing the NL Wildcard leader Atlanta Braves, I'm already into it. Combine a dose of a 19 inning pitch off! You have my full and undivided attention Pirates. Please proceed.



And then the end of the game happened. I was following the pitch by pitch on MLB.com. Once Lugo got to third, I knew it was bleak. Then I see that Proctor got a hit in play and runs are involved. I took this as it came and went about my business but MLB.com took a long time to register the run. I thought it might be my internet and eventually the run counted.

It wasn't until seeing this tweet from Buster Olney that I realized something was amiss:

@Buster_ESPNBuster Olney Wow. That did not look good by Jerry Meals on first glance.

Then this one:

 @Buster_ESPNBuster Olney Don't blame the Pirates for being angry. That was an awful way for that game to end.

So, of course, I just had to investigate.

I almost wish I hadn't.

This is what I found:


Now I know this isn't my team. I know that the Phillies are still 6 games up in the NL East and leading all of Baseball. But this outrages me as a baseball fan and a sports fan. I've been on the fence about instant replay in baseball. Until now.

 I've been reading up on the history of the game and have become very interested in its roots. The original umpires weren't really supposed to know anything about baseball itself but were actually just respected members of the community expected to uphold the purity of the game by calling out players for cursing or unsportsmanlike behavior. They were expected to uphold the honor of this sacred game. The "athletes" were supposed to work on the honor system and call themselves for outs and such. The umpires gained importance as strikes and balls needed to be called and slowly gained more power. This power has gone too far.

Last years Detroit Tigers Armando Galarraga "no hitter that never was" got taken away by a bad call. The umpire Crew of Joe West has been terrible this year as far as calls go and simply have been behaving badly. And now this? We have obviously made Umpires too powerful in the sport of baseball. They have no accountability. Whatever they say is final and if they don't want to consider other options, they don't have to. I don't know what would happen if the crew of Jerry Meals would have said something to him. Would it have changed anything. The call is final.

No call, based on the view of one person, should be final. Something like that must be reviewed. It must be apologized for. And it must be reversed.

In the Detroit No-hitter screw up, First base umpire Jim Joyce apologized and admitted he was wrong. He took full account for his actions but still felt awful knowing nothing could give the pitcher his perfect game back. He is human. He made a mistake.

These are Meal's comments on the call after the game.

“I saw the tag, but he looked like he oléd him and I called him safe for that.  I looked at the replays and it appeared he might have got him on the shin area.  I’m guessing he might have got him, but when I was out there when it happened I didn’t see a tag."

And the one of the other people involved in the play, Julio Lugo, claims he knows he was safe. When asked if he had seen the play he again reassured them he was safe, stating, "I know I was safe that's all that matters." He didn't seem to know it in the moments before the call where he looked disparagingly down at the plate.

Everyone else, those with any sight whatsoever, knows better. So much for honor in baseball at all. By players or umps.

This topic has fired up people all over the baseball map. I can't imagine how a true "black-and-yellow" Bucs fan must feel. Jerry Meals will be third base umpire right in front of the Pirates dug out. I honestly fear for his safety, if not his life. This will blow over for most everyone outside of Pittsburgh, as long as the proper repercussions are taken. Bud Selig may have made the most sweeping changes in MLB history, but if no punishment is given to Meals and no further Instant Replay is instituted or at least expedited, he will be a failure of a commissioner.

And if nothing else, go back to the good old days. Strip the umpires of their unquestionable power and send them back to giving fines for poor behavior and obvious disregard for the decency of the game. My guess is many of these fines will go to men in black polos.