Quote:
Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_
The way BCubb described it sounds the most plausible...but let's be honest, MLB umpires as a group won't allow it. I can pretty much guarantee that they'd strike over it.
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IMO you are right. The dozen or so former pro umpires I know would be very much opposed to this. I have mentioned before that umpires see themselves as athletes and want to perform their job as an umpire as well as possible in the same manner an athlete does. If technology replaces them and their ability to call a game then they are relegated to being nothing more than a horn or siren communicating calls from a computerized device. The skill and ability to call a game from behind the plate or on the bases will be no more.
Now having said this in the very distant future when a computerized system may exist, MLB will likely care less if the umpires strike or not because they really won't be needed. Technology will be calling the game and not them, so all MLB will need is people on the field who can accurately relay what the call will be from the booth. Yes you will need umpires to accurately interpret rules etc. but finding people to do that won't be to terribly hard. In short the umpires union will not have much of a leg to stand on.