Should baseball institute instant replay for disputed calls on the field? The rash of missed or disputed home run calls this week has only intensified the argument for bringing baseball into the twenty-first century and more in-line with its football and hockey brethren. It isn’t a question of the abilities of the crew in blue; it takes unparalleled focus to handle an intense nine-inning contest that may last well over three hours. More so, the sole purpose would be to give umpires a fifth, unbiased view of the play to ensure that there would be little doubt left on the field.

Former Boston outfielder Gabe Kapler may be one major league player in favor of replay, as it may have added another home run to his career total if the technology was in use three years ago. Back on 10 August 2005, in an eventual 16-5 laugher over the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park, Kapler launched a pitch off Kenny Rogers towards the Monster Seats on top of the Green Monster. The ball hit the top of the wall above the home run line, bounced on the small ledge protruding from the wall, and then fell back into play as the crowd went crazy. However, third baseman Derryl Cousins ruled that the ball had not cleared the line and Kapler ended up standing on second. Arguments from the Red Sox bench did nothing except to get Trot Nixon, who was on the disabled list for Boston at the time, ejected from the game.

Baseball would be best served to follow a simple system that limits reviews only to select plays, like home runs and close plays at the plate; replays would not be instituted for balls and strikes. As in football, each team would be given two opportunities to ask for a video replay; for extra inning games, each team would be given an additional chance to call for a review. The purpose for the replay would be announced to the crowd and either the home plate umpire or the crew chief would have the responsibility of making the final call within a given time frame.

Will Bud Selig, the owners, and the players eventually reach an agreement to institute such a system? Most likely, there will be a few more on-field injustices to players and teams and unjust criticism levied on umpires before the obvious conclusion is reached.

Tags: Fenway Park, Gabe Kapler, Trot Nixon

As the Boston Red Sox head to Japan to play the first two games of its 2008 regular season schedule in Tokyo against the Oakland Athletics, it is interesting to note that, as well as having had Japanese players like Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima play for Boston, there have been several non-Japanese players with past Red Sox teams that have also logged time with a Far East baseball club.. Perhaps the most well-known of these players is former outfielder and recent Red Sox Hall of Fame inductee Mike Greenwell, who signed on to play with the Hanshin Tigers in 1997 after twelve seasons with Boston. However, “the Gator” unexpectedly left the team during spring training while claiming an undiagnosed back injury, abruptly flew back to the United States, then returned to Japan and rejoined the team in late April. He finally played his first Japanese professional game in early May but, after fracturing his foot with a foul tip, announced his official retirement from baseball after batting .231 in just seven games with the club.[1]

Outfielder Reggie Smith was another former Red Sox great who later played in Japan, though his move to Japan came ten years after he departed Boston. After playing his final season in the majors with the San Francisco Giants in 1982, Smith was lured to Japan to play for the Yomiuri Giants; however, his personality and demeanor immediately clashed with the expectations of the Japanese fans and the media with regards to the norm for a baseball player. After injuring his knee early in the 1983 season, he was dubbed “Million-Dollar Bench-Warmer” by the Japanese media as he sat for two months nursing the injury; he also earned another less-honorable nickname, the “Giant Human Fan,” for striking out too often. Despite this, in just 263 at-bats, he managed a batting average of .285 with 28 home runs, a .409 on-base percentage, and a .609 slugging percentage.[2]

One other more-recent Boston player who donned spikes in the Land of the Rising Sun was Gabe Kapler who, lured by a lucrative contract offer, departed the Red Sox a month after the team won the World Series in 2004 and joined the Yomiuri club. However, after batting just .153 (17-for-111) with three home runs and six RBI in 38 games with the Giants, the team put the veteran outfielder on waivers and Kapler returned to the Red Sox in June of 2005. In addition, other non-Japanese players who have worn both a Boston uniform as well as one for a Japanese club include: John Wasdin, who played for the Red Sox between 1997 and 2000, then signed for one season with Yomiuri in 2002; Larry Parrish, who played a half-season with the Sox in 1988, then played a season each with the Yakult Swallows (1989) and Hanshin (1990); Kip Gross, who played five seasons in Japan for the Nippon Ham Fighters (1994-1998), then returned to the United States to play for Boston for one season (1999); and Benny Agbayani, who also played 13 games for Boston in 2002 and has played the last four seasons for the Chiba Lotte Marines (2004-2007).

Tags: Boston Red Sox, Gabe Kapler, Mike Greenwell, Reggie Smith