It's time for Major League Baseball to step into the modern era of sports technology and use instant replay. On home run calls only, for starters. It's ridiculous for an umpire to make an improper call on a home run, the biggest play in the game. | MLB page

The National Football League figured out you can't let an official miss a touchdown, and MLB should follow suit.

We're not talking about delaying the game for 10 minutes to get it right, and we're certainly not advocating using replays on judgment calls on the bases. That would open a can of worms that never could be closed.

At their annual meetings in November, general managers voted, 25-5, to use replays on boundary calls, such as whether home runs are fair or foul and whether they cleared the fences. Their vote has been under review, though Commissioner Bud Selig often has said he is not in favor of instant replay.

That topic received renewed attention recently because of a spate of blown home-run calls by umpires. Last Sunday, umpires reversed a correct call and took a home run away from the New York Mets' Carlos Delgado at Yankee Stadium, ruling the ball foul.

One day later, umps in Houston mistakenly ruled a drive by the Chicago Cubs' Geovany Soto to be in play. Soto legged out an inside-the-park homer but should have been allowed to trot around the bases.

On Wednesday, the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez lost a home run when umpires ruled his drive hit the top of the fence. Television replays showed the ball caromed off a yellow staircase behind the fence at Yankee Stadium.

This should not be happening, not in the age of TV instant replays. Umpires should be given access to a monitor to make a call in a timely fashion if there is any confusion whatsoever.

The use of replays would need approval by the players association, but that should be no problem, with hitters tired of having home runs taken away. With the recent boom in building new ballparks with weird nooks and crannies, umpires have too much to absorb sometimes when ruling on home runs.

Houston manager Cecil Cooper said games should not be decided on errant home-run calls by umpires, or any late-inning calls, for that matter.

"Well, I think especially when it's game-changing, yes, I think there should be (instant replay)," Cooper said. "In particular, like late in the ball game, I think we should have it, yes.

"When they're game-changing decisions, then, to me, I think we should have like they do in basketball," Cooper said. "All the time, at the end of quarters or the end of the games, they always let the video determine whether the guy got the shot off.

"They do the same thing with football, where you have the red flag you can throw when it's 2 minutes inside the half or whatever that deal is they have. I think in baseball we should have something similar to that because I think a lot of times you know (calls are wrong)."

Using replays beyond home-run calls could prove problematic and unnecessarily delay games that often drag on too long as it is. But getting home runs right would be a good place to start.

"The commissioner is not a fan of it," said Bob Watson, MLB vice president of standards and on-field operations. "He calls instant replay umpires getting together and trying to get the call right. That is instant replay, in his estimation."

Except when they still get it wrong.

(c) 2008, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.