Jerry Meals on "The Phantom Plate"

Jerry Meals on “The Phantom Plate”

“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.

“I just saw the glove sweep up. I didn’t see the glove hit his leg.“

Hey, you know what’s funny? Human beings sometimes miss things that happen right in front of our eyes. That’s why car accidents occur or why you may think you see a ghost when glancing at something quickly. Hell, sometimes, you just plain “don’t see” something. Especially if you’re tired after calling a seven hour baseball game.

But you know what’s nice about instant replay? A terrifying, scary computer, one threatens the human’s dominance of the planet, captures the images and allows you to slow the action down, to zoom in and enhance it if need be, so that you can do whatever necessary to ensure that you “see it.”

I don’t blame Jerry Meals for this call; it was two am and he made a mistake. It happens. I do blame Major League Baseball for not having a system in place to make sure that the right call, a call that directly impacted the outcome of the game, was made.