I favor full-on lasers and computers and cameras to help baseball umpires get it right every time.

[garybeck]

Have an umpire up in a video booth all game long. If there's a close play, he can rewind the film and make the call in seconds. It doesn't have to take long. It doesn't have to significantly add time to the game. We don't need to make the team managers request a replay. Let an umpire watch all the plays and anything that's close, let him make the call.

Use lasers to call balls and strikes. Tennis can use lasers, why can't baseball? When tennis started using lasers, it added integrity to the game. No more bad calls on the line. In baseball, I've seen too many bad pitch calls have an affect on the game. There is a clear definition in the rule book of what is a ball and what is a strike. An easy job for lasers and computers. And for those who complain that technology will slow down the game, keep in mind that some of the umpires are very slow to make their calls. Computers can do it faster, not slower.

The goal should be to get the call right, in the shortest period of time. There are some things that cameras and computers do better than people, and this is one of them. There is no reason to resist technology, simply "in the name of tradition." There is no "tradition" of having bad calls in baseball games, and that's what you get when all you have is humans making the calls.

The true spirit of baseball is for the players to play the game. Umpire's inadequacies, humanness, and failures ideally should not play a role in the outcome of any games, or any plays for that matter.

It's time to embrace technology and let the players play the game. This will only add integrity to the game.