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Digital Baseball Umpires
Dekaner writes "Wired is running an article on an electronic umpire that tracks each baseball pitch and judges whether it is within the "strike zone" has been installed at 10 major league ballparks in the U.S. The QuesTec system uses several cameras that track each pitch and compare the machine's judgment with that of the umpire standing behind the catcher. At the end of each game it provides a summary of its ratings and compares them with the umpire's calls. In general there is reasonably good agreement. In a recent test the QuesTec system judged that 32.1 percent of pitches were within the "strike zone", while the umpire called 31.4 percent as strikes. However, the umpires association has filed a complaint about the system's unreliability and incapability to replace the human 3-D, real-time view. "
How do you kick dirt on a digital umpire?
Actually, I read it as "We don't want it to replace our jobs"
I have been playing sports my entire life and I must say that it is the human factor that makes it interesting. To take all the errors out of sport is to take away something -- and as I have recieved many a bad call I can't believe I am saying this -- special from it.
Then again, with all the money that is in sports these days maybe it is a good idea -- from the point of view of owners, players, and sponcers. I think it takes something away from the fans.
I do not control the Sig, the Sig controls me.
The fact that people are COMPLAINING that there is a 0.7%(!!) margin between the accuracy of machines to humans is insane! I'd be congratulating my umpires for being so accurate!
If anything, I think it'd be an argument on why to KEEP umpires.
Replace the batter and the pitcher with robots, and I still won't give a damn about baseball. :)
Jesus Christ. I thought you were lying about the salary issue, so I looked it up:
"NEW YORK (9/5/00) _ Umpires will get raises of 10.2 percent to 14.9 percent this year under their new five-year contract, boosting the minimum salary this season to $104,704 and the maximum to $324,545. In 2004, the contract's final season, the minimum will be $108,716, up 14.4 percent from the $95,000 minimum in 1999, the final year of the old contract."
(from: http://www.umpire.org/frames/fmlb.html)
Well, I'm in full support of robots replacing them.
I think it proves the Umps are pretty damn accurate at their jobs. To be that accurate takes quite a bit of skill.
I respect the ups more than some athletes. They work hard, get hit with balls, and are highly trained professionals.
Don't go off on umps for making decent money $100K a year is still middle class, they have to travel all over the damn country, and work pretty damn hard too.
The computer may be able to see strikes more accuratly, but they could never replace the umps for the interp of rules, calling out players at base, etc...
what? what I thought we were in the trust tree in the nest, were we not?
"Dave.... Dave.... 3 strikes and you're out, Dave".
I said the same things in defense of pornstarlets once, but I don't think anyone took me seriously.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Some pitchers are really mad about it. Curt Schilling was fined earlier in the season for destroying a QuesTec camera in Bank One Ballpark, his home park in Arizona.
This, of course, is the same Curt Schilling who gave up two homers to a fellow player he abandoned in "Everquest," allowing said player's character to die.
For more information, click here.
I would strongly disagree that there is an absurd invariance in strike zones across different home plate umpires. If anything, the fact that there is a little over 1% difference in the machine and the actual human strike zone recognition proves this point. In general, umpires working in MLB have worked very hard through A, AA, AAA leagues to get where they are, and they are there for a reason.
From a baseball purist standpoint, MLB has become a Home Run Derby of sorts, but that has VERY little to do with strike zone, and much more to do with performance enhancing drugs, different composition used in the actual ball, expansion thinning out pitching talent, and the general change in the makeup of ballparks (read: home run alleys as found in PacBell Park, and the new Great American Ballpark in Cinncinati).
Personally, and I believe many die-hard baseball fans feel similarly, this new machine ruins the game. Pitching and hitting are arts, and the ability of a good pitcher to locate pitches just on the corners is something that is special to the game, and makes a great pitcher amazing. This machine has served it's purpose: it has proven that the Umpires are doing a very good job dealing with a highly subjective condition. Leave the subjectivity to the humans, and the web serving to the machines.
It's only when we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything...
I like your logic - thumbs up!
$100K pretax dollars is more than I make in pretax dollars.
Anyone that makes more than me obviously does not deserve it.
Therefore, they should be replaced with robots.
QED
By far the best proof I've ever seen.
*golf clap*
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
The main problem that the umps have is not that it might replace them, but that it might not really be more accurate than them. This quote is from the article (which is the little clicky linky thing that you often find in the story text...we should all try clicking it sometime!):
"Even if (the computer operators) were experienced umpires, this system would not work because it's based on a single frontal photograph in comparison with the 3-D, real-time view of the umpire," Gibson said.
In addition, many batters move during the course of the pitch, which an umpire sees and weighs in determining the strike zone, he said.
See, each time a batter steps to the plate, the system has to be calibrated for that batter's particular size, crouch, stance angle, etc. But that calibration is only done once (at the beginning of the at bat), and it's done by...a human being, just like the umpires. And often, this operator, while he may know the system, doesn't understand the game of baseball.
So the umpires' beef is not that they don't want to be evaluated, it's just a question of whether the measuring stick is really doing a better job than they can do standing right behind the plate.
Belloc
I got more rhymes than Jamaica got Mangoes.
First, the "fat men" standing behind the plate are a dwindling minority in MLB. It takes a lot of hustle to be in the correct position to make a call, especially at third base or in the outfield.
Second, his job is physically dangerous. Why do you think the plate man wears so much protective equipment? Let's see how well you recover from a 90+ mph fastball between the eyes, off the inside of your knee, or (God forbid) a tipped ball that gets by the catcher and goes right off your nuts. Broken bones are a fact of life for any umpire with a full schedule of high-level ball.
Third, his job is mentally and techincally demanding. He must make an immediate ruling on action that occurs in a fraction of a second, and is expected to get it right every time by the fans sitting in the stands or in the their air-conditioned homes, who, btw, also have the benefit of slo-mo instant replay from multiple camera angles. They also must have a complete mastery of probably the most convoluted and counter-intuitive set rules for any major sport.
And just for fun, he gets to be the target of the wrath of the fans for every call that doesn't go their way.
The average MLB umpire does between 130-160 games a year, not counting spring training or postseason assignments. All those games require travel, which puts a huge burden on their families. Most of them spend the offseason training for the regular season, just like all the other athletes. And all of this is after they've spent several years working their way up through the minors, making $1700/month, traveling by bus, and staying in cheap motels nine months out of the year.
Hmmm, I guess paying $300k to someone who has over 15 years experience at their physically, mentally and emotionally challenging job just wouldn't be fair to everyone else.
Now, as far as QuesTec goes, I think it is a usefull tool for evaluating umpire performance, but nothing beyond that.