Impact: Baseball umps credit HDTV for changing the way games are called

HDTV has no doubt changed the way many sports do their business on TV, but even baseball is admitting that the way games are called has changed because of the high resolution of HDTV.

Now that viewers at home (not to mention in the stands) have high res screens to study calls over and over again, not to mention DVRs to shuttle back and forth at their leisure, and near constant replays on ESPN SportsCenter it’s changed the way they call close plays on the base paths.

Of course, making sure the calls are right and the game is being called the way it should be isn’t a bad thing, but we can imagine some long-time umps getting their feathers ruffled by all the technology showing up in America’s favorite pastime. We see it as nothing but good for the sport. No more missed calls, no more umpires with God complexes that have caused so many debates over the years.