Umpires discuss an appealed call during a Japan Series game between the Hiroshima Carp and the Softbank Hawks in Fukuoka on Oct. 31, 2018. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Professional baseball umpiring seems to be an unenviable job. They are seldom praised for making good calls but draw a lot of attention and criticism when they make bad decisions.

Toshiyuki Tanaka, who worked as an umpire in Japanese professional baseball for 38 years, recalls spending many sleepless nights after games.

“I often had a hard time trying to sleep for a long while after a game where I made either a good call or misjudged,” he writes in his book.

The second base umpire for a recent game between the Chunichi Dragons and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows probably had a restless night after one of his calls was overturned.

With one out and a runner on second, the batter hit a short, low fly over the second baseman, who ran toward center, caught the ball and threw the ball to double the runner off the bag.

The umpire called the runner safe. But after an instant replay review, his call was overturned and the runner was called out for a double play.

The video showed the umpire turning his face to third and first bases as the runner rushed back to second, provoking criticism that he made the miscall because he wasn’t looking at the play at the decisive moment.

But there is more to baseball umpiring than meets the eye.

Umpires have to consider and deal with various possibilities and constantly shift their formation in response to changes in the situation, such as whether there are runners on base and where the batted ball is heading. They are required to make instant judgments all the time.

The instant replay rules were changed last year in Japanese professional baseball to allow teams, as well as umpires, to initiate reviews.

In the first year of the new rule, umpire calls were overturned in 162 out of the 494 reviewed cases.

The 30-percent rate of umpiring errors appears high. But baseball umpires have generally welcomed the system, saying it has significantly reduced the pressure they feel because of fears they might make epic errors that go down in history.

In the United States this year, an independent baseball league has started a trial use of computers to call balls and strikes. Plate umpires will wear earpieces and be informed of calls made by a computer system based on military radar technology.

The system is said to be capable of making judgments with a margin of error of only 1 centimeter or so.

Still, final decisions are made by human plate umpires because of limitations to the machine’s capabilities. The system, for instance, cannot judge whether the batter actually swung at a pitch.

This fact underscores the huge complexity of the tasks baseball umpires carry out.

Baseball fans may be able to enjoy watching games better if they can relax with the fact that there is no way to eliminate wrong calls.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 28

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.