The Umps in the Series

I presume most are aware that major league baseball has decided not to automatically include an umpire with no World Series experience on the six man crew every year. It had been regularly done for most of the last 25 years. But there will be no World Series rookies working iln 2009. That was a direct reaction to the blown calls in the playoffs that television has exposed. There is only one problem with this. The neophytes weren't making all the bad calls. Many of them were made by long time veteran umps.

Tim McClelland has been around for 27 years. His calls at third base in the Yankee- Angel series were the worst. Others missed calls while looking at the plays. McClelland made the famous "leaving third too soon" call when it was obvious he wasn't even watching the base.

Dale Scott, a 24 year MLB vet, blew a couple calls in the same series.

Others who made poor calls of note included 13 year vet Jerry Meals and two eleven year vets, Phil Cuzzi and C.B. Bucknor. Bucknor is the only known ump to apparently lose his first World Series assignment this year due to his two errors. But eleven years in the major leagues hardly makes Bucknor a rookie.

So, don't blame the younger guys alone and ban them from parts of the post season. Look at some of the vets as well. Anyone ready for a merit system for post season assignments?

As for using replay more? That is an entirely different story. As soon as the first call is blown in the Philadelpha-New York World Series, I am sure the topic will come forward again.