Ever since Billy McLean became the first major league umpire in 1876, the umpire has been baseball’s Supreme Court—the highest court in the land. It helped McLean’s authority, too, that he was a former boxer. One hundred forty-nine years of absolute authority on balls and strikes ended Tuesday. The ABS Challenge System is coming next season to MLB. Think of it as an appellate court, in which players can petition technology to overrule Supreme Court Justice Umpire.
This was inevitable, and it is a good thing for baseball, both of which were obvious when the system was tested in major league spring training games this year after some lab work in the minors.
