Instant replay in baseball?

At the general managers' meetings in Naples (Florida, not Italy), the MLB bigwigs are considering the possibility of using instant replay.

At this point, there are no criteria for when and how replay might be implemented into Major League Baseball. The committee was just asked to explore all areas.

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One of the main stumbling blocks may be the opposition of Commissioner Bud Selig, who has often stated that he's against the use of instant replay, which he believes takes "the human element" out of a sport.

If you ask me, MLB owners took "'the human element' out of [the] sport" when it elected one of their own to be full-time puppet, er, Commissioner in 1998. Before Selig was the "real" Commissioner (i.e., 1992-98), he messed baseball up by:

• splitting the leagues into three divisions, thus necessitating the inception of the "wild card"; and
  
• introduced interleague play, thus lessening the allure of the All-Star Game and, of course, the World Series.

Since '98, we've had the Barry Bonds fiasco(s), the '02 All-Star Game (played in Selig's old stomping grounds, Milwaukee [by that point, Miller Park [where three workers died in a horrific crane accident in '99] instead of the old County Stadium]), and the "this time it counts" All-Star movement, which has furthered devalued the World Series by making an exhibition game the determining factor in who has the home-field advantage in the Fall Classic. And I haven't even gotten to the part about him wanting to contract my childhood team or the bit about allowing a team that later became my hometown team to be owned (and to be gutted for the better part of a decade) by his chums in the egotistical, over-monied cabal that is MLB ownership. As Alton Brown, my favorite Food Network personality, would say, "But that's another show."

In short, if you haven't figured it out already, I think Bud Selig is the worst thing to happen to the National Pastime since, well, the imposition of the "color line." I mean, look at the links on his Wikipedia entry. He should've just stuck with selling cars, lo those many years ago.

Back to instant replay in baseball for a minute: I hate what it's done to the NFL, but, for the most part, like its application in the NHL and NBA. A large part of the "charm" of baseball for me is its contradictory nature; that is, relative simplicity in how to play (basically) and the infinite outcomes and scenarios arising within a game, an inning, or even an at-bat. Of all of the "major sports" in this country (i.e., baseball, football, basketball, and hockey), baseball has the most one-on-one, human-to-human interaction - both between the combatants and between the players and the officials. To me, a baseball game is a lot like a small, liberal arts, public university in the Upper Midwest at which you actually get to know your professors and you see them out at the grocery store or pumping their own gas; it's a throwback to another time. All of this being said, I think if you limit availability of a replay to very specific situations (e.g., whether a ball is a homerun or a foul ball), forbid the teams from requesting a replay, and leaving it up to a dedicated staff of officials in "the booth," it might help...but it might not.