Like any major sport, baseball is a game of inches. Games, seasons and championships are made (and broken) based on the unbiased judgments and the decisions made on those judgments by the umpires.

Unless, of course, you're shamed NBA referee Tim Donaghy.

But I digress.

After several admittedly bad calls made by umpires in recent days--most notably Alex Rodriguez's obvious home run off the yellow stairs in Yankee stadium--the question has come up again: Should there be instant replay in baseball?

My opinion: No.

Here's why.

1.
Part of baseball's charm is that the game, like life, is imperfect and filled with failure. Great and blown calls by umpires are a part of that charm.

Little fan Jeffery Maier's illegal over-the-wall catch during the 1996 ALCS.

Steve Bartman.

Don Denkinger's famous blown call at first base in the 1985 World Series.

All of them the stuff of baseball legend, and part of baseball's endearing charm. Hell, if it weren't for Steve Bartman maybe the possibility of the Cubs making and winning this year's World Series on the 100th anniversary of their last Series victory might be a little less sweet.

2.
I don't know what the percentages are exactly but my guess is that baseball umpires make the right call about 97% of the time. Considering the bang-bang speed of play, the umps do a pretty damn good.

The game moves fast, no doubt. Yet umpires are so highly trained, spend countless years toiling in the minors and are so perfectly positioned for nearly any possible play that they are acclimated to the speed of the game and therefore their rate of failure is remarkably low.

And if they miss a big one?

Well, shit happens. Just like life. Deal with it.

3.
It would slow down an already slow game. Ugh! Who wants that.

Yes, you could limit the number of replays like they do in the NFL, but you're still slowing down the game.

4.
Does anyone honestly believe an umpire wants to blow a call and end up on ESPN? For the most part, umpires loathe the limelight, and ending up on highlight reels costs these guys big-time post-season assignments and paychecks. The better their "right call" percentage, the more likely they'll be assigned to post-season games.

5.
Finally, without umpires making calls we would miss the Lou Pinellas, the Earl Weavers, and the Billy Martins famously blowing up at umps and kicking them with dirt, tossing bases and hucking watercoolers onto the field.

I know, I know. I'm just being a "traditionalist". Then again, I don't like "the wave". Or groundskeepers on the diamond and dancing to music between innings. Or body armor on hitters. Or that a pitcher can blow into his hand on an 80-degree night. Or arriving to a game in the middle of the first inning.

So I really don't want to see instant replay in baseball.

Maybe that's just me.

What about you?