Al Clark — the legendary Major League Baseball umpire who called 3,392 games in his 24-year career — says the use of instant replay and high-definition video to determine close-call plays is fine with him.
"I think because of high-definition technology and the number of cameras … Major League Baseball umpires are going to be raised in proficiency to a level they've never been at," Clark told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"The older and more respected umpires are going to embrace it and because of that, if it's possible, concentrate even a tad more than they do now."
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"Like that old adage, 'a rising tide raises all ships,' the younger guys are going to see the older guys embrace this and work that much harder …
"We are fallible people, and we are going to make mistakes. I think Major League Baseball is doing a great job by tweaking the issue now."
Clark is co-author with Dan Schlossberg of the new book,
"Called Out but Safe: A Baseball Umpire's Journey," published by the University of Nebraska Press.
One of his more memorable games was the 1989 World Series between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants, although it nothing to do with the game itself.
On Oct. 17, before Game 3 started, a powerful earthquake rocked the area, which caused a 10-day stall of the series.
"All of a sudden, we hear this locomotive sound, and we looked at each other, and we said, 'what the …'" Clark said.
''We literally ran out onto the field … I had long johns on, a T-shirt, and shower shoes. Click, and that was in all of the [newspaper] editions."
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