Walcoff: There's no home for instant replay on the diamond

After a bad call ended a game in Oakland on Monday, there’s been a cry to introduce instant replay to baseball — a move that would take away from the game. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

SAN FRANCISCO — I admit it. I have a love-hate relationship with instant replay.

After watching an umpire’s horribly botched call in the ninth inning of the A’s-Twins game in Oakland on Monday night that altered the outcome, the cry to expand video review in baseball has grown justifiably louder. But do you really want to see a manager throw a red flag onto the field to challenge a ruling because he thinks the second baseman didn’t have his foot on the bag when turning a double play or that close call at first base didn’t go his way?

Last year, owners rightfully introduced instant replay for boundary calls on home runs. However, it’s an entirely different story for active plays. Overturning calls on the field could lead to Keystone Kops chaos when deciding what runners go back to which bases.

Besides, isn’t it more fun watching Lou Piniella, Bobby Cox and other managerial powder kegs blow their tops rather than quietly ask for a replay?

That said, don’t be surprised if owners soon decide to give umpire crew chiefs the authority to call for a review on potentially game-changing plays.

And who knows, in 2020 maybe we’ll have electronic devices in the balls, bases and players’ spikes to help determine when a runner is safe or out. Or how about a computer-generated strike zone?

Say it ain’t so. One of baseball’s endearing charms is an umpire’s highly personal interpretation of what exactly is a good pitch as he choreographs the great dance between pitcher and hitter. Hopefully baseball won’t let technology cut in just because it can.

- Talk about future shock. Concerned with so many cases of age falsification, Major League Baseball has been conducting genetic testing on some promising prospects from the Dominican Republic and their parents.

MLB says it has been using DNA tests on a consensual basis because so many young players have been caught purporting to be younger than they actually are.

Some players have reportedly had bone scans to determine their approximate age. DNA tests cannot reveal age, but it can show whether the player is the son of the claimed parents. It’s believed that many aspiring Latin ballplayers find families that are willing to offer a younger child’s birth certificate. Last year, shortstop Miguel Tejada, a Dominican native, admitted he was 19 when he signed with the A’s, not 17 as he told the team. As understandable as it may be for baseball to want to know if the player they bring into the game is all he’s advertised to be, beginning in November new legislation will prohibit U.S. companies from asking an employee, a potential employee or family member of an employee for a DNA sample.

Simple solution: When considering a player from an impoverished background on the threshold of potentially making millions in America, just add two or three years to his passport age and proceed accordingly.

KGO (810 AM) Sports Director Rich Walcoff can be heard weekdays from 5 to 9 a.m. on the KGO morning news and is also the co-host of “Raiders Gameday” and “Recap” talk shows on KSFO (560 AM). He can be reached at RichWalcoff@gmail.com.