Branch Rickey Inspects An Automatic Umpire, Electronic Ball Strike Indicator

Newest Dodger
Vero Beach, FL –  (L-R) Branch Rickey, Dodger President, Dick Shea, electronics engineer from General Electric, umpire Bill Stewart and Fresco Thompson scout for the Dodger system. They are looking over Rickey’s newest pet – a mechanical umpire that calls balls and strikes and gives speed of pitch over the plate.It is worked by means of a magic eye. It won’t replace the human umpire because it can’t operate at night. photo: Gunther-Keystone 3/15/1950

The machine pictured above was called the “cross-eyed electronic umpire.” It was claimed the machine “could call balls and strikes closer than any normally endowed arbiter.”

Always the innovator, Branch Rickey said, “I expect it to be of definite value in determining the abilities of young pitchers since the machine also will establish the velocity of a fast ball as well as to show beyond question whether the ball is in or outside the strike zone.”

But Rickey also emphasized that he machine was “not intended now or ever to replace manual umpiring in actual games.” Rickey added, “I’m greatly interested in it because I’m sure it will be of great aid in making both young hitters and pitchers more conscious of the strike zone.”

Nothing would prevent another team from building their own machine which would cost about $2,000 according to Dick Shea who took a year in building the prototype.

The Associated Press described how the “cross-eyed electronic umpire” functions:

It works by a system of lenses, mirrors, electric eyes and other electronic equipment that would light a lamp when the ball is pitched through the strike zone. All the items are concealed in two pieces of equipment – a thin metal box four feet long, 21 inches wide and inch and a half deep – upon which home plate is located. Plus a cabinet containing the velocity-recording and strike indicating equipment and can be located anywhere up to 25 feet from the plate.

In the ground box are lenses and mirrors which enable three electric eyes to fence in the strike zone by looking at the sky through three slots in the top of the box.

The strike is called by the ball in its passage through the strike zone, casting its shadow on the electric eyes in definite sequence thereby creating the electric impulse that will light the lamp.

The equipment can be adjusted to the height of any player no matter whether he be five-five or six feet six.

Rickey explained that the system would work on overcast days, but not at night.

The first batter to try out the system was Dodger captain Pee Wee Reese. After the machine called a strike on a pitch that was several inches below his knees, Reese was indignant. His opinion was with the majority of players was that “it ain’t worth a damn.”

Soon To Be A Reality

75 years later this horrendous, supposedly improved scenario, is coming soon to real games.

In 2025 MLB has been experimenting in spring training with ABS, an electronic ball strike indicator.

There are several faults with this system of challenging balls and strikes, the most obvious being that the strike zone is not accurately depicted in the ABS system. The strike zone as defined in the major league rule book as: “that area over home plate, the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the bottom of the knees. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter’s stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball.”

The ABS system is 17 inches across, the width of home plate. The height will change based on how tall the batter is. The bottom of the zone will be set at 27% of a player’s height and the top set at 53.5% of their height.

Simply – It’s  Wrong

Much like Pee Wee Reese’s assessment 75 years ago, an automatic ball strike indicator is inherently faulty. This is self-evident as each player has a different strike zone, not based upon height, but upon batting stance.

It has been claimed there has been “enormous pressure on baseball to improve the accuracy of umpires.”

Accurate strike zone? Is his waist the same as the “horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform”?

From whom exactly? Computer analysts? Anal-obsessed perfectionists? Simpletons who need and enjoy the strike zone indicator plastered up on the screen of almost every baseball broadcast?

ABS is a terrible idea and another step to remove the human element from the game, a.k.a. -umpires. This is certainly the minority opinion, most people don’t like the strike zone inconsistency.

It’s true, the umpires are sometimes inaccurate. Baseball is an inaccurate game. And it is a game played by humans and should be judged by humans. Not some electronic arbiter.

This will be another huge misstep by MLB. Though nothing has been officially decided you can almost bet on it (the gambling sites that MLB endorses will certainly have a line,) that this ABS system will be implemented in actual games in 2026.