Major League Baseball Debuts Instant Replay Tonight

Major League Baseball will institute instant replay for the first time in the history of the sport in three games tonight. The new rule will be put in place throughout the league starting on Friday. Thursday games that will test the new rule are the Minnesota Twins at the Oakland Athletics, the Texas Rangers at the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the Philadelphia Phillies at the Chicago Cubs. The new rule only will apply to umpires calls on home runs and comes after a number of botched calls earlier this year had managers and players up in arms over the bad calls.

"I believe that the extraordinary technology that we now have merits the use of instant replay on a very limited basis," MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said. "The system we have in place will ensure that the proper call is made on home run balls and will not cause a significant delay to the game."

The acting head umpire will determine whether or not to review calls and will have the final ruling on the field.