NewsCamera moved after A-Rod homer
MLB, FOX push it back several inches behind right-field wall
By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com
11/01/09 6:30 PM EST
PHILADELPHIA -- A day after Alex Rodriguez prompted the first video replay review in World Series and postseason history, the outfield landscape at Citizens Bank Park changed.
"After close inspection by FOX and MLB, as a precaution, we've moved the right-field foul pole camera back slightly so that the edge of the lens is completely line with the top of the wall," Dan Bell, vice president of communications for FOX Sports, said in a statement.
In the fourth inning Saturday, Rodriguez hit a ball down the right-field line that glanced off the lens of the camera and back into play. Initially ruling it a double, umpires gathered on the infield grass before four of them disappeared to review the play.
Replays clearly showed that the ball struck off the camera, which umpires had decided before the game would be ruled a home run.
"We tour the field during the series whenever we go to a new ballpark and discuss specific ground rules and potential trouble areas just like that," crew chief Gerry Davis said after the game. "Because we cannot control what the cameraman does with the camera, one of the specific ground rules is when the ball hits the camera, home run."
The review was the first in postseason history, under a system that Major League Baseball ratified last August. Rodriguez also hit the first ball to be reviewed under the system, last September at Tropicana Field.
"It's only fitting, right?" Rodriguez said Saturday. "I don't know if that's controversy with the replay. I'm just glad we got a good ruling."
Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
