No change in America’s pastime has been more controversial than the use of a computerized or electronic strike zone. It’s been talked about since the 1950s when in the Brooklyn Dodgers spring training, the first contraption to measure balls and strikes was tested. The so-called “cross-eyed electronic umpire” introduced that day used mirrors, lenses, and photoelectric cells beneath home plate that would, after detecting a strike-through three slots around the plate, emit electric impulses that illuminated what The Brooklyn Eagle called a “saucy red eye” in a nearby cabinet. Back in the ’50s, it was the atomic age, but sports never have been technologically advanced and have been reluctant to change anything about the game.
Yankees: Here Comes the Computerized Strike Zone, Umpires Agree during Negotiations
