It should be a no-brainer. During the offseason, Major League Baseball general managers voted 25-5 last year in favor of instant replay. It looks like they’ll get their wish as soon as August 1, at least on disputed home-run calls.

Whether or not a ball clears the fence in fair territory should be an easy call with the support of existing video coverage – the occasional Jeffrey Maier moment notwithstanding. So as long as the league can crank out a workable replay system that is acceptable to umpires, players and front-office personnel, what’s the problem?

Tradition. Baseball prides itself on being old school; they’d often rather get the call wrong and chalk it up to human error. Noted conservative and baseball fan George Will pooh-poohs the idea of instant replay. But even Will, after making the usual straw man and slippery slope arguments, accedes that using replay for boundary calls is acceptable. Byzantine whimsy, indeed.

The Philadelphia Phillies recently held their third “Baseball 101” clinic for women 18 and over. Over 120 showed up at Citizens Bank Park for a luncheon and some on-field instruction on the very basic fundamentals: throwing, running, and catching among them.

There are fantasy camps where men do much the same, but these are generally men who have some level of athleticism, and the instruction is at a higher level.  What the Phillies are doing has more to do with building fan appreciation and reaching out to a demographic that usually gets ignored – or worse, ridiculed.

Of course, a little sex appeal doesn’t hurt. The women burst into applause when right fielder Shane Victorino came out during the Q&A session. Suffice to say they weren’t cheering for his pedestrian .353 on-base percentage this year.

It’s all good. There is more than enough room in this world for both Bodog Girls and MLB beefcake.