Major League Baseball is officially implmenting instant replay into its rules Thursday. It will start in three stadiums and expand to the entire league on Friday.

The system has been under consideration and study since November when the general managers voted 25-5 to explore its use and will debut in Oakland when the Twins face off with the Athletics, Anaheim when the Rangers visit the Angels, and in Chicago when the Phillies take on the Cubs.

“I believe this is right,” said Commissioner Bud Selig during a late afternoon conference call unveiling the new system. “I think the umpires believe it. I think the players believe it. The evidence [for using it] became overwhelming the more I looked at ballparks. You’ve got an umpire running out and he’s 300-400 feet away, and it became impossible [for him to make the right call]. I’m delighted we’re able to make this adjustment.

“As you well know, anytime you try to change things in baseball, it’s both emotional and difficult, but this [decision] everyone really thought was in the sport’s best interest. And that’s why I made it.”

Replays will be limited to boundary calls, such as determining whether fly balls were fair or foul, or whether they went over fences. Umpire crew chiefs will determine when instant replay is to be utilized and will make the final decision on calls.

Up to three umpires will be able to review the replay, which will be provided in a war room of sorts at MLB Advanced Media in New York City. It’s possible that during the postseason as many as five umpires could review a play.

There will be some sort of formal training for all umpires, not just crew chiefs.

Major League Baseball reached a formal agreement with the World Umpires Association last Wednesday. The Player’s Association put out a press release stating that the union has endorsed the system for 2008, but reserve the right to revisit it during the offseason.

“Following the World Series, the players will review the matter, and then determine what course to take for the future,” Don Fehr, the long-time director of the union, said. “While the use of instant replay is an experiment, we hope that over the balance of this season it will prove to be a success.”

According to several reports, the technology being implemented at the Advanced Media center is state of the art. As Ken Rosenthal from Fox Sports writes,

After touring the network operations center on Wednesday, I’m even more convinced that baseball would be foolish not to take this step, foolish not to give its umpires tools that officials enjoy in other sports, foolish not to use the electronic wizardry it has developed since forming its advanced-media division.

I have to give Commissioner Selig credit. I am one of his most vocal critics, but he deserves to commended for understanding that despite his own misgivings this is something that will be good for the game. Instant replay, as long as it is utilized in a limited fashion, will further improve the purity and accuracy of the game we all love, which is something I think we can all agree is a good thing.