Is a security guard keeping us from knowing the truth about Jose Altuve's home run?

The most controversial moment of the 2018 MLB playoffs happened Wednesday night, when the hands of two fans and a call from Joe West changed a two-run home run to an out by fan interference. Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros was denied his game-changing homer, and the Boston Red Sox ended up winning Game 4 of the American League Championship Series by a score of 8-6.

West’s call on the field — out by fan interference — stood after a replay review. Notably, it wasn’t confirmed, meaning that there was no clear or convincing evidence to change it. After the game, many Astros players, as well as manager A.J. Hinch, wanted to know why MLB didn’t have a definitive camera angle that would have clearly showed if the fans had reached into the field of play while grabbing at the ball. Hinch even made a joke about it, referencing the recent cheating accusations that have been made against the Astros.

“Yeah, earlier we started the day with do we have too many cameras in the park. So, yeah, I wish we had an angle that was perfectly along the fence line that would show. That’s the one camera we don’t have.”

Well, it turns out that we may have had that definitive camera angle all along — sort of.

If that be-jacketed security fellow had leaned about 12 inches to his right, it sure looks like we would have a clear view of where the fans’ hands were, and if they were in the field of play.

As it does, the focus now turns to preventing something like this from happening again. Thus far, the options include installing many more cameras at every ballpark to ensure a clear view of every single thing that happens, or to remove the fans from the equation entirely.

Neither of those seem very likely, which means we’re left with the replay system MLB installed in 2008 and has tried to improve on ever since. MLB has done what it can (or what it thinks it should) to prevent situations like this from happening. It changed the rules, despite initial pushback, to bring replay to the game. It’s given every umpiring crew an additional member to issue rulings on replay. It’s continued to expand the list of reviewable calls.

Fans reach as Mookie Betts attempts to catch a would-be homer hit by Jose Altuve. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
Fans reach as Mookie Betts attempts to catch a would-be homer hit by Jose Altuve. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

And yet, despite multiple camera angles and a dedicated person in the booth Zaprudering every single frame, this still happened. Not just the disputed play, but a person leaning over and getting in the way of a vital camera angle. There is still a call that no one can verify as right or wrong. And while the frustration is real and understandable, it’s also part of baseball. There are still things no one knows, and can ever know. Information that’s just out of our reach. Mysteries of the game that will be talked (and argued) about for years.

Even with all the technology of today, all the information and camera angles, we’re still having the same argument that fans have been having for a century. What actually happened in that moment? And players are still saying the same things, too: This needs to be changed, this should be fixed, it’s unfair, etc. The only difference between now and 100 years ago is that now we have technology that makes us feel like we can and should know the unknowable, and deep frustration when full knowledge of baseball remains just beyond our grasp.

Anyone upset at how baseball has been changing should dive into this controversy and wrap it around themselves like a security blanket. Because these situations have always been part of baseball, and they probably always will be.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter at @lizroscher.

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