YORK, Pa. -- "Robot umpires" have arrived.

The independent Atlantic League became the first American professional baseball league to let a computer call balls and strikes on Wednesday at its All-Star Game. Plate umpire Brian deBrauwere wore an earpiece connected to an iPhone in his pocket and relayed the call upon receiving it from a TrackMan computer system that uses Doppler radar.

He crouched in his normal position behind the catcher and signaled balls and strikes.

"Until we can trust this system 100 percent, I still have to go back there with the intention of getting a pitch correct because if the system fails, it doesn't pick a pitch up, or if it registers a pitch that's a foot-and-a-half off the plate as a strike, I have to be prepared to correct that," deBrauwere said before the game.

It didn't appear that deBrauwere had any delay receiving the calls at first, but players noticed a big difference.

"One time I already had caught the ball back from the catcher, and he signaled strike," said pitcher Daryl Thompson, who didn't realize the technology was being used until he disagreed with the call.

Infielder L.J. Mazzilli said a few times that hitters who struck out lingered an extra second or so in the batter's box waiting on a called third strike.

"The future is crazy, but it's cool to see the direction of baseball," Mazzilli said.

The umpires have the ability to override the computer, which considers a pitch a strike when the ball bounces and then crosses the zone. TrackMan also does not evaluate check swings.

Former big leaguer Kirk Nieuwenhuis doesn't like the idea of giving umps veto power.

"If the umpire still has discretion, it defeats the purpose," said Nieuwenhuis, who batted .221 with 31 homers in 978 at-bats with the Mets, Angels and Brewers.

About 45 minutes before first pitch, the public address announcer directed fans to look up at the black screen hanging off the face of the upper level behind the plate and joked that they could blame the computer for any disagreements over calls.

"This is an exciting night for MLB, the Atlantic League, baseball generally," said Morgan Sword, MLB's senior vice president of economics and operations. "This idea has been around for a long time, and it's the first time it's been brought to life in a comprehensive way."

The experiment with radar-tracking technology to call balls and strikes was originally expected to begin at the start of the season but experienced some delays.

Atlantic League President Rick White said it's going to be implemented league-wide over the next few weeks.

"After that, we're relatively confident that's it's going to spread through organized baseball," White said. "We're very excited about what this portends not only for our league but for the future of baseball. What we know is technology can help umpires be more accurate, and we're committed to that. We think the Atlantic League is being a pioneer for all of the sport."

Sword said MLB hasn't received much pushback from umpires.

"One of our focuses is not to replace the umpire," Sword said. "In fact, we're trying [to] empower the umpire with technology. The home plate umpire has a lot more to do than call balls and strikes, and he's going to be asked to do all of that. We're in touch with our umpires union, and this is the first step of the process."

DeBrauwere had no issue with it.

"This is just another plate job, and I just get a little help on this one, so I feel very relaxed going into this one," he said.

Strike zones are determined according to the average for players of that height, unless there's already information on a player's strike zone from his play in the majors at some point.

Pitcher Mitch Atkins noticed that pitches higher in the strike zone were called.

"Technically, they're strikes, but umpires never called them," Atkins said.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said there's no timeline for when the technology will be used in the majors.

"We need to see how it works, first in the Atlantic League and then probably other places, meaning other parts of minor league baseball, before it comes to Major League Baseball," Manfred said. "Kind of gets back to the question that I was asked earlier about the baseball. We hear all the time from players: Why don't we have an electronic strike zone, why don't we have an electronic strike zone? We try to be responsive to those sorts of expressions of concern. We have spent a lot of time and money on the technology. It's not just to address player concerns. It obviously has broadcasting uses. That same technology can be used in our broadcast, which has value to our fans. But we feel it's incumbent upon us -- people that play the game raised this as something that could make the game better. We kind of feel it's incumbent on us to figure out whether we could make it work. And that's what we're doing."

Crews started work this week to extend the protective netting to the foul poles at Guaranteed Rate Field and were expected to complete the project Wednesday, ahead of the Chicago White Sox's next home game July 22.

The White Sox and Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which owns the ballpark, said in a news release that the work started Monday and the bulk of it was to be wrapped up Wednesday and in place when the team's next homestand begins in 12 days with three games against the Miami Marlins.

The White Sox will become the first major league team to extend netting to the foul poles after a couple of high-profile injuries this spring increased the focus on fan safety at ballparks.

During a May 29 game in Houston, a 4-year-old girl was struck and injured by a line drive off the bat of Cubs center fielder Albert Almora Jr, who was visibly distraught. Then on June 10, a woman was hit by a foul ball off the bat of White Sox slugger Eloy Jimenez in Chicago. Each of the incidents occurred in the stands beyond the dugout on the third-base side, sparking several players to call for expanded netting and accelerating the White Sox's plans to extend the netting at Guaranteed Rate Field.

White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf spearheaded the plan to extend the netting, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan last month, and high-ranking officials from other teams expect it to have a cascading effect, with teams around the league pledging to extend netting.

One source with knowledge of installing netting told ESPN that other teams could retrofit their stadiums before the end of the 2019 season.

One such team, the Washington Nationals, announced on June 20 that they would extend their protective netting during the All-Star break with more transparent netting and extend it to just short of the foul poles in the left- and right-field corners.

At the urging of Major League Baseball, all 30 teams expanded their protective netting to at least the far ends of the dugouts at the start of the 2018 season. Several fans were injured by foul balls in 2017.

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- Jim Bouton, the former New York Yankees pitcher who shocked and angered the conservative baseball world with the tell-all book "Ball Four," has died. He was 80.

Bouton's family said he died Wednesday at the home he shared with wife Paula Kurman. He fought a brain disease linked to dementia and was in hospice care. Bouton also had two strokes in 2012.

Published in 1970, "Ball Four" detailed Yankees great Mickey Mantle's carousing, and the use of stimulants in the major leagues. Bouton's revealing look at baseball off the field made for eye-opening and entertaining reading, but he paid a big price for the best-seller when former teammates, other players and executives across the big leagues ostracized him for exposing their secrets.

Throwing so hard that his cap flew off his head, Bouton was 21-8 with six shutouts in 1963 -- his second season in the majors -- and went 18-13 with four more shutouts in 1964. The Yankees lost the World Series both years, with Bouton losing his lone start in 1963 in New York's loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and winning twice the following year in the Yankees' loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bouton injured his right arm in 1965, going 4-15 that season, and saw limited action the next three seasons with New York. He worked on "Ball Four" in 1969, a season spent with the expansion Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros, his fastball replaced by a knuckleball as he tried to prolong his career.

Bouton also pitched for Houston in 1970, and made a comeback with the Atlanta Braves in 1978, going 1-3 at age 39. He finished his 10-year career with a 62-63 record and 3.57 ERA.

Bouton was a television sportscaster in New York City with WABC and WCBS, wrote other books and starred in a 1976 CBS sitcom based on "Ball Four" that lasted only five episodes. He and a former teammate developed Big League Chew, a bubble gum alternative to chewing tobacco.

Long jump announcement follows news of strong Emsley Carr Mile field at London event

The reigning world indoor and outdoor long jump champions have both been announced for the Müller Anniversary Games, with Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarría and South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga among those set to compete in the London Stadium later this month.

Shortly after announcing himself on the global stage in February last year, when he won gold at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Echevarría soared out to a marginally wind-assisted 8.83m (+2.1m/sec).

Last year Manyonga added Commonwealth gold to his world title and he will be joined at the Anniversary Games on July 20 by his fellow South African London 2017 medallist Ruswahl Samaai and the current European indoor and outdoor champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece.

Dan Bramble will compete in front of a home crowd, with the field also including Commonwealth silver medallist Henry Frayne of Australia, 2014 Commonwealth silver medallist Zarck Visser of South Africa, Jamaica’s Tajay Gayle, Darcy Roper of Australia and American Trumaine Jefferson.

This latest announcement follows news of a strong Emsley Carr Mile field for the Anniversary Games.

Nine British runners, including European and Commonwealth bronze medallist Jake Wightman, European indoor silver medallist Chris O’Hare and Charlie Da’Vall Grice, will be joined by Ethiopia’s world indoor 1500m record-holder Samuel Tefera, London 2017 bronze medallist Filip Ingebrigsten of Norway and New Zealand’s double Olympic medallist Nick Willis.

The iconic race, which was inaugurated in the memory of former News of the World editor Sir Emsley Carr, was last won by a British athlete in 2017 when Wightman claimed the title with a time of 3:54.92.

Tickets for the Müller Anniversary Games are on sale at theticketfactory.com/british-athletics

Ayomide Folorunso wins on home soil as nine finals are contested on day three in Naples

It was an action-packed third day of athletics at the World University Games in Naples as nine events ended at the podium.

There was everything you’d expect from an international championship with photo finishes and tactical races as well as constantly changing positions with every throw and jump.

The men’s 1500m proved to be a thrilling spectacle with eight athletes still in contention at the bell following a slow start. Polish athlete Michal Rozmys (3:53.67) was able to break to come away with the victory down a heavily populated final straight with the next seven athletes behind him all finishing within two seconds of Rozmys’ time. Britain’s Mike Wilson finished fifth in 3:54.50.

Britain’s hopes of at least doubling their athletics medal tally came in the qualifying rounds of the women’s 100m hurdles and 5000m.

Twice BUCS champion Jessica Hunter progressed in the hurdles, finishing second in her heat in 13.51 (+2.8m/sec).

Previous World University Games bronze medalist Jess Judd also looked comfortable in her 5000m, leading the field through the first 10 laps before easing up over the last two to qualify fifth.

With other athletes kicking at the bell, Judd looks to be the best rested competitor going into the final later this week.

The University Games often witnesses lesser known athletics nations thrive. This was no clearer than in the 400m events in which Mexican athletes Paola Moran Errejon (51.52) and Valente Mendoza Falcon (45.63) took top honours.

Italian Ayomide Folorunso took victory in the women’s 400m hurdles final in front of a delighted home crowd in 54.75.

Australian Catriona Bisset, who earlier became the first Australian woman for 10 years to break the two-minute barrier, took the gold in the women’s 800m in 2:01.20, holding off German athlete Christina Hering (2:01.87).

In the field events, Bulgarian Tihomir Ivanov dominated the men’s high jump, winning the competition in a season’s best of 2.30m, jumping 6cm higher than the next competitor.

Lithuanian Liveta Jasiunaite waited until the fifth round to throw the gold-winning distance of 60.36m in the women’s javelin, 21cm further than Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi. Meanwhile Azerbaijan athlete Nazim Babyev won the men’s triple jump with 16.89m.

Aaron James Booth held on to finish third in the decathlon 1500m to win the overall competition with an impressive 7827 points, a personal best for the New Zealander.

Results can be found here.

A day one athletics report is here, while a day two round-up is here.