Ohio State vs. The State of Ohio
October 1, 2015Johnny Manziel could be worked into Week 4 game in San Diego
October 1, 2015Warning to all who proceed to read the following rantings: I am likely going to make more out of Cleveland Indian Jose Ramirez’s Wednesday night bat flip than you believe should be made. However, I believe more should be made of it. Unfortunately, many of the common refrains being made post-flip are about how Ramirez showed poor judgment and needs to learn — the first of those comments were just from Indians manager Terry Francona. But Jose Ramirez should not be lectured about his bat flip. J-Ram should be applauded.
Good for the Indians
The Indians lost the opening game of the doubleheader 7-1 in front of fewer people than a typical Little League game attracts. To say the atmosphere was dead would be an insult to the fine folks who dedicate their careers towards the art of applying a coat of makeup on corpses for public viewings. The Indians played to the energy level of the crowd1 as the final nail in the postseason possibility coffin was firmly hammered into place by the Twins. All of this happened just the game after Jason Kipnis had to plead with the dugout for some enthusiasm after hustling around the bases for a triple.
Marcellus Wallace once said pride was a sting you feel when you know you can do something better. Well, over the past few games there was legitimate reason to wonder how many members of the Indians were feeling that particular sting. The celebrations of offensive achievement were muted and there was a calm over what was once an energetic defense.
So apologies if I rather enjoyed seeing some emotion being displayed by a member of the Cleveland Indians as a punctuation mark on what would end in a 10-2 victory. Actually, scratch the apology; the demonstration of pride after hitting a home run when Paul Molitor intentionally walked the batter in front of Jose Ramirez does not need one attached.
Good for baseball
MLB has a marketing issue. WFNY’s Craig Lyndall revealed on a recent podcast he needs to think to come up with Bryce Harper’s name. Some reading this post might not have seen Manny Machado or Nolen Arenado play much or any games this season (my favorite two non-Indian players and absolute stars). Or, perhaps you’re even thinking Machado and Arenado sound more like a Mexican food plate special than a baseball player. It is a epidemic spread wide across baseball.
So, please explain to me how muting celebrations helps MLB market to the youth? If celebrations are evil, then please explain to me why any Indians fan can still fondly remember Albert Belle pointing to his flexed bicep muscle and mouthing the words “I’ve got your cork right here!” as one of the best moments in the 1990s? And, please explain to me why Kirk Gibson pumping his fist while hobbling around the bases brings a tear to the eye of any true Dodger fan and is among the most replayed home runs ever?
Baseball can be a slow game. Not always, but it can be a slowly constructed drama. The reason baseball is so intriguing is the many subplots conflicting during the anticipatory build. But without the payoff, without the outburst of action and emotion (whether it ends well or poorly), one can leave a game feeling as disappointed as if they sat through the seven endings of the movie Contact. Jimmy Dugan once said “The hard…is what makes it great.” I would argue if you suffer through the hard, then why would you not celebrate the great?
If MLB wants to reach the youth, then allowing celebrations is mandatory. Let’s just say there is a reason that my kids cannot tell you any specific stats about the Indians, but they still execute The Professional handshake anytime either of them scores a run in Little League.
Unwritten rules
I am confused. Watching a home run and innocuously flipping a bat is something horrific and should be removed from the game of baseball. However, publicly threatening a player and potentially throwing a six ounce leatherbound ball with enough velocity and force to shatter bones is considered good for the game? Did J-Ram flip his bat or did he turn to the dugout of the Minnesota Twins and flip them the double bird before giving them a nice look at a full moon as he rounded the bases?
“Players get comfortable doing things that some people might interpret as disrespectful,” Molitor said. “So, we reacted a bit there.”
“I didn’t realize what he was doing. I kind of wish I did,” Nolasco said. “I didn’t know until I got into the dugout and they were talking about it. It’s frustrating. I came in here and looked at it on the computer. It was pretty [bad]. He’ll get his. Don’t worry.”
Yet, I sew few occurences of writers calling out Molitor or Nolasco. Instead of worrying about the Twins being involved in a race for the last remaining AL Wild Card spot (just a game back), Molitor apparently thinks it is more important to give the opposing team an extra baserunner. Sure, a solitary runner only slightly raises the probability of an Indians win, but should a desperate team be giving any advantage to the opposition?
In addition, in any other business, if a competing firm made (and likely followed through with) a threat to put at risk a multi-million dollar asset (as many have indicated the Twins might go after prize prospect Francisco Lindor to send a particularly bold message), there would be lawsuits and potentially arrests. Ah, but the good old game of baseball with pitchers enacting their own form of vigilante justice is considered good for the game. I have news for Ricky Nolasco: He ain’t no Batman.
Good for equality
USA Today’s Jorge L. Ortiz recently brought to light baseball’s ongoing culture clash between foreign (particularly Latino) ballplayers and American-born players. He noted that 87 percent of all baseball brawls happen between players of differing ethnicity. As part of the discussion, San Diego Padres pitcher Bud Norris even went as far to say “if you’re going to come into our country and make our American dollars, you need to respect a game that has been here for over a hundred years, and I think sometimes that can be misconstrued. There are some players that have antics, that have done things over the years that we don’t necessarily agree with.
“I understand you want to say it’s a cultural thing or an upbringing thing. But by the time you get to the big leagues, you better have a pretty good understanding of what this league is and how long it’s been around.” (( In fairness, Norris has apologized for his wording, if not his remarks. ))
Note that bat-flipping is considered as noteworthy as a high-five in baseball-prominent areas such as South Korea or many Latin American countries. It is only in the supposedly free country of the United States that such an audacious act is met with derision. However, instead of bridging the differences between cultures, veteran baseball players have decided to build a greased wall (foreign players are already struggling to overcome the vast cultural differences of living in America) and ask those players to scale it, while sitting around the campfire making s’mores inside.
Overall
It is ludicrous we are getting so worked up over someone tossing a wooden object onto the grass. It is not as if J-Ram took shards of a broken bat and threw it at a player (oh, hello there Roger Clemens) or choked a teammate in the dugout (enjoy your paid vacation, Jonathan Papelbon). No, we are talking about a bat flip. A bat flip. Not an aggressive act. Not a brawl. A bat flip.
Look, I was raised on Ozzie Newsome, Barry Sanders, and acting like you have done it and been there before. I understand showing the opposition respect and demonstrating good sportsmanship. But, we’re talking about a bat flip.
- Except for Francisco Lindor, who was electric as per usual [↩]
41 Comments
Baseball players are such pansies, and their unwritten rules are ridiculous.
I get frustrated at people that get mad when people smile or show emotions in baseball too. It is a game, meant for entertainment. When the guys are having fun, they are playing at their best, and when they are playing at their best, they are having fun. So silly that you should never show an emotion. I wouldn’t care if he pointed to the pitcher and smiled. Do your job and strike him out next time instead of trying to injure him because he beat you.
If I was ever questioned about an unwritten rule, I would say, “Huh, I have never seen that rule anywhere before.”
Not the direction I thought you were going when I read the headline, but I say amen! This is entertainment and competition, guys. If I’m playing a game against my best friend and I win, I’m probably going to let him have it a little bit. That’s not disrespectful – It’s fun and it’s harmless. (unlike throwing at a guy) Pitchers are allowed to pump their fist when they strike a guy out (as long as they don’t look at the guy, I guess) but the batter better not run too slow, or watch the ball sail for too long, or flip their bat too far, or there’s gonna be hell to pay.
As an adult who is expected to act in a respectful and dignified way at work, I understand that there is a degree of professionalism expected, and these sorts of things can go too far at time. But c’mon man! These guys act as though a blood feud has been started over the tiniest (and frequently inadvertent) display of celebration. It’s not exclusively pitchers, but in general it’s what we see the most, and I see a bunch of freaking babies that can’t handle the consequences of participating in a competitive sport and getting beaten at it. The disconnect between players and fans is bad enough with the amount of money involved these days. It’s bad for the game for players to act like spoiled brats who pitch a fit if they don’t get their way, and that’s exactly what it looks like from the cheap seats when they make a stink over a bat flip or some such thing.
I side about 95% with JoRam and about 5% with the Twins here. I agree with everything written in this article, but think JoRam maybe carried it the SLIGHTEST bit too far. He stood and watched (possibly because he didn’t know if it was going out for sure) which was fine, but the flip was a little over the top – not the fact that he DID flip, but HOW (right MoGotti?). If the Twins dugout was on the third base side, we might not be having this discussion. But it isn’t, and maybe it was meant as an Eff You for intentionally walking the batter before me. So I could see where it would begin the panty-bunching process…but all that said, worry about making the postseason and not about a 4A player from the team you just eliminated from contention.
Maybe the SLIGHTEST bit would have been if he was staring at the dugout instead of watching the HR…MAYBE lol
Maybe if he had flipped it closer to home instead of halfway up the line closer to the dugout…whatevs. I just hope Lindor doesn’t pay the price for it.
A wise man once said; “Baseball is a game and games are meant to be fun”
Just FYI.. that man led the team in “ninth-inning doubles in the month of August.”
I would have Shelly Duncan throw out the first pitch tonight and sit in the first row above the Twins dugout (that should send the message to the Twins about what might happen should they touch Lindor).
I guessed wrong, I thought that weird, random stat came from Little Big League. And I think Lou Collins said something very similar.
That would be so stupid. I could see it happening. At least now I have a reason to make sure i see the beginning of the game at the least.
Wonder what Joey is up to tonight?
Good. I like guys that play hard the whole game.
I love the Molitor quote. Cause it’s on everyone else to police themselves to make sure that moronic psychos don’t misinterpret what they do and try to concuss them with an 99 MPH fastball to the dome.
I love that female high school and college athletes can handle celebration and fun more so than supposed “men”. So can Koreans.
https://newenthusiast.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/flip-flip.gif
http://cdn.nextimpulsesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/TintedLegalCuscus.gif
And Cubans.
http://cdn2.sbnation.com/assets/3390415/puiglol.gif
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
http://giant.gfycat.com/IgnorantAnnualChafer.gif
I also like (along with the impressive second half that he has had) that Ramirez is showing some swagger. I’ll take the Jose who hits homers and plays the game “the wrong way” over the contrite, quad-A one from earlier this year.
Now, he needs to flip the bat after he gets beaned tonight. Bring it on!
It would bring me great joy if he took one in the back, then proceeded to flip the bat end-over-end towards the Indians dugout. Until, of course, Duffey went and hit Lindor as well (as long as he was okay though, seeing Duffey suspended for any play-in or Wild Card game would be grand).
The last bat flip there is perfect form.
We can only hope. Maybe one day we’ll see a team full of brash guys who don’t give a f___. I would become a fan of that team instantly. Honestly, baseball could really use a team like that.
As it is, I’m sure Tito and a half dozen other crusty teammates tried to put Ramirez in his place.
It truly is. How dare he insult our game like that? Take your showboating and go make some Korean money.
MLB needs a two sport guy to come over from MMA and just start hitting dinger after dinger after dinger followed by bat flip after bat flip after bat flip.Baseball would probably take some steps to curtail silly retribution once a half dozen pitchers have their elbows hyper-extended.
LLWS team from Chicago that won the American side last year.
Of course, the 2nd place Nevada team went and found someone to help lodge a complaint against the admittedly shady tactics of re-zoning to create the team.
Sure, one could point to the LL rules that indicate any such complaints need to be done before competition and accepted re-zoning boundaries are final. But, where is the fun in that?
Yes, the Nevada team displays their “championship” banner.
I miss Korean money. I was a millionaire over there!
Nice work here. This is spot on analysis. I couldn’t believe what a bunch of cry-babies the Twins proved to be in this instance.
I have an idea. You don’t like people pimping homeruns, don’t throw batting practice fastballs down the middle. If you do and they get taken for a ride, take your medicine.
Paul Molitor lost my respect. Freaking whiner.
I also don’t appreciate Tito selling out J-Ram. I think you have to stick up for your guy, especially since he is not doing anything that out of the ordinary for Major League Baseball in 2015.
I think Ed Rosario was way out of line in talking smack as he’s rounding the bases. Wouldn’t mind seeing him take one in the back tonight.
Agree with all except the beanball to Rosario. I want them out of baseball. If you have an issue with someone, then approach the man without weapons.
Be real Will, how many bat flipping championships did you win while “serving” in Korea? Or, is it too ingrained in the youth there for you to have any chance?
And yeah, I’ll count ESL teaching as serving. Helping make the world better for Americans.
I could almost see the back of his jersey say “24” if you squint and turn your head.
This is, seriously, the greatest idea ever. (Might be easier to just train a current MLB player in MMA, though.)
Amen. When the stock market crashed in ’97, I was swimming in Won. I made a bedspread out of Won. I used Won to light my cigarettes, and I don’t even smoke.
Little Big League has one of my favorite of all time…
Lonnie: “Kids today are amazing. I played winter ball down in Venezuela, they had
kids half his age, every one of them speaking Spanish. That’s a hard
language.”
Lou: “They speak Spanish in Venezuela. ”
Lonnie: “I know, that’s my point”
A man rides into town on Friday…
Can we get Tito and Lindor to watch it together?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCRCV_4CImo
Seriously, one of the more under-rated baseball movies. Great stuff.
Bryce Harper looks like a tough dude.
“looks”
It’s hard to eyeball fighting spirit.
I’d be willing to give him a go. I mean, he let Jonathan Papelbon get to his neck and was struggling there. He’s pampered.
What you need are the guys like Duncan because they have been fighting tooth and claw for years and will see this as their opportunity to be a true utility guy for the team.
Bode’s shamless self-promotion brought me here!
There was plenty of sham in it 🙂
…joke ruined by typo…
https://media.giphy.com/media/K1QnLV1caRpuw/giphy.gif
Naw, you just sparked a new WFNY meme. Here’s my sham-full promotion sounds better than shameless
Sounds fun! Let me try!
“The Browns’ rebuilding plans are a sham.”
Wow… it really works!