I was listening to a podcast the other day discussing last
month’s incident during a White Sox/Royals series that resulted in a
bench-clearing brawl and an ejection. The discussion led me to open the
discussion of the “unwritten” rules of baseball – and sports in general.
Let’s revisit the afore mentioned series.
Royals starting pitcher Brad Keller is on the mound. White
Sox short stop Tim Anderson is at bat.
Keller throws a pitch that Anderson hits right out of the
park. In typical home run fashion, Anderson flips his bat (completely
acceptable in my opinion). To the Royals’ detriment, he doesn’t stop there. He
then proceeds to whoop and holler, do a rain dance on home plate and throw his
bat into the dugout. Now it’s a little much.
A couple innings later, Anderson is up to bat again, and
sure enough, Keller beans him in the butt with a pitch. Seconds later, the
benches clear, and thus begins one of the most entertaining moments in any
baseball game: a brawl, complete with pushing, shoving and the managers yelling
at each other.
One of the centuries-old unwritten rules of baseball is very
clear: once a batter goes beyond a bat flip and starts showboating after a home
run complete with whooping and hollering, dancing a jig on home plate. The
batter and the fans should expect the pitcher to send a message next at bat.
I’m not condoning throwing a dangerous pitch to someone’s
eye or vital organ. Just beaning a guy in the seat of his pants with a ball, to
send the message that the pitcher and his team did not appreciate the
showboating. Do not disrespect the pitcher and his team. It is my opinion that a
pitcher reserves the right to bean you in the buttocks when you next take the
plate after a braggart display such as Anderson’s. It is a well-known unwritten
rule of baseball.
While the hosts of the podcast I listened to did not outwardly
praise Tim Anderson for his excessive celebration, they heaped much more
disapproval and disdain upon Brad Keller.
First off, the guest of the pod expressed how appalled he
was of the bench clearing brawl because it’s not what he wants to see when he
watches baseball.
Listen, I have talked to several baseball fans, people who
have been watching baseball their whole lives and all of them have told me
(including Old Dog), these incidents are an integral part of the fabric of the
game. Not just baseball – but sports in general! How many football fans want to
see a Tom Brady picked up and sacked to the ground?
The guest then added that you don’t see a batter running out
to the pitcher’s mound to hit him with a bat if the pitcher was show boating.
Seriously though, so far, in my time listening to baseball,
I have yet to see a pitcher show boat after striking a guy out. If he did then it
should be expected of the batter to lightly chuck a bat at him in the pitcher’s
general direction to send a message.
The last opinion the guest expressed was what he thought Brad
Keller should have done: if Keller felt disrespected by Anderson’s display, he
should have sent him a text after the game saying inviting him out for brunch
or a coffee to discuss the situation.
So now the batter and the pitcher need to go out to dinner
and talk about their feelings?
“Listen, I’m sorry I beaned you in the butt with a pitch,
but your show boating made me really sad, and I just think that maybe we could
go out to dinner, maybe order some mimosas and share a salad and talk about it.
Do you like Panera Bread?”
This is not the Real Housewives. This is baseball.
Do you think George Brett went out to dinner with
pitchers who beaned him to discuss how that made him feel?
No.
Old school batters will tell you, if you want to flip your
bat once, that’s totally fine. But let’s just leave it there because there is
an unwritten rule of baseball that a showboating batter should expect a pitcher
to bean him next at bat.
Until next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment