Why showboating leads to retaliation
You don’t have to be old to be old school, as 25-year-old Cubs star
suggested when discussing why he’d never flip his bat after a home run.
“Some people have to play the game that way,” he said. “Some people don’t. I’m more of the guy that doesn’t.”
The game has changed in recent years, and home runs are not only celebrated more often, some pitchers are seemingly more and more upset over those celebrations. Giants reliever
apparently was so peeved about
reaction to a couple of home runs during the 2014 postseason that he intentionally plunked the Nationals star Monday, precipitating a bench-clearing brawl.
Strickland received a six-game suspension Tuesday, while Harper got only four games for charging the mound and throwing his helmet. The StricklandHarper incident was the talk of baseball and reignited the debate on whether it’s OK to showboat after hitting a home run.
“Things happen in the game,” White Sox pitcher
said. “He was holding on to something that happened three years ago. I heard
say, ‘Some players hold grudges. It’s part of the game.’ ”
A few weeks ago, the Blue Jays’ flipped his bat after homering off Braves reliever
But the homer pulled the Jays within four runs, so it was deemed the wrong time. The benches cleared after the homer when Bautista eyeballed O’Flaherty rounding the bases, though there was no real fighting.
“It’s just turned into ‘Look at me’ stuff,” O’Flaherty said afterward. “It’s not even about winning any more. A guy wants to hit a home run in a five-run game, pimp it, throw the bat around. …”
Holland agreed that a bat flip in a five-run game is “one you shouldn’t do. Just different times, different places.”
Bautista’s “iconic” bat flip in the 2015 ALCS between the Rangers and Blue Jays was too much for some Rangers, and it led to a major brawl last year in which Texas’
punched Bautista. O’Flaherty called Bautista’s act “tired.” COMMENTARY Not every pitcher cares.
once told me he loved watching
showboat when he grew up, so he didn’t mind it when hitters celebrated wildly after going yard on him.
“There have been hot dogs in every generation, and people who stood out are the ones who have an issue with them,” he said. “But don’t expect everyone to follow suit.” White Sox third baseman
26, said he doesn’t like to show emotions but understands when stars want to celebrate homers.
“If they’re that good and have plenty of home runs on their baseball cards, they know when they hit them and they do that,” he said. “The game is really tough. We were joking yesterday, [Red Sox reliever] is coming in and throwing 100 [mph] in the sixth inning? So if you want to celebrate. … To each his own. I’m not against it. I find myself following the ball and not watching the plate to see if a guy pimped it.” White Sox slugger
also leans old school. Flipping a bat would feel foreign to him.
“That’s not something I like to do,” Abreu said. “People that like to do it, good for them. They have all of my respect. But that’s not part of my game, that’s not the way I play the game. I’m not against those bat-flippers, but they have to know that sometimes it’s going to bring some consequences too.
“But that’s the way some people like to play the game. We all have different ways.”
Abreu said his coaches taught him early to “respect” the game and the opponents, and he takes pride in never having been ejected.
“I’m kind of a peacemaker,” he said. “I don’t like to make any trouble.”
Though he’s never fought, Abreu did take a step or two toward the mound last year when Twins pitcher hit him after had hit a Twin. Abreu apologized to Sox fans the next day for his reaction, saying he didn’t want to “set a bad example” for kids.
Of course, kids watching Strickland throw at Harper may think it’s OK to throw at a player. But players have always preferred to police the game themselves, which Harper did by charging Strickland. Shields recalled
of the Red Sox charging him in 2008 after Shields, then with the Rays, plunked him for going into second base too hard earlier.
“I was protecting my team and he wanted to come out,” Shields said. “But back then, you talked to each other the next day and it was squashed.”
Bryant may not be much of a showboat, but some of his teammates certainly are. Bryant said he “doesn’t care” if other players flip bats or pimp home runs if that’s their thing.
“I’m a big believer in good karma and bad karma,” Bryant said. “I don’t believe in showing up anybody, because it comes around and bites you in the butt. I’ve seen it so many times, just in things off the field, and even things on the field. I don’t want to get involved in any of it.”