WHEN PUIGS FLY
“They call me ‘Mr. Baseball,’ not because I love the game, but because of all the stitches in my head.” — Emo Philips
I F YOU were raised to love baseball and to recognize the smart, winning kind from everything less, the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig is insufferable. As the sport is diminished by professionals who disregard the basic act of running to first base as a matter of style, Puig, an incurable home-plate poser, often makes turning doubles and triples into singles appear effortless.
Despite his conspicuous talent, Puig last season was remanded to the minors to get the point across that baseball, despite modern, no-upside compromises, remains a team game. It didn’t take.
In the postseason, Puig continues to behave as if he’s in the Home Run Derby. He even seems to relish his high-risk flamboyant foolishness despite frequent backfires. Yet, some are good with that, or at least pretend to be in the shallow hope of being heard or read as avant-garde.
Wednesday’s topic on Colin Cowherd’s FS1 show was, “Does baseball need more personalities like Yasiel Puig?”
More? How many games does “personality” win? Why not ask, “Does baseball need more players who can’t be bothered to run to first, even in the biggest games?” Or, “Does MLB need more players who’d rather show off for TV cameras than play winning baseball?”
Why would anyone who knows good from bad, right from wrong, even throw out such a ques- tion? Inspired by immodest adult fools, Little Leaguers now pose at home, bat-flipping, risking something for nothing.
“He’s our high-energy guy,” teammate Chris Taylor said of Puig, despite repeated evidence to the contrary. “He likes to pump everybody up.”
That’s like Homer Simpson’s boast that he’s good for business because when he’s on the job, “everyone has to work harder.”
Last season, after a game-ending single, the Nats’ Jayson Werth was interviewed on TV, a chat carried on the public address system. Werth, 37, shouted obscenities into the microphone.
The next morning, ESPN eagerly played that tape, expletives deleted. After- ward, pandering Molly Qerim declared: “I love it! We need more postgame interviews like that!”
Yes, such interviews would make great companion pieces to “more personalities like Yasiel Puig.” More stitches, anyone?