Thread: Uni-Watch.com does not like P.J. Walters' "AFW" gesture

This isn't about "hey, notice my grief." Or the Facebook era. I think the legitimate criticism is the slippery slope - players aren't allowed to alter the uniform to place personal messages on it, and I'm pretty sure MLB will impose a rule that the players aren't allowed to mark or alter their bats or gloves or the field itself (if they don't have that rule already). Until it is banned, I have no problem with it, but I do think that it might/will lead to copycats who want to exhort their political position ("Vote Obama") or a website or any number of other messages, and at some point, relatively quickly, someone will place the wrong message on the mound and it'll all be over.

Originally Posted by JB_Iowa

Okay, I'm going to sound like the grinch here. When I first noticed the initials last night and found out what they stood for on Twitter, I wasn't particularly bothered by this. But the more I think about it, the more it bothers me.

Perhaps this is generational, but I don't really understand the need to make the letters so large. Or in other cases the need to blog every detail about one's life. Or to post photos of every thing about your child or your spouse or your friends.

In a way it ties into Facebook nation. People are your "friends" whether you've met them or not. Not merely acquaintances but "friends".

My sense of personal privacy just makes me wonder why he feels the need to make HUGE letters on the mound. He could make them much smaller and still honor his daughter and his wife.

Maybe I'm just the grinch reincarnated but I think that someday the generation under the age of 40 is going to wish for some of their privacy back.

I don't disagree on any of this.

The way I see it, no area of a baseball stadium is sacred anymore. We've got huge advertisements everywhere that I don't particularly like to look at. If it doesn't affect the game and it's not violating FCC broadcasting rules, I don't mind. I don't really get the "slippery slope" argument that if Walters is allowed to write on the mound then players are going to start graffito-tagging the rest of the park with curse words and controversial imagery. Personally I believe that the players are smart enough to know what's offensive and what's not.

I blew up my own personal Facebook page because I kept getting friend requests from people I knew but didn't like, and realized they all were reading my personal goings-on. But the connection to Walters' tribute is dubious. I don't think it's about sharing everything with everybody, but as a symbol of inspiration for himself. Maybe he can find a more agreeable way to do that, I suppose.

If he were to write *redacted* on the mound, or plant a flagpole in center field then I should hope MLB would crack down on it.

Originally Posted by CDog

I think you're on the right track in one sense. ... [but] Where the discussion seems to have veered into the "special kind of *******" is by moving away from that general notion, and making assertions of merit on the motives and methods of a particular person on how he should or should not mourn his daughter. And going beyond that and seeming to accuse him of actually taking some sort of enjoyment in calling it a "look at me" moment is pretty disusting.

You're right, that part of the quote by "Phil" (I didn't search the site to see if anyone else shared the view) crossed a line big-time.

I think I didn't react to it at first because I infer discomfort that I share surrounding the spectrum of behaviors that go
1) "People might or might not notice, I don't care either way"
2) "Yes, I *want* and even *need* it out there, people can mind their own business"
3) "In fact, I'd like someone to call me out on it, it's a conversation I would *love* to have"
4) "LOOK AT MEEEEE!"
For concreteness, I think Walters is at #2 and Tim Tebow is at #3, for whatever it is worth. "Phil" is mixed up badly to think these are the same as #4.

Hm, I wonder what <strike>antics</strike> gestures Tebow might attempt if he were a pitcher. Sorry, no. I don't actually mean to threadjack.

What about all of the gestures to the sky for dead relatives or love of God? What about initials on shoes or wristbands? Hell, I guess we need to do away with all of the pink stuff on Mother's day.

Why pick on one thing when there are hundreds of other examples of essentially the same thing.

This is just stupid. Why am I even commenting on it?

Lots of players do different things for different reasons. A pitcher strikes a guy out and points to the heavens, a batter crosses himself before stepping into the batter's box, and PJ Walters writes his baby's initials in the dirt. Beyond that, Wade Boggs ate chicken for every pre-game meal and ran in as close to the same pattern as possible out to 3rd base every time. Turk Wendell ballet-leaped over the foul lines, chewed black licorice on the mound, and brushed his teeth between innings. Ozzie Smith tumbled and flipped his way out to shortstop, you may recall.

Which leads me to this point...who cares? Let the man honor his daughter. If MLB decides it is distracting to the game or the opponent, they'll tell him to stop and he'll honor her in another way.

Why anyone at uni-watch.com (or uni-corn, uni-brow, or uni-cycle.com for that matter) is bothered by this is silly. "How dare someone act differently than I, uni-watch user, think they should! Clearly, the only reason he's doing this is for reasons I define!" Simpleton thinking.

If a batter can go into the batter's box and dig a 6"-deep hole for their batting stance, a pitcher can draw initials in the mound as a way to get through the pain of losing a child.

Originally Posted by drivlikejehu

Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure Walters would rather have his daughter alive than her initials on the mound. The link is almost unbelievably disgusting in claiming that Walters just wants attention. I also doubt somehow that he sat down and pondered the exact size the letters should be.

I personally don't think pitchers should be allowed to 'write' on the mound, but in the absence of such a rule it is despicable to call out Walters for what he does.

This. Maybe there is an argument in there somewhere about "what if everyone did it"...but I can't even listen to it after they accuse him of grandstanding. Doesn't Denard Span point to the sky every time he gets a single for a friend/relative who died? I thought I remembered a batter (Curtis Pride, maybe?) who wrote the initials of his deceased friend in the batter's box everytime he stepped in. I always thought this stuff was as much a part of the game as rally caps. Heaven forbid players act like human beings and not robots.

And I'm totally with Parker's take on the statute of limitations for grief. This a personal gesture that harms nobody. It isn't overly distracting, nor is it directed at the other team, or even his own team. If he wrote something like "Twins rock!" on the mound, I could maybe see the fuss. This is something that doesn't require anyone's commentary.

Originally Posted by StormJH1

If he wrote something like "Twins rock!" on the mound,

He would be a filthy liar if he did that.

It seems sad that anyone is even talking about this.

Does someone have link to a photo so we can see how big the inscription is? I fine with him doing this so long as it's not a gaudy display. Just writing small initials is a classy and touching tribute to his girl. Size does matter in this case.

It seems that people always find something to put under the microscope and scrutinize it and scrutinize it again. I don't know MLB's Rule Book on how players are to treat the field of play, but Walters' actions do not seem inappropriate. They seem like a man who is expressing his grief and regret for a loved one lost forever. Sometimes it is important to make some kind expression that is noticed to reassure yourself that the loved one lost had once existed. I am sure there are some people who are reading this thread who have lost lost someone tragically, way ahead of their time. I fall into this category and in turn I have a lot of sympathy for PJ Walters.

I'm surprised there's not already a MLB rule against carving personal messages in the dirt. If not, there should be. It could lead to unnecessary confrontation between opposing teams and, in the TV age, needless self-promotion. The merit behind the message shouldn't change anything - a blanket rule that doesn't doesn't discriminate. MLB baseball wouldn't be telling Walters (or anybody else) they couldn't mourn a tragic loss of life.

This is ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is about all I have to say about that. UniWatch, or whoever you are, to give someone grief for putting small initals in a pitching mound from someones biggest loss to there life. I can see if it is a fricken banner, or was on the front of the mound.