Here's Your Chance To Weigh In On Bat Flips

[TheLeviathan]

 

I understand the whole professionalism thing and everyone should be having fun it's a game! But people have to remember a good portion of these guys are 19-28 years old, very competitive and losing isn't fun.

 

That was a good post, I guess I just feel being competitive means you respond to a loss by trying to win the next battle rather than retaliating. The other sports actively teach that mentality in fact. Baseball praises the opposite. We can, and should, expect more.

 

After all, in other nations bat flipping is an art form. It is a deeply appreciated part of the entertainment. So....it’s not impossible to be both fun and passionate and highly competitive.

[KirbyDome89]

 

Have you missed the home-plate, team mobs where guys are tossing stuff all over the place, dancing up and down, pumping their fists, and screaming with excitement?  Most of those occasions decide nothing more than draft position.  Bautista won a playoff game with a dramatic home-run.  At the very least we should consider these roughly equivalent.  Why one is ok and the other isn't is inexplicable to me.

 

Hell, Dozier did as much scoring on a balk the other day.  IMO, the problem is in people trying to determine what is authentic celebration.  It's impossible and rife with error.  Just let people be happy and if you don't like what they did?  Get them out the next time.  Get a hit off them the next time.  

A guy hits a HR and is mobbed at home by his team vs. a guy who hits a HR, stares down the pitcher, and watches the ball land in the seats. I know I don't have to explain why those aren't the same thing. Like I said, there's a point where displays of passion becomes antics.

 

I'm not saying one is ok and another isn't. Personally, I hate pitchers (especially in the AL where they don't have to hit) throwing at hitters because their feelings are hurt. That's flat out dangerous. I'm also not going to pretend that some of these "displays of passion," from both hitters and pitchers are pure happiness. 

[USAFChief]

 

Have you missed the home-plate, team mobs where guys are tossing stuff all over the place, dancing up and down, pumping their fists, and screaming with excitement?  Most of those occasions decide nothing more than draft position.  Bautista won a playoff game with a dramatic home-run.  At the very least we should consider these roughly equivalent.  Why one is ok and the other isn't is inexplicable to me.

 

Hell, Dozier did as much scoring on a balk the other day.  IMO, the problem is in people trying to determine what is authentic celebration.  It's impossible and rife with error.  Just let people be happy and if you don't like what they did?  Get them out the next time.  Get a hit off them the next time.  

I have no problem discerning the difference between honest unrehearsed joy, and calculated, belittle-the-other-player jackwad-ness.  

 

Neither do the players.

 

And neither do you, I wager.

 

 

[Mike Sixel]

 

I have no problem discerning the difference between honest unrehearsed joy, and calculated, belittle-the-other-player jackwad-ness.  

 

Neither do the players.

 

And neither do you, I wager.

 

and yet, those are now allowed in teh NFL again, and Vikings were among the "best" at it......and no one got the crap beat out of them for it.

[jimmer]

I wish I had a superpwer. Not the ability to read minds like some have, but maybe invisibility.

[jimmer]

Here's an article that touches on this in a way.  Certainly a good read:

 

http://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/mike-trout-angels-rob-manfred-comments-what-happened-angels-anaheim-statement-feud-beef/dc7bcjnez2bs1kh8t2u8osbkn

 

Just look at Bryce Harper, one of baseball's knights in the crusade to "Make Baseball Fun Again." What would be awesome is if baseball would take to Harper's wishes and expand on that. Capitalize on it. What exactly does Harper mean? What does he want? Instead, Harper is pegged as a me-first guy, as opposed to someone bringing passion and energy to a sport that sometimes desperately needs it.

 

Baseball in general is a sport that's still listening to Aerosmith's "Dream On" while the rest of the world is listening to Eminem's "Sing for the Moment." Both are fine in their own respect, but the insistence on tradition and old-school mentality drives fans away. At times, baseball is the epitome of "Back in my day …", or "Uphill, both ways, barefoot, in the snow …" or "Those damn millennials!" Some broadcasters take to the airwaves during games to hate on today's rendition of the game. The same game that put them in that broadcast seat. Try getting fans to get excited about a game while a color commentator sits in a chair, complaining about how "bad" the game is today.

 

Tradition is a powerful thing and baseball needs to do a better job of bridging the gap between its history and its future. Look at some of its absurd restrictions surrounding the more jovial and light-hearted parts of the game: like having Rob Friedman — known by baseball fans as @PitchingNinja — suspended for sharing GIFs of its pitching stars on Twitter. Or its absurd blackout rules. Or some media and fans' love affair with the "unwritten rules."

 

Just think about it: This is a sport in which some of its constituents say, "It's time for us to evolve" while at the same time fining players for wearing colorful sleeves or cleats. Any bit of personality that emerges is met by a vocal minority of fans or players saying to play the game the "right way" — a rallying cry that means absolutely nothing.

[TheLeviathan]

 

I have no problem discerning the difference between honest unrehearsed joy, and calculated, belittle-the-other-player jackwad-ness.  

 

Neither do the players.

 

And neither do you, I wager.

 

The only thing that matters to players is what they feel butt-hurt about.  And you know who controls if they feel butt-hurt?  The player who is butt-hurt.

 

Let's be real frank: The only jack-wad is the person stumbling around through life wanting to get butt-hurt by everyone else because their success came at their expense.  For all the talk of "the right way" and about baseball being "soft" - I can't imagine anyone being more soft than a guy getting mad about a bat flip.  

 

So no, I don't care to even consider the difference between passion and jackwad.  Why?  Because once I've started doing that and self-policing their behavior and feelings, or defending those that do, we've already figured out who the real jack-wad in the room is.

[Nine of twelve]

Haven't read all the posts. Won't be reading all the posts. I think a bat flip is OK as long as the player doesn't show poor sportsmanship in the process. Bautista vs Texas? Unacceptable. Flipping the bat as you gesture happily toward your own dugout? Totally great. Do not show up your opponent or anyone else and you're fine.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

 

   It is amazing how the little stuff like generates so much debate. Competition brings out so much different adrenaline and feelings in people.

I'd rather discuss bat flips tonight than the Twins being swept by KC on a Drew Butera ITPHR. No bat flip by Butera today.

[Mike Sixel]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2018/09/05/sean-doolittles-home-run-challenge-is-his-greatest-idea-since-the-bullpen-cart/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b0b692dd0235

 

[TheLeviathan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2018/09/05/sean-doolittles-home-run-challenge-is-his-greatest-idea-since-the-bullpen-cart/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b0b692dd0235

I have a new favorite player. I love this guy.