MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, the A-Rod Slayer, has again embraced immature, obnoxious, inflammatory, ... behavior with a marketing campaign with the embarrassingly vague phrase "Let the kids play." Here's the video:
https://www.mlb.com/video/let-the-kids-play-2-0
It ironically ends with Mike Trout saying the line, which makes no sense the first time you hear it and don't realize the purpose of the ad. Trout is about the last player of any consequence who would behave badly.
I thought only adults were playing MLB. Oh right, there are many references to even MLB being a kids game, one which lets adults continue their childhood activity. Except that everyone is making lots of money:
- billions for owners
- millions for players.
Kids don't get more than an allowance.
Joyful exuberance seems to be the one thing almost always missing in the most controversial act: what to do with the bat after actually successfully hitting the ball, especially either a home run or a game winning hit. If it's a game winning home run, wow, look out.
Much of the drivel is about how repressed players must have been for 150 years. Just look at poor Roger Maris when he hit his 60th and 61st home runs in 1961 to tie and then break the season record of Babe Ruth. His teammates had to push him out of the dugout to simply wave his cap. Maris hardly did enough for it to be described as a curtain call.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Roger Maris 60th homer curtain call: "most unusual". Number 61, too.
"This is most unusual." - Mel Allen on Roger Maris being called from the dugout in Yankee Stadium after tying the season home run record of Babe Ruth. Maris reluctantly took a curtain call.
Check a couple of World Series winning walk off home runs:
- Bill Mazeroski, bottom 9, game 7, 1960
- Joe Carter, bottom 9, game 6, 1993.
Both are happy. Neither flips his bat.
Now consider many regular season home runs. The batter is often angry. He throws his bat, not in joy, but in anger. He has nothing but disdain for the pitcher, who is supposed to repress his feelings. Hey, isn't that contradictory?
Part of the problem is the nature of baseball. A home run results in a victory lap. When it doesn't end the game the defensive team must stand there while the offensive team struts its stuff. I think that's one reason that decorum has traditionally dictated that the home run hitter behave in a humble way. The explanation has been that the hitter did not want to show up the pitcher. Now apparently the hitter does want to show up the pitcher. It's not self expression, it's just basic bad behavior.
This bad behavior is now not only allowed and condoned, it's encouraged. And if you disagree, you should repress yourself or be subjected to all manner of ridicule. Who the heck do you think you are, kid?
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