Today in “old man yells at a cloud,” former Philadelphia Phillies legend Mike Schmidt has joined Goose Gossage’s campaign against fun in baseball, telling the Associated Press Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista disrespected his opponent by flipping his bat in last year’s Game 5 of the ALDS.
“Why do so many players today feel the need to embellish their success with some sort of hand signal to the dugout? What got more attention in last year’s postseason than a bat toss by Jose Bautista? Pointing to the sky is child’s play compared to that moment in the postseason on national TV. A flagrant disrespect of the opponent like that would have gotten somebody hurt back in the day.”
Schmidt tried to downplay his own famous home run reaction in the comments, but it doesn’t make him any less of a hypocrite. Baseball is supposed to be a fun game, and all these legends coming out of the woodworks to throw water on great moments of passion is extremely disappointing.
Bautista’s bat-flip was incredible. Moments like it should be celebrated, not criticized. Old men who’ve been out of the game for decades, of course, aren’t going to like how the game has changed – but tough news, it has.
If anything I hope these comments encourage more players to throw their bats, or celebrate a big strike out. It’s fun as hell to see. If I had to choose between the “unwritten rules” bullshit era Schmidt played in, or the more fun era of today, there’s no question I’d choose the latter. Maybe that’s the millennial in me, but there’s no contest when it comes to entertainment value.
[theScore]
