Plunk the guy? Are you kidding me?
An eye for an eye?
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander? Buddy, I don’t see no geese on the field!
According to Rule of Baseball 8.02(d), beans balls are strictly forbidden. The ump can toss a pitcher from the game if he believes that guy is guilty of throwing at the batter. Oh, ok, it is not uncommon that the ump warns both teams before throwing anyone out, fine…
You know, I do wonder if a pitcher ever threw at a batter because bottom line he really just wanted to take a nice, warm, soothing shower, but I digress.
In the day, bean balls were known as “chin music”. Today, hopefully bean balls are a thing of the past. I mean, we take our kids to the ball park. We go to sit back and schmooze a bit. Baseball is not the fastest game on earth, is it? They keep talking about a time clock since games are taking way too long.
Folks: It’s tough enough to have someone in the White House who likes to poke people in the nose with this Twitter thing… Imagine if the national past time becomes notoriously violent!
“Dad, guess what? I hit Jimmy Simpkins on the head today and he had to go to the hospital! Woo hoo!”
“You what?”
“Yeah, and I struck out the side after that!”
“Is Jimmy ok?”
“Um, I dunno. Somebody said you were gonna get sued. Is that a bad thing? Oh, and there’s a police officer at the door…”
Baseball is not hockey. It is not boxing. Cleating someone on purpose is not going to be accepted, nor should it. There’s now a rule about plays at the plate, enacted to try to avoid injury. Baseball is a sport of agility, skill, intelligence, determination, and real strength of mind. It is not an excuse for taking out hostilities through use of a thrown missle…. at least it is not supposed to be.
Yet, I am reading that “while baseball may still be the best place to park a young athlete who (wisely) fears contact, it also, regrettably, stands along among major sports in tolerating violent assault with a projectile. Baseball may not be that dangerous, but a baseball is.”
Holy hot dog and peanuts, bat man! Did you know two batters are hit by a pitch every three games? And that is the average now for over 20 years!!!!
Come on: It’s one thing not to hit the spot your catcher signals to you. It is one thing to brush a batter back a bit. Some guys (Chase Utley comes to mind), seem to crowd the plate. It is quite another to deliberate and focus on smacking the guy on his unprotected body with your four seamer!
In fact, ever hear of Hugh Ambrose Jennings? Player, coach and manager from 1891 to 1925. Short stop, with the Baltimore Orioles part of the time, and hit 335, 386 and 401 those years. This guy was described as fiery, hard-nosed, and “not afraid to be hit by a pitch to get on base…” In 1896 he was hit by a pitch 51 separate times, which is still the major league record. Hughie holds the major league career record for being hit by a pitch 287 times. Craig Biggio, who retired perhaps with a sore spot here or there, is the modern career leader in being plunked at 285.
But baseball now has a speed clock. Change-ups are over 70 miles per hour. Speeds of 90 mph and 100 are not uncommon at all for many pitches. Granted batters are wearing helmets, but they don’t cover the face. They don’t cover the back, the stomach, the chin, the neck… I mean… If I took something and purposefully threw it at you and knocked out your eye, you think maybe I’d be arrested, criminally charged and sued for money damages? You think?
I don’t mind a manager or player getting emotional, cussing a blue streak (that I likely can’t hear), even tossing a towel on the field. But I am at the ball game to admire, and I don’t admire violence Nor do I admire insidious behavior. I want the baseball players to be exemplary. I know, I know, they are just human, and there are things humans do that aren’t going to make any of us stand up and salute. But, we stand before the game to honor the flag. We put our hand over our hearts and sing the National Anthem.
Don’t you love to see fans embracing each other? Don’t you get a smile when they are arm and arm? When the baby looks up and wonders where the heck she is, on mom’s lap or in dad’s arms… Don’t you love that baseball is a good game, a hard fought but honest, decent game?
Bean the bean ball. That’s a political movement that may yet come into fruition.
Bean it – I mean it!
Heyyyyyy…. gotta go. I have some slogans to trademark.
