Noted lightning rod Bryce Harper caused a stir earlier this month when he took a shot at baseball’s “unwritten rules”. The Washington Nationals outfielder and reigning National League MVP told ESPN The Magazine, “Baseball’s tired. It’s a tired sport, because you can’t express yourself. You can’t do what people in other sports do. I’m not saying baseball is, you know, boring or anything like that, but it’s the excitement of the young guys who are coming into the game now who have flair.”
“If a guy pumps his fist at me on the mound, I’m going to go, ‘Yeah, you got me. Good for you. Hopefully I get you next time,’” Harper continued. “That’s what makes the game fun. You want kids to play the game, right? What are kids playing these days? Football, basketball. Look at those players – Steph Curry, LeBron James. It’s exciting to see those players in those sports. Cam Newton – I love the way Cam goes about it. He smiles, he laughs. It’s that flair. The dramatic.”
Of course, as most MLB fans know, if a player pumps his fist rounding the bases, he more than likely will get some retaliation via chin music, or by getting plunked by a pitch his next at-bat. It is part of the “unwritten rules” Harper seems to have disdain for. But these “unwritten rules” have more or less been around since the founding of the grand old game. Is that the problem though? Has the grand old game become “too old”?
Harper used a noted Marlins pitcher to continue to make his point: “Jose Fernandez is a great example. Jose Fernandez will strike you out and stare you down into the dugout and pump his fist. And if you hit a homer and pimp it? He doesn’t care. Because you got him. That’s part of the game. It’s not the old feeling – hoorah… if you pimp a homer, I’m going to hit you right in the teeth. No. If a guy pimps a homer for a game-winning shot… I mean – sorry.”
Hall of Fame Catcher Johnny Bench took exception to Harper’s comments during an interview on The Rich Eisen Show on Monday, saying, “You can flip your bat. We had guys do that and the next time up there was chin music. And if you want to play that way, that’s fine. Bring back the excitement? OK, we’ll bring back the brushback pitch, the knockdown pitch. That’s all part of the excitement.”
Bench continued on to make his point, “I know a lot of the old-timers and a lot of people who watched baseball forever would love to see somebody have a little chin music. If you want to do that, fine. Flip the bat, run around any way you want, but just expect the next time you come up to the plate, you better watching how much you dig into that batter’s box.”
So how do you see it? Do you agree with Harper and the “new school” or Bench and the “old school”?
Or is this all just a “clown question, bro?”
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