joe dokes said:
This article is both timely and insightful, and reflects how I feel about this retaliatory BS. I realize that following sports appeals to the tribal nature of humanity; there needs to be an enemy, there needs to be conquest, things are viewed in absolute, inflated terms, and there are lots of rituals and control of the junior people by the senior people. That's fine for a certain while, but it can certainly be taken too far. This bit from the article - about one of our favorite players - should probably sober us up from our bloodlust a little bit...
Jonny Gomes believes there are more bat flippers and showboaters and long-ball pimpers in the game today because the sport has become soft. And if he had his druthers, he'd toughen them up.
Gomes:
"So many rules and regulations have prevented the players from policing our game. Now, a young guy hits a home run, he cruises around the bases, and then you hit him with a pitch to teach him a lesson and you get suspended six games. Is it worth it to make a point? No. The rules have been altered. You have a better opportunity to go out in the parking lot and fight a guy after a game than throwing at him. If you fight in the parking lot, you might not get suspended. But if you hit a guy, you are going to get suspended."
Yes, if you go to the parking lot to fight a guy for pimping a homer, that's a sign of a man who respects the game. Whoops, no, sorry, that's the sign of an idiot and a criminal. Taking a player to the parking lot won't necessarily get you suspended from baseball, it'll just get you arrested—which, in this case, is apparently the lesser of two evils.
This kind of thinking illustrates a point you see again and again in the unwritten code—that baseball, and the way you behave while playing it, is more important than the laws we ask society to abide by. How else can you rationalize breaking someone's wrist, hand, or skull with a beanball as an acceptable form of punishment? How else can you justify committing assault and battery as a learning tool? By that logic, the next time someone cuts me off in traffic, I should send my car barreling into the offender's because
that's the only way they're going to learn.
This same kind of thinking is what makes people uncomfortable with the fighting in hockey, but I would say that there, at least the rules are a lot clearer and at least physical contact is an innate part of the sport. To see Jonny Gomes' attitude propagated further and acted upon more frequently would, I think, be greatly to the detriment of baseball and its positioning as a more refined and subtle pastime. Not to mention, you know, (needless) injuries to star players doesn't exactly improve the product.