Yesterday’s spat between Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper and San Francisco Giants pitcher Hunter Strickland was absolutely childish and uncalled for. To sum it up, Harper has owned Strickland since 2014, including two monster blasts during the National League Division Series at AT&T Park. Nationals manager Dusty Baker put it best.
"Baseball is a game where you don’t forget and you can hold grudges for a long, long time."
Three years later, Strickland decided to enact his revenge and plunk Harper on the hip. Three years after the fact, and yes, Strickland has not faced Harper since that NLDS. Who is to blame for this? Frankly, I do not care and will not devote any more time on the matter. No, I am writing this story to shine a light on the ever-changing game we call baseball. That starts with Giants catcher Buster Posey.
Last night, I had a spirited discussion on Twitter regarding Posey’s actions following yesterday’s events. We, as baseball fans, have grown accustomed to seeing certain position players play the role of peace maker when these types of scenarios come up. In the past, catchers have taken it upon themselves to step in and mediate the situation by holding someone back. That did not happen yesterday, and it is absolutely fine. One could argue that Buster Posey was the smartest man in San Francisco last night. I realize the percentage of people who have a problem with Posey’s neutral stance is much higher than the number of folks who support what he did. That being said, I conducted a poll last night and was presented with these results after 26 people weighed in.
69% of people think Posey was smart to protect himself
31% of people think Posey had to get involved
During the aforementioned discussion as the votes were coming in, a few things dawned on me. Aside from Posey and a few other less notable examples, baseball fans had never seen a catcher not play a role in a bench-clearing brawl. They have been expected to put themselves in harm’s way and single-handedly hold back an opponent. Why? Because that is all we know. This bodes true for the players as well. They grew up watching catchers step in, as did the players before them. These actions are not taught. There is no class or step-by-step instructions on how to act if your teammate takes it upon himself to hit an opponent. It is just expected.
Put yourself in Posey’s shoes for a moment. Harper is a big, strong dude with endless amounts of adrenaline pumping at this point. Holding him back would have been no easy task. He is still young and has shown characteristics of a loose cannon over the years. Posey does not know what Harper is thinking or what actions he is going to take. Take a look at Posey’s past injuries for a second. Why was it not ok for him to think of himself and his overall health first?
Something that irked me was ESPN’s breakdown of the video. They had the gall to single Posey out and place part of the blame on him. Seriously? Strickland, it can be argued, took it upon himself to put his own agenda before the wellbeing of the other 24 guys on his team. Just because Posey is a catcher, he does not have the option of doing the same? No, I do not buy that.
The game of baseball is changing. Decide for yourself whether it is for the better.
Loading comments...