By: Melissa S. Wollering
Last week, USA Today ran down its list of potential Top 10 2009 baseball season highlights. One of those highlights was the Brewers’ “bomb” celebration, detonated by Prince Fielder on September 6th at Miller Park. That’s the day he hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 12th inning against the San Francisco Giants. It’s interesting that play was named among most-impressive highlights, considering the outrage it prompted throughout MLB. It begs the question, is baseball the new “celebration sport”? Are these stylish celebrations highlights or lowlights?
Here’s Milwaukee’s “Bombscapade” in all its glory. Imagine a man of Fielder’s size trotting towards home plate only to stop and issue an outward tremor from which teammates instantaneously fell to the dirt in a 360-degree shockwave pattern. That’s when Prince stretched his arms to the heavens and proclaimed baseball was good.
The video became a YouTube hit but also a point of contention amongst players in San Francisco jerseys. USA Today also hinted that somebody (maybe Fielder) will likely pay for such a shenanigan by getting drilled next season, most likely by a Giants pitcher. Really?
The MLB-wide dissent from the bomb celebration did its job; it successfully dissuaded future Brewers’ celebratory skits. Later that month, Ryan Braun hit a walk-off homer after which teammates intentionally refrained from all celebration because they said ‘there’s no fun allowed in baseball’. Ouch. That’s like protesting your parents’ disapproval of jumping on the bed by telling them “thanks but no thanks” for the offer to read a bedtime story together. “Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Stars…Eat it Mom and Dad; you’ve made bedtime depressing.”
Has the red sea parted in baseball? Is there an old-school “Pete Rose-doesn’t-deserve-to-grace- Cooperstown, Players-who-use-steroids-go-to-hell, Homeplate-celebrations-should-be-banned” mentality? Does that mean that so-called new-schoolers believe the exact opposite of the above generalities?
After the Prince highlight reel material, Bill Ripken of the MLB Network lived up to his name and ripped the Brewers’ celebration saying it “disrespected the game.” Eugene Tierney called it the act of a non-contender trying to make itself feel better about not being good enough for October.
“The Brewers are well-known, at least in St. Louis, for being a classless team when it comes to celebrations—any walk-off homer becomes a cause to untuck the jersey and make an a** of themselves. Too bad that extra inning win doesn’t mean anything more than just another game played…Ochocinco and T.O. would be proud.” –Eugene Tierney
Really, Eugene? Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
No one wants baseball to follow football’s lead; where even a short pass completion in the end zone is celebrated like Tyler Hansbrough found your lost dog or your first son was born healthy after you were told you and your wife couldn’t have children.
Basketball often makes you feel like you’d rather slingshot Sam Cassell’s protective goggles at the game’s referees rather than concoct some silly postgame celebration. However, its whining and superficiality swallow that sport whole. Argue with me on this one if you wish, but I’m trying to make my point.
On one hand, overzealous celebration traditions should probably be reserved for dramatic wins, rather than haphazard squeakers. I can see why teams would take issue with the Cubs should Carlos Zambrano celebrate a 6th inning strikeout as though he just single-handedly won a pennant. I can see why the Brewers took a bit of heat considering their only accomplishment that day was one game closer to .500.
But I’m baffled how this is any different than a “jump around on the plate” mob, AJ Burnett’s pie-in-face motion or the respective Big Papi & A-Rod helmet flips. Frequent Fielder comparee Al Pujols has displayed his pleasure by admiring his whacks out the park on occasion. Even the blasted ’06 Cardinals threw the “Jose” chant back in Mets’ fans faces. I am comparing a few a regular season scenarios to postseason scenarios, which is slightly unfair. Apples to oranges.
But any way you slice it, Major League Baseball has an entire generation of children blowing off their sport. In this ADD world, three-and-a-half hour games, repetitive pitching changes and teams playing out the string don’t attract that target audience. You know what would? More postgame celebrations. Instead of beating down individual player personalities and displays of team pride like a wicked rough game of Wack-a-mole, maybe naysayers could lighten up a bit.
Remember when curtain calls out of the dugout were captured in timeless black-and-while photographs? Remember how they adorned the front pages of sports sections when newspapers were the only portal into America’s favorite pastime? These live celebrations, shared via television highlights and the Internet are ours. Let us cherish the wonderful moments of this game OUR generations’ way. Because this new fan is the future of baseball.
Thank you for reading our new column Sidetracked, where we branch out to bring you the best in non-mainstream Midwestern sports talent and off-the-beaten-path discussion topics. Remember, you read it here first at The SportsBank.net.
This reminds me of Any Given Sunday or EPSN’s Playmakers. both of which had really far out celebrations…not so far out now. BUt funny to see it in baseball. was way more of a NBA or NFL thing