Bryce Harper: Hilarious or Unsportsmanlike?

[95Marinerschangedmylife]

How many highlights of A ball have we ever seen all day on MLBnetwork? Maybe this happens alot down there but since its Harper, then its a big deal. I think it was a douche move and he will probably see some retaliation but now its been on TV so much, I wonder if its going to be worse than it needs to be?

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Skipaway

Actually, it's not about if a person has played baseball or not. It's about if a person is well-versed on the specific unwritten rules of some groups of American baseball players.

It's pretty common for Asian players in the US or American players in Asia to get these kind of things totally wrong, even though they've been playing baseball since childhood. These kind of things are totally regional and, as I said, don't really make sense other than the fact that people choose to adhere to them.

Not that Harper is an Asian player, but I do think a lot of baseball "traditions" are simply stupid and I wouldn't mind if those things die out with older generations.

It has nothing to do with tradition. The guy is playing a sport and blowing a kiss at the pitcher after hitting a home run. Sure the pitcher can just stand there an take it, but in the heat of battle, I seriously doubt that will happen too often. A few years ago the Texas Rangers ate the contract of Vincente Padilla due to his habit of plunking hitters for no reason other than just feeling like it. They were worried that eventually his doing this would get one of their players hurt due to retaliation. Name me a team sport where retaliation doesn't occur? You can't.

The article did say that Harper was drilled with a pitch the day before, so maybe his actions were due to that. We don't know the whole story. There may have been a ton of jawwing going on, both on and off the field. Who knows. In the end, these are humans, not robots. Just know this, he won't being doing this stuff at the MLB level. He will have some very angry teammates if he does. Especially, the next best slugger that follows him in the order.

[Cooleyvol]

You're in A ball, meat. [snip] You've done nothing noteworthy up to this point.

[Germaniac]

That's just part of growing up ... he hasn't done ANYTHING except hitting a homerun in a mid-season Class-A game.

So what ?? Nothing to be too proud of ... if that homerun would have meant some kind of championship or something, okay, but that's childish.

But that will go away, no doubt about it.

[Skipaway]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Name me a team sport where retaliation doesn't occur? You can't.

Actually, name a team sport where this kind of retaliation is acceptable? You can't.

I already named a team sport where this kind of thing doesn't result in retaliation: baseball. The link I provided above talked about how in Japan they can celebrate homeruns by doing cartwheels, and how Japanese players had a hard time understanding why in American baseball players have a hard time accepting celebrations by players of the opposing team.

In American football, touchdown celebration is common. Other than the league trying to limit it, it's never a norm for the other team to retaliate. Same for soccer. Even in basketball, it's not the norm to retaliate.


And you know why this is all about tradition? In a different country, the players being told to grow up could have been all the players that feel offended by Harper. They would be considered too thin-skinned and childish.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Skipaway

Actually, name a team sport where this kind of retaliation is acceptable? You can't.

I already named a team sport where this kind of thing doesn't result in retaliation: baseball. The link I provided above talked about how in Japan they can celebrate homeruns by doing cartwheels, and how Japanese players had a hard time understanding why in American baseball players have a hard time accepting celebrations by players of the opposing team.

In American football, touchdown celebration is common. Other than the league trying to limit it, it's never a norm for the other team to retaliate. Same for soccer. Even in basketball, it's not the norm to retaliate.

Who said thing one about it being acceptable? It's not acceptable to throw at a guy in retaliation. That doesn't mean it's not going to happen. If a guy wants to do cartwheels following a home run, be my guest, but I think he best be prepared to face the consequences.

Celebrating a touchdown is fine, but if the player directs that celebration directly at an opposing player(such as blowing him a kiss) you're wrong to think some form of retaliation isn't going to occur. Why do you think College football has excessive celebration penalties in place? It's to help the officials keep a game from getting out of their control.

Retaliation is accepted in hockey. Sure you get a penalty, but you're not thrown out of the game unless you go too far.

I think the reason you think these other sports don't have retaliation going on, is the fact that when it happens in other sports, it's not as obvious as someone hitting a batter with 90 mile an hour fastball.

[statfreak]

Originally Posted by Faroo6

I dunno. It almost looks like the pitcher said something to him the way he turned his head coming down the line. If that's the case then who cares. That wasn't that big of a deal. I was expecting him to kiss his hand and blow it at the pitcher the way this thread was going. And yes I have played baseball and did so through JuCo. I've also been the recipient of a bean ball after a teammate did something stupid. I don't condone his action there but I don't think it was that big of a deal.

I agree. Any one that watches that video without a bias towards Harper will see what looks like the pitching saying something to Harper that causes Harper's reaction to "kiss".

The real "show the pitcher up" moment was after he hit it and admired it instead of putting his head down and rounding the bases.

You should know I was a pitcher in my baseball life and only take issue with Harper's immediate reaction after hitting the homerun. The kiss was a reaction to whatever the pitcher said to him.

[Skipaway]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Who said thing one about it being acceptable? It's not acceptable to throw at a guy in retaliation. That doesn't mean it's not going to happen. If a guy wants to do cartwheels following a home run, be my guest, but I think he best be prepared to face the consequences.

Celebrating a touchdown is fine, but if the player directs that celebration directly at an opposing player(such as blowing him a kiss) you're wrong to think some form of retaliation isn't going to occur. Why do you think College football has excessive celebration penalties in place? It's to help the officials keep a game from getting out of their control.

Retaliation is accepted in hockey. Sure you get a penalty, but you're not thrown out of the game unless you go too far.

I think the reason you think these other sports don't have retaliation going on, is the fact that when it happens in other sports, it's not as obvious as someone hitting a batter with 90 mile an hour fastball.

You mean, Japanese baseball has some form of retaliation that's not obvious?

Read the link! They actually don't even understand why Americans would be pissed off for things like this. They feel it's good to celebrate and they would have been very confused if anybody consider retaliation for that. Why would they prepare to face the consequences if they consider the norm is no consequences?

On the other hand, they consider it unacceptable to play jokes on teammates. Ichiro Suzuki only get used to it after six or seven years in the MLB. There are always whispers of him not being a good presence in the club house because he just doesn't fit into what's considered the norm.

This "being showed up" thing is very cultural. Culture differs and changes all the time. Personally I think it's only people who lack confidence would need to worry about things like that. Only the weak can be insulted.

[spleen1015]

Maybe he's gay?

All kidding aside, the pitcher was talking trash because Harper admired the HR at the plate.

Who cares? He won't be doing this when he gets to the majors.

[Skipaway]

Yeah, sports leagues are pretty tribal. They'll force people to fit in their rituals. Harper will have to change, because these kind of culture won't change fast enough for him.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by statfreak

I agree. Any one that watches that video without a bias towards Harper will see what looks like the pitching saying something to Harper that causes Harper's reaction to "kiss".

The real "show the pitcher up" moment was after he hit it and admired it instead of putting his head down and rounding the bases.

You should know I was a pitcher in my baseball life and only take issue with Harper's immediate reaction after hitting the homerun. The kiss was a reaction to whatever the pitcher said to him.

Agree with stat on this, also Harper needs to worry about that dodgy tash rather than blowing kisses, as for some reason YMCA came into my head when he was blowing the kiss all it needed was a cop uniform to replace the baseball one

[deanemj]

I just heard Chris Rose say that the pitcher who Harper hit a home run off of had K'd him earlier in the game. After he struck him out, he blew a kiss to Harper. So, apparently Harper was paying the pitcher back for being an ass.

[Goody]

Why'd his parents have to name him Bryce? Didn't they know he'd be a great baseball player? BRYCE? WHAT IS THAT??? I'd probably be blowing kisses at guys too if my name was Bryce.

[Goody]

Cookie...

Babe....

Hell, even Trevor or Taylor...



BRYCE?!?

[Faroo6]

Originally Posted by deanemj

I just heard Chris Rose say that the pitcher who Harper hit a home run off of had K'd him earlier in the game. After he struck him out, he blew a kiss to Harper. So, apparently Harper was paying the pitcher back for being an ass.

Makes sense. It's like the guy that flips his bat and makes a show after homering the pitch after the pitcher knocked him down. No problem with it if he's just returning the favor from the pitcher blowing a kiss at him earlier, although he should probably realize that he's going to get **** from everyone he faces from all the hype he's had in his career.

[Goody]

Originally Posted by Faroo6

Makes sense. It's like the guy that flips his bat and makes a show after homering the pitch after the pitcher knocked him down. No problem with it if he's just returning the favor from the pitcher blowing a kiss at him earlier, although he should probably realize that he's going to get **** from everyone he faces from all the hype he's had in his career.

Take the high road, if you have talent like that. Single A is just a stop on the way. No reason for it at all. Take it as flattery the guy wants to have a history with you, and just move on and keep working.

[pat]

I think he's too cocky. Not to mention it's just the minors. We'll see if he can translate that in the majors.

[Goody]

Originally Posted by pat

I think he's too cocky. Not to mention it's just the minors. We'll see if he can translate that in the majors.

He's a hitting prodigy. Barring any injury or other health issues he'll tear it up in the majors too. He probably could now but its a business...

[dsvitak]

I have mixed feelings about this.

I am an old guy, and an old school guy.

Did the Mad Hungarian get villified for this showmanship while a reliever with the Royals? Sure...but it was part of his persona.

I can give you fifty examples of players that had style and flair. Some of which were appreciated, some of which was not.

Like my sig indicates, Dizzy Dean was a real character, but he backed it up with his play.

If the nascent legend which is Bryce Harper wants to blow a kiss to a pitcher who blew a kiss to him three innings before, then I don't have an issue with that.

If I am Bryce Harper, blowing a kiss, and getting several days of national exposure isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's not the way I would have done it, but you can't argue its effectiveness.

...or maybe, just maybe we're giving him too much credit. He's a kid.

If I was one of the greatest high school athletes - potentially since, like, forever - then there just MIGHT be a chance, just maaaaaybe a chance, that I would be just a touch arrogant.

I would not want him in my organization if he didn't think that he was the biggest, baddest, bestest player on two legs. Comes with the territory.

[LeiterFanatic]

Anything that gets me to see Mike Schmidt again gets a thumbs up in my book.