Showboating and expression in baseball

#1

In baseball showboating is frowned upon, celebrating isn’t liked much, anything that could be seen as showing up an opponent is viewed as terrible. But why?

If you hit a homerun, I believe you should celebrate it. In hockey, soccer and I believe even a bit in the NFL there are celebration when a player scores a goal or touchdown. So why don’t we do that in baseball?

Bryce Harper had to take his streaky eye-black look out. In the Little League World Series almost every kid who had eye black had made it look like Bryce Harper’s, it gave Bryce Harper some publicity and made kids idolize him a bit. But why doesn’t baseball allow for it?

I would like to hear some of the opinions on this.

#2

It’s disgraceful, arrogant and ignorant and really p***es the other team off I’m sure it does in the other sports, but in baseball compared to the other sports you mentioned its a lot easier to hurt the person who hit the bomb or the next guy up then it is in the other sports.

#3

I understand that in certain moments it is a bit arrogant and disrespectful, but if you hit a walkoff or as a pitcher throw a perfect game I whole heartedly believe that you should be able to celebrate. I started my season this year with a beautiful game, I went 3 for 3 with a homerun,triple and a double and on top of it all threw a perfect game on the mound. At the end of it I pointed towards the sky in a celebratory manner. I was given crap for this. Also with Tim Tebow him “Tebowing” I don’t find disrespectful to the other team. Kids also love it, earlier this week kids at my school crowded the hallways tebowing.

So is Celebrating in certain moments warranted? Is celebrating in certain ways ok?

#4

By all means of you do it at the proper time it is like you said a walk off or the end of a no no but that’s at the end of a game.

If you hit a bomb and then pimp it and its only the 3 inning guaranteed I’m drilling you your next time up and I’m drilling the guy whose coming up right after you hit the shot. Or if the games outta hand and you pull that cr*p same things gonna happen.

#5

Showing energy for good plays or celebrating a tough win is one thing but showing up the other team or staring down the pitcher after jacking a home run is so totally disrespectful and needs to be out of our game. So keep the energy and celebrations spontaneous and respetful, if you don’t expect to get beaned next time up.

#6

Taking things too far with the celebrations is disrepect for the game because it says you think it is all about you. The thing I really dislike is where an NFL player makes a good play and runs out of the pack so he’s all by himself to pound his chest. It’s as if he’s saying “Look at me!”. I’ve seen players do that ignoring their own teammates who were trying to high-five them.

And how many time have we seen players pounding their chests afer making a good play all while their team is losing? :dismay:

#7

Seriously.

Celebrations should come after a victory, not a strikeout.

#8

You can play the game with humility letting your talent speak for itself or you can draw attention to yourself by celebrating and showboating or hot dogging. Your actions communicate who you are to others.

It also shows what the family thinks is important. We just plain didn’t brag about anything. To be vain or self worshipping was a negative character flaw. It came from a conviction that we didn’t need other people to validate our achievements.

If you chose to attract attention and take center stage, then be man enough to take the hard fall that comes with it eventually. Don’t be like the others that will make excuses out of everything. Plenty of people will quietly celebrate when you fail.

Celebration is a great thing. It just should never come at another person’s expense.

#9

Walter Payton…“Act like you’ve been there before”.

#10

During the earliest origins of the “game”, it was extremely important to fit in and be part of something American, to be an American. Thus, many different cultures and ethnic blends made up the nap-n-weave of America, and baseball just seem to fit this agenda. In fact, a man didn’t have to be all that endowed with a certain height or weight, but could do very well with common talents. Talents that included catching, throwing, hitting and running. What also seemed to fit this agenda was the ability to get “out” of a less desirable “lot” in life by displaying one’s self on an open field – playing baseball. By doing so, a man made a mark for himself, did proud by his family name, his heritage and his ethnic origins. This experience would be so persuasive that it even transform the American landscape by including the negro, hispanic, oriental and other races that had long been excluded.

So when someone asks a great question - like the one presented here, it’s no wonder that words like:
respect, humility, sportsmanship, temperance, tolerance all seem to “fit” the same posture of this game and that of its earliest origins. And for me personally, I’ll go one step further – I am a product of this game, and I hold its history and its accomplishments dear and close to my heart.

Coach B.

#11

Thanks Coach B., good prespective on what baseball should be.

#12

[quote]Walter Payton…“Act like you’ve been there before”.
[/quote]

Definitely words to live by. I’ve always preached to my players, students, and especially my own kids; “You win with grace and lose with grace.”

In my opinion, there is no place in baseball for showboating and showing up other players or teams. Celebrations are part of the game, nothing wrong with that. But there is a definite distinction between celebration and showboating.