Thirty years ago, if a batter flipped a bat or watched a home run too long, they would be continuously beaned. But today, the sport's unwritten rules are wildly different.
For much of the sport's history, it has been classy. When the 1943 Yankees won the world series, they casually walked off the field as if it had just been an ordinary win. Stan Williams kept a list in his hat of players who had broken the unwritten rules so he could bean them. Nolan Ryan even threw at hitters for merely attempting to bunt off him. Today, however, Fernando Tatis Jr. flips his bat, Jazz Chisolm euro-steps into home plate, Marcel Ozuna pretends to take a selfie at first after hitting a home run, and Lance Lynn grabs his nuts after striking a batter out. The list goes on. If these players played in any other era of baseball, they would be dead meat. The culture of baseball has changed drastically, but why?
No single player is responsible for this cultural shift, as many players have sacrificed their health and reputation to normalize flashy behavior. This normalization began in the 90s when only veterans were allowed to watch home runs and flip bats. But when Bryce Harper entered the league in 2012, everything changed. Nobody had seen such a young and flashy player before, so Harper quickly became one of the most hated players in baseball. What Harper was most known for, though, was how he treated fans. He argued with fans, shooshed fans, and even pretended to give a fan a ball but instead walked to the dugout. Harper received plenty of backlash for his playstyle. After admiring a home run he hit off of Hunter Strickland, Strickland threw at him two years later. Harper then charged the mound, threw his helmet at Strickland, and started one of the most intense brawls in MLB history.
However, an even more significant game-changer was Jose Bautista. In 2015, Bautista launched the most controversial bat flip in MLB history. No one had ever done a bat flip as flashy as Bautista had. He was continuously drilled for it and also praised for it. Traditional fans did not approve of flashiness in baseball, while younger fans enjoy it. A snowboarder at the Olympics did the same flip with his snowboard, NHL 17 added a bat flip celebration, and the Athletic even ranked Bautista's flip as the 6th greatest moment in MLB history. The acclamations for the bat flip encouraged many other players to do the same. The influence of Bautista's bat flip cannot be understated. However, Harper did not make a similar ripple in the culture of baseball due to his lousy treatment of fans.
Today, MLB players are talking more trash, flipping more bats, and watching more home runs, with little to no consequences. Baseball is flashier than it has ever been, thanks to players sacrificing their health and reputation, and fans encouraging flashy behavior.
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