WASHINGTON 鈥� Jose Bautista鈥檚 bat flip Wednesday night is already almost as legendary as the home run that preceded it. And the fact that it has become perhaps an even bigger talking point is actually good for baseball, as it is signifying the change in approach to and appreciation for a game that is as slow to embrace change as any.
If you weren鈥檛 watching, let鈥檚 acknowledge why we鈥檙e here in the first place, why we鈥檙e having a discussion at all.
That is an epic home run. It was the apex of one of the craziest innings any baseball fan had ever witnessed, the culmination of a , three consecutive errors, and a city on the brink of throwing itself into civil unrest. It was a cathartic blast of emotion, the second-longest home run of the postseason only to teammate Edwin Encarnacion鈥檚 mammoth shot an inning prior.
It was the crucial moment in the only home win in the series for the Blue Jays, Canada鈥檚 lone remaining big league team. It marked their first home playoff win since 1993. It meant they would continue on to the ALCS after breaking baseball鈥檚 longest playoff drought by winning the AL East this year.
It was as big as home runs get.
鈥淚 told him Jose needs to calm that down,鈥� of what he told Edwin Encarnacion in the on-deck circle following the blast, which sparked the benches to clear. 鈥淛ust kind of respect the game a little more.鈥�
The idea of not celebrating as a way of respecting the game is as tired a trope as exists in baseball. It is a boy鈥檚 game played by grown men. They carry the immense weight of cities, regions, and entire nations on their backs, resting on their ability to hit a round ball squarely with a round bat.
Imagine achieving the greatest accomplishment in your life with tens of thousands of people looking on, wishing, praying for you to do just that. Imagine the spontaneous euphoria of that moment. How high and far would you flip your bat?
There have been epic bat flips before, and there will be again. Just this week, there have been several, like the one from Yoenis Cespedes, , or Kyle Schwarber after .
But nothing stands up to the magnitude of the home run, or the ensuing flip, from Bautista. Really, it needs a new term, seeing that it has transcended its status as a 鈥渇lip鈥� and become something else entirely. Let鈥檚 see it again, because why wouldn鈥檛 we want to?
https://vine.co/v/eEdhDI6eHwZ
Dyson doesn鈥檛 want us to. He wants to protect the children.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a huge role model for the younger generation that鈥檚 coming up and playing this game,鈥� said Dyson, as reason for why Bautista shouldn鈥檛 have celebrated his historic feat. 鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 be done.鈥�
Yes, Bautista is a role model. Just ask this little guy.
That is pure bliss, the likes of which you or I may never feel for the rest of our lives. That is that boy鈥檚 hero doing the most heroic thing he could possibly imagine at the exact time he and every Canadian baseball fan needed him to. Do you think his enjoyment of the game will be diminished by Bautista鈥檚 own celebration of that shared moment? Or was this the moment that seared into his memory forever, when he became a lifelong fan of a sport desperately trying to connect to the younger generation?
The best recent piece written on 鈥渢he right way鈥� to play the game came from former Major League catcher John Baker just a couple weeks ago at Fox Sports. You should , because it鈥檚 a terrific illustration of how the game is perceived differently around the world. But the biggest take-away was that the game is celebrated more openly in Latin America, something that opened a white, American player’s eyes to the different perceptions of the sport.
To be clear, Bautista didn鈥檛 only celebrate that way because he鈥檚 Dominican, and Dyson didn鈥檛 react the way he did simply because he鈥檚 a white American. But the underlying roots in how each has perceived the game as he鈥檚 learned it may add additional distance to the divide between them.
It鈥檚 also important to recognize the mindset of Dyson (and Cole Hamels, who echoed his statements) in the aftermath. Handed a golden opportunity to beat what appears to be the best team in the game 鈥� leading the series two games to none, then Game 5 by the same mark 鈥� Texas could not. While the defense was instrumental in that letdown, it was Hamels who surrendered Encarnacion鈥檚 blast, and Dyson Bautista鈥檚. Those are the replays that will haunt them from TV聽and Internet highlight reels for the rest of their lives.
Being in a losing clubhouse after a season-ending loss is the definitional opposite of fun. Wearing the laundry of that side, surrounded by teammates you feel you have helped lead to that failure, is almost unimaginable. So as human beings, we should give Dyson and Hamels something of a pass for their comments. As much we should be happy for Bautista and the Blue Jays and allow them to revel in their moment, we should be understanding of the Rangers鈥� sorrow in theirs.
That being said, they鈥檙e still wrong. Baseball, like any sport, is at its best when the pure emotion of huge moments transcends the game. Bautista鈥檚 blast was one of those moments. As far as I鈥檓 concerned, any batter should have license to do anything within the boundaries of the legal system from the time the ball leaves the bat until it lands (in Kyle Schwarber鈥檚 case, he can dance into eternity).
The game is at its best when its biggest moments are allowed to shine brightest. Those are the moments that forge new fans, that make more people appreciate the beauty and excitement of the game, that get them to buy tickets and hats and watch the game with their families at home.
Anyone who plays baseball for a living should be smart enough to respect that.
