After Goose Gossage’s expletive-laced rant against Bautista and the current state of baseball earlier this month, Phillies Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt condemned the bat flip in a self-written article for The Associated Press.
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“Why do so many players today feel the need to embellish their success with some sort of hand signal to the dugout?” Schmidt wrote. “What got more attention in last year’s postseason than a bat toss by Jose Bautista? Pointing to the sky is child’s play compared to that moment in the postseason on national TV. A flagrant disrespect of the opponent like that would have gotten somebody hurt back in the day.”
Like Gossage, Schmidt comes from the old days of baseball and feels the sport should get back to its roots, back when the game and its players were tougher.
“Today more pitchers, like hitters, are letting emotion loose. But where is the line and what or who determines crossing it and the penalty?” Schmidt wrote. “The players used to settle issues themselves. Cross the line and someone had to pay. Nearly always the players got it right and settled it themselves. Umpires are now the baseball police, which has made the game safer but also softer.”
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Did Schmidt have to pay when he celebrated after his 500th home run? No, but he did celebrate and touched on it in his article, saying, “The most emotion I ever displayed on the field was a little running in place out of the box on my 500th home run. My home run trots were over quickly and without fanfare. I hit a lot of them and couldn’t afford to draw extra attention. I wasn’t stupid, last thing I wanted was to disrespect any pitcher.”
Is getting into a brawl or charging the mound disrespect to the game? Because, as Schmidt admits, he’s done it. At the end of the article he asks today’s players to “be the kind of player you want kids to emulate by playing with dignity and class. Baseball demands it.”
There is a clear a generational divide over what the game should be, but it won’t be the last.
