"Maris ran toward first as if he didn’t have plenty of experience that season to be able to judge when his fly ball was gone."
Roger's teammate, Mickey Mantle, who was definitely no strangers to hitting HR's, pretty much always ran as fast as he could around the bases, as if to demonstrate his 3.1 seconds speed to 1B and then beyond was legitimate.
During the most famous walkoff HR in MLB history (Game 7 of 1960 WS, which directly won the championship for PIT), Mazeroski is literally sprinting as fast as he could go around the bases. Part of this is to avoid getting mobed by fans, but as Maz hit the ball, he didn't wait to watch it sail over the LF fence. He kept right on sprinting around the bases.
A relevant question would be: Was this initiated by black players like Reggie? Since Pete Rose didn't hit very many HRs during his career the watching the ball sail over the fence can't be traced to him. Come to think of it, do white players in MLB behave in this fashion? In other words, do white MLBers also preen and stop to watch their HR? Or do they simply round the bases as in, "this is my job nothing more, nothing less."?
Because if white MLBers don't exhibit this kind of post-HR behavior, it does make one wonder exactly where this behavior came from.
Yes, my guess is that African American sluggers like Reggie Jackson invented preening over homers. I don't know much about Japanese baseball, but Ohtani does it more in 2024 to fire up the fans than he did in 2021. American fans in the 21st Century definitely like it.
Showboating aside, Ohtani has a great swing through the top of the zone. Though not quite the hitter that Judge is, he is peerless against the high hard one.
It’s out of control in all sports now. And bleeding down through college to HS.
It’s obviously black driven but most whites have followed suit at all levels. When it started it was forgiven. Announcers, journalists felt it would be racist to object, it’s their culture, we can’t object.
As more nonsense was allowed, more nonsense was delivered. No adults with a megaphone dare speak up.
Jimmy Piersall started it all when he went around the bases backward, or slid into home plate, somewhere in the late '50's. Of course, he was crazy. And a lousy broadcaster.
Nobody cares about baseball anymore. I did hear two 30-something white guys this morning on the practice green discussing some problem with the 49'ers.
High level sports exist to bring customers in for the gambling companies. My college student son claims to be the only male he knows who doesn’t have an account with one of the online betting outfits. I hope he’s being truthful.
Pre-internet, one columnists spilled the beans: if the sports section didn't carry the betting lines for all the games, they'd lose half their customers.
He was a bit before my time, but I didn't realize that Matthews père had a much more productive career than Matthews fils. It also turns out the former was especially dangerous in the playoffs; in 75 PA he hit 6 HR to go along with 15 RBI to go along with his slash line of .323/.392/.677
The end of Jim Crow and the pro-Negro movement among the left led to this show boating. Earlier generations of blacks who had success tended to play down their great moments like whites did because fathers, religious institutions, white leaders, and the overall cultural zeitgest pushed that upon them.
But as the 70s turned into the 80s and 90s, generations of blacks unfettered from fathers, strict religion, and white culture pushing them into behaving properly ---aided by Jews who attacked any attempt to downplay Negro bad behavior as "racist"--- black showboating returned. The slam dunk in basketball, for example, was long criticized as unnecessarily bad sportsmanship, as a layup in such a situation was just as guaranteed a score without engendering bad feelings. But the 1970s and 80s brought about Dr. J and lots of imitators slamming the ball to prove how dominant they were.
Or take football. Icky Woods became a brief national sensation when he started some complicated dancing in the end zone after scoring, showing up his opponents. Many older blacks harrumphed at this, and whites complained too. Nowadays, Woods's celebrations are tame compared to the modern stuff.
Well-raised and religious blacks don't do such things. At the same time flash in the pan Icky was dancing like a fool, religious Christian Barry Sanders was dazzling the camera, but whenever he scored he just flipped the balll politely to the refs. No need to show off--- he was Barry Sanders, he'd just outclassed everyone to score, and he was perhaps the greatest of all time. But such good guy behavior became exceedingly rare in the 90s and beyond. By the 90s whites began to mimic such bad behavior, and other races playing in the West got ruined by this as well.
It should be noted that "sportsmanship" is a very Christian idea. Pre-Christian societies in Europe believed in rubbing it in just like blacks do. Reading The Illiad you see superstar warrior Achilles rubbing in his victories very hard to anyone he faces, respect for your opponent be danged. It was Christian philosophers who first encouraged armies and, later, athletes to stop adding insult to injury to vanquished foes, so as to prevent further strife down the line as revenge.
Mercy is a Christian virtue, and pride a sin, and so showing mercy your opponent's wounded pride while also keeping yours in check was best for a Christian champion.
EDIT: I'll also add that, besides Jewish coddling and protection of blacks on all levels, the rise of television (especially ESPN and sports-specific TV shows) increased this bad behavior. Muhammed Ali's shuck-and-jive, double talking routines and in-ring mockery were tailor made to make him a TV star, and Reggie Jackson's boasts and crowd-waving moments also played well to the TV. As ESPN rose in dominance in the 80s and 90s, the quick cut to the slam dunk, the bat flip, or the touch down dance or some other flashy outburst increased viewership and got said players name out there faster than a boring, polite player. E.g. John McEnroe----his outbursts on the court made him more known to the average TV viewer than guys like Jimmy Connors or Björn Borg, because John McEnroe's outbursts were sure to make a TV highlight reel.
Always wished that the rival that McEnroe was playing during a match, whenever he acted up like a big baby, would've quietly gone over to his side of the court...and punched his lights out. But alas, it never occurred.
Agreed. McEnroe would've deserved it. Alas, too many pro athletes deserve such a public a**-whooping for bad behavior and never get it int his life.
By the end, it was all performative by McEnroe anyways, as his skill faded and the last vestiges of fame petered out. He needed that attention. At the beginning, I don't know if it was performative or just his natural whiny spoiled brattiness, but he sure capitalized on it.
The availability of effective batting helmets has made hitters bolder, but, the use of body armor on the elbow and shin have accelerated the trend. And pitchers aren't allowed to go after the head anymore, and, if fact, they are tossed if even suspected of throwing at hitters.
I don't think that American blacks are as responsible for the showboating in baseball as they are in other sports. Traditionally, the Latins/Hispanics have been considered the most flamboyant baseball players (of course, many of these are/have been black). Thinks of the outrageous pitching stylings of Luis Tiant and Juan Marichal, the strange catching style of Manny Sanguillen and Sandy Alomar, Jr., the catatonic trance that Rogelio Moret when into, and the inimitable wackiness of Chico Escuela.
Back when I played, it was "act like you've been there". Today, these shameless displays are pure "bush league". It's time to bring class back to the game.
Was that really a bat flip? Or did he just let it go? That 1983 Phillies team was one of the worst to ever make it to the World Series. The Wheeeze kids lol
Probably sold his soul
"Maris ran toward first as if he didn’t have plenty of experience that season to be able to judge when his fly ball was gone."
Roger's teammate, Mickey Mantle, who was definitely no strangers to hitting HR's, pretty much always ran as fast as he could around the bases, as if to demonstrate his 3.1 seconds speed to 1B and then beyond was legitimate.
During the most famous walkoff HR in MLB history (Game 7 of 1960 WS, which directly won the championship for PIT), Mazeroski is literally sprinting as fast as he could go around the bases. Part of this is to avoid getting mobed by fans, but as Maz hit the ball, he didn't wait to watch it sail over the LF fence. He kept right on sprinting around the bases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-OCXYjVL4U
A relevant question would be: Was this initiated by black players like Reggie? Since Pete Rose didn't hit very many HRs during his career the watching the ball sail over the fence can't be traced to him. Come to think of it, do white players in MLB behave in this fashion? In other words, do white MLBers also preen and stop to watch their HR? Or do they simply round the bases as in, "this is my job nothing more, nothing less."?
Because if white MLBers don't exhibit this kind of post-HR behavior, it does make one wonder exactly where this behavior came from.
Yes, my guess is that African American sluggers like Reggie Jackson invented preening over homers. I don't know much about Japanese baseball, but Ohtani does it more in 2024 to fire up the fans than he did in 2021. American fans in the 21st Century definitely like it.
Showboating aside, Ohtani has a great swing through the top of the zone. Though not quite the hitter that Judge is, he is peerless against the high hard one.
Don't try to throw a high fastball past Ohtani.
It’s out of control in all sports now. And bleeding down through college to HS.
It’s obviously black driven but most whites have followed suit at all levels. When it started it was forgiven. Announcers, journalists felt it would be racist to object, it’s their culture, we can’t object.
As more nonsense was allowed, more nonsense was delivered. No adults with a megaphone dare speak up.
Now it’s part of all of our culture.
Jimmy Piersall started it all when he went around the bases backward, or slid into home plate, somewhere in the late '50's. Of course, he was crazy. And a lousy broadcaster.
I shook Jimmy Piersall's hand in about 1966.
Nobody cares about baseball anymore. I did hear two 30-something white guys this morning on the practice green discussing some problem with the 49'ers.
High level sports exist to bring customers in for the gambling companies. My college student son claims to be the only male he knows who doesn’t have an account with one of the online betting outfits. I hope he’s being truthful.
Pre-internet, one columnists spilled the beans: if the sports section didn't carry the betting lines for all the games, they'd lose half their customers.
The 71 million who attended MLB games this year disagree. Nobody cares what two guys playing golf think or say.
He was a bit before my time, but I didn't realize that Matthews père had a much more productive career than Matthews fils. It also turns out the former was especially dangerous in the playoffs; in 75 PA he hit 6 HR to go along with 15 RBI to go along with his slash line of .323/.392/.677
The end of Jim Crow and the pro-Negro movement among the left led to this show boating. Earlier generations of blacks who had success tended to play down their great moments like whites did because fathers, religious institutions, white leaders, and the overall cultural zeitgest pushed that upon them.
But as the 70s turned into the 80s and 90s, generations of blacks unfettered from fathers, strict religion, and white culture pushing them into behaving properly ---aided by Jews who attacked any attempt to downplay Negro bad behavior as "racist"--- black showboating returned. The slam dunk in basketball, for example, was long criticized as unnecessarily bad sportsmanship, as a layup in such a situation was just as guaranteed a score without engendering bad feelings. But the 1970s and 80s brought about Dr. J and lots of imitators slamming the ball to prove how dominant they were.
Or take football. Icky Woods became a brief national sensation when he started some complicated dancing in the end zone after scoring, showing up his opponents. Many older blacks harrumphed at this, and whites complained too. Nowadays, Woods's celebrations are tame compared to the modern stuff.
Well-raised and religious blacks don't do such things. At the same time flash in the pan Icky was dancing like a fool, religious Christian Barry Sanders was dazzling the camera, but whenever he scored he just flipped the balll politely to the refs. No need to show off--- he was Barry Sanders, he'd just outclassed everyone to score, and he was perhaps the greatest of all time. But such good guy behavior became exceedingly rare in the 90s and beyond. By the 90s whites began to mimic such bad behavior, and other races playing in the West got ruined by this as well.
It should be noted that "sportsmanship" is a very Christian idea. Pre-Christian societies in Europe believed in rubbing it in just like blacks do. Reading The Illiad you see superstar warrior Achilles rubbing in his victories very hard to anyone he faces, respect for your opponent be danged. It was Christian philosophers who first encouraged armies and, later, athletes to stop adding insult to injury to vanquished foes, so as to prevent further strife down the line as revenge.
Mercy is a Christian virtue, and pride a sin, and so showing mercy your opponent's wounded pride while also keeping yours in check was best for a Christian champion.
EDIT: I'll also add that, besides Jewish coddling and protection of blacks on all levels, the rise of television (especially ESPN and sports-specific TV shows) increased this bad behavior. Muhammed Ali's shuck-and-jive, double talking routines and in-ring mockery were tailor made to make him a TV star, and Reggie Jackson's boasts and crowd-waving moments also played well to the TV. As ESPN rose in dominance in the 80s and 90s, the quick cut to the slam dunk, the bat flip, or the touch down dance or some other flashy outburst increased viewership and got said players name out there faster than a boring, polite player. E.g. John McEnroe----his outbursts on the court made him more known to the average TV viewer than guys like Jimmy Connors or Björn Borg, because John McEnroe's outbursts were sure to make a TV highlight reel.
Always wished that the rival that McEnroe was playing during a match, whenever he acted up like a big baby, would've quietly gone over to his side of the court...and punched his lights out. But alas, it never occurred.
Agreed. McEnroe would've deserved it. Alas, too many pro athletes deserve such a public a**-whooping for bad behavior and never get it int his life.
By the end, it was all performative by McEnroe anyways, as his skill faded and the last vestiges of fame petered out. He needed that attention. At the beginning, I don't know if it was performative or just his natural whiny spoiled brattiness, but he sure capitalized on it.
Next year, when his arm is healed, Ohtani will resume pitching with the goal of winning the Cy Young award.
The availability of effective batting helmets has made hitters bolder, but, the use of body armor on the elbow and shin have accelerated the trend. And pitchers aren't allowed to go after the head anymore, and, if fact, they are tossed if even suspected of throwing at hitters.
I don't think that American blacks are as responsible for the showboating in baseball as they are in other sports. Traditionally, the Latins/Hispanics have been considered the most flamboyant baseball players (of course, many of these are/have been black). Thinks of the outrageous pitching stylings of Luis Tiant and Juan Marichal, the strange catching style of Manny Sanguillen and Sandy Alomar, Jr., the catatonic trance that Rogelio Moret when into, and the inimitable wackiness of Chico Escuela.
Back when I played, it was "act like you've been there". Today, these shameless displays are pure "bush league". It's time to bring class back to the game.
Was that really a bat flip? Or did he just let it go? That 1983 Phillies team was one of the worst to ever make it to the World Series. The Wheeeze kids lol
Ohtani and LA better get it together soon in the NLDS, or there won't be much to show off about.