The fist pump, the high-5, and the chest bump are just some of the examples of typical reactions between teammates when something exciting happens during a game. Apparently none of these methods inflict enough pain to properly celebrate a walk-off hit.
Wait,what!? Why in the blue hell has the point of the walk-off celebration become to inflict pain upon the man who just won the game for you?
The first clip is from the recent Sunday night game between the San Francisco Giants versus the Los Angeles Dodgers. Rookie Kyle Farmer came up in the bottom of the 9th with his Dodgers down 2-1 and made the most of his first MLB at-bat lacing a ball down the line bringing home both baserunners. His reward? Having the jersey he’s worked his whole life to put on damned near ripped off of him.
In the Nolan Arenado clip, he was cut open during the celebration. Sandwiched in the middle of these two events is the New York Yankees slugging sensation Aaron Judge getting a tooth chipped trying to join into a walk-off celebration.
The Dodgers pull off the walk-off win! pic.twitter.com/KnuT21gNYZ
— ESPN (@espn) July 31, 2020
Aaron Judge breaks his tooth in the walk off celebration. pic.twitter.com/j6wHHZkFP8
— Justin Diamond (@justinddiamond) July 28, 2020
Nolan Arenado hits a walk-off home run to complete the cycle! pic.twitter.com/e40wW1o3bu
— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) June 18, 2020
Seriously, what the hell people!
Do not try to turn this argument against me by suggesting I do not believe in fun. I am the also the author of “Bat Flips Are Not Evil, They Are Glorious” so I’m all for the game of baseball being infused with emotion and fun.
Watching pitchers like Marcus Stroman of the Toronto Blue Jays or Chris Archer of the Tampa Bay Rays fist pump after big pitches or yell at themselves after poor pitches is much needed emotion brought into the game. You cannot bring up pitchers that throw with emotion without bringing up the late Jose Fernandez and the late Jose Lima. Even though I may not have been a fan of the teams they were pitching for I would try to tune into their games.
The problem with the over-the-top walk-off celebrations is that that they are legitimately putting players health into jeopardy. In an age where pitch counts are heavily monitored and the idea of “rest days” for fielders has forever cemented Cal Ripken‘s Jr.’s 2,632 game iron man streak, why is it considered perfectly acceptable for an entire team to doggy-pile onto one player?
Why not a Gatorade shower? Why not a pie to the face?
It is understood you want to show more excitement than the traditional post-game lineup with high-5’s due to the emotion of winning the game in dramatic fashion but why the need to celebrate winning game 105 of the season with the intent to playfully injure the hero? Heck, we’ve seen the hero injure himself with his over-enthusiasm to join the celebration.
Shouldn’t these types of over-the-top, full of zeal celebrations be saved for winning playoff series’? Then again, maybe it’s just me.