Unwritten Rules versus Thug Baseball

Photo by Greg Fiume (Getty Images)

There's a lot of tradition in baseball, considering it's been a major American sport for 150 years. Over all that time, a lot of unwritten rules have popped up, some of them good, others stupid. And I think over the weekend in Baltimore, an incident Friday night over a "breach" of unwritten rules turned into what I think can accurately be described as "thug baseball".

In case you haven't been paying attention (though I'm sure just about everyone has at this point), it all started in Friday's third inning when Machado was tagged out on a fielder's choice advancing to third base. Machado made an effort to get out of the way of Josh Donaldson's tag, but fell off balance. Somehow, he felt this was grounds to throw his batting helmet in the direction of Donaldson, then get in his face. Next time Donaldson stepped up, Oriole starter Wei-Yin Chen decided to throw at him, and got him on the elbow the second time.

Photo by Greg Fiume (Getty Images)

Look, I don't have a problem with protecting your teammates. A purpose pitch to the back is a part of the "unwritten rules", and it's not something everyone is a fan of, but either that or a brushback pitch is a good way to let an opponent know, "Hey, we don't respect what you did," and let everyone get on with it. Problem here is, Donaldson did absolutely nothing wrong. If you're going to try to dodge a tag, the fielder might make an added effort to make sure the tag is applied. But Donaldson's tag was in no way too hard; I watched the replay. It's a blatant overreaction by Machado that put bad blood into a series where it didn't need to be.

If that were it, I wouldn't be writing this post. Instead, things continued on Sunday when Manny Machado injured A's catcher Derek Norris with not one, but two consecutive backswings. Supposedly, this is a part of Machado's swing (I don't watch him enough to know for sure), but the fact that it happened twice in a row is suspicious. Then, when you add in the fact that he was caught smiling after hitting Norris one of those times instead of checking to see if he's okay... that's not right.

So of course, the next time Machado came to bat, A's pitcher Fernando Abad threw in tight at Machado. This is much closer to a "protecting your teammates" incident, and actually is since Machado took a player out of the game. Potential problem was, the pitch was thrown low and in, towards Machado's knee, which he hurt last year. I can understand being upset about it. But then he reacted.

Photo by Gail Burton (AP)

Supposedly, the bat slipped out of his hands. I don't buy it. I'm not convinced that Abad should have thrown the second pitch in tight, and for that, I could see why he got tossed on Sunday. But that in no way excuses what Manny Machado did in throwing the bat. It's completely indefensible. It is, like the title suggests, "Thug baseball".

Machado did apologize yesterday, though for a lot of people the authenticity of it is debatable. I'm willing to accept it, but still believe that he needs to punished. Harshly. His defenders (who should all be ashamed, because this really is indefensible) say that "He's just a kid", or that "Abad should be suspended too because he was throwing at Manny's injured knee", or some other nonsense. I don't get it.

An old friend of mine from my WONC days shared the following post on Facebook, and I think this is the major thing to talk about from this weekend:

"People like Machado and Carlos Gomez actually make baseball more exciting. All the baseball purists need to chill bc (sic) watching a hitter flip his bat after a home run or stare down a pitcher after a bomb is good theater and likewise a pitcher striking someone out at a crucial time and letting em know about it just makes things more exciting in a game that's lacked some of that lately."

I wasn't thrilled with the comparison of Machado to Gomez. I don't really have a problem with Go-Go, other than his use of his helmet as a weapon a month or so ago. Later comparisons were made with young stars like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Yasiel Puig. They all wear their emotions on their sleeves, something that isn't a problem. I don't really have an issue with bat flips or celebrations on the field or anything of that nature. But to put Machado's name in that argument is to compare apples and oranges. If throwing a hissy fit over a tag, then injuring an opponent while showing no concern, and then throwing a bat into the field of play is "exciting", I don't know where his line for dirty, unsportsmanlike play falls. This goes far beyond "cockiness", as my friend put it. This is downright thug behavior that needs to be nipped in the bud now.

I'm not really sure what the precedent for this sort of behavior in terms of punishment. But ESPN put up a poll question asking what Machado's punishment should be. At posting time, 85 percent of people felt that he deserved a suspension, and a majority felt that he needs at least five games. I'm in that group. I would go so far as to say he deserves at least 10 games off, if not more. The argument that he's only 21 and "still a kid" has no bearing. He should have known since he was a kid that you don't throw a bat like that. If it were just the bat, I'd be more willing to be lenient. Considering his whole weekend, he needs a long break to realize that he needs to calm down a little bit. He can still play with some passion. He just needs to channel it the right way.