Unwritten Rules vs Thug Baseball III

Photo by Ben Margot (AP)

Didn't I just write something about this like, not even a month ago? Thankfully this time, Manny Machado is nowhere in sight.

The big story from baseball yesterday, other than Cardinal Devil Magic being Cardinal Devil Magic over in the MLB Tournament of Champions, was a little donnybrook (I love that word) in the Nationals-Giants game in San Francisco.


So based on the background that I had heard regarding this fight, we have to go all the way back to 2014 to figure out what the hell is going on. In the NLDS that year, Bryce Harper went 2-2 against Giants reliever Hunter Strickland. The second of these was... a mammoth of a bomb.

Apparently, Strickland was still really butthurt over that home run from THREE YEARS AGO, so when they faced each other yesterday... this happened.

There are so many things to take in from this video.

• If you're scoring the fight at home, I give the slight edge to Harper, though it would be a split decision because Strickland got his licks in as well, and if you give the fight to Strickland, I can see the argument for it.
• The helmet toss spawned a million 50 Cent jokes, and I don't know whether the helmet slipped out of Harper's hand when he went to throw it, if he was trying to stave off Brandon Belt for a few seconds so he and Strickland could have time to themselves, or if he had a moment of clarity that he didn't want to hit Strickland with said helmet (personally, I'm going with Door Number 1).
• Probably the funniest part of the brawl was Michael Morse getting drilled by Jeff Samardzija just as the benches were clear and getting to the fight. It's the best teammate-on-teammate clothesline since Dan Carcillo destroyed Jeff Carter back in the 2010 Cup Final.
• I think my favorite part of it though was seeing Buster Posey stay behind the plate and not get involved. I've heard two reasons for that, and I can see both: Posey is just returning from a concussion, and you don't want to get in the middle of a fight coming off one of those; and Posey was not happy about Strickland's actions. When normally a catcher will try to get in the middle of a brewing fight, and Posey didn't move, you have to think he absolutely didn't approve.

Photo by Ben Margot (AP)

Now comes the fun part after the fact: all the discipline. Hunter Pence was one of three Giants who were needed to restrain Strickland, but because he's on the disabled list it sounds like he might face some discipline, which is asinine since he came on the field strictly to break it up. If you have to punish him for being out there while on the disabled list, fine him a small token amount and be done with it.

But it's the main combatants who will be facing some strict discipline. I imagine Harper will get somewhere between 5 and 10 games, which I think is more than fair. You can't charge the mound or throw your helmet, even if Harper was entirely justified in doing so. With that thought in mind, combined with my prior writings on this, I think you know where I'm going with this on Strickland.

Photo by Ben Margot (AP)

I titled this the third in what seems to be becoming a series of posts on this thug culture in baseball because of stupid unwritten rules. I get the sportsmanship aspect of not showing up the pitcher, but if you watch Harper in that 2014 home run, it was a ball down the line (and literally went over the foul pole). I don't think he over-pimped it. And even if he did, a 98 mile per hour fastball, even to the hip, is not a justifiable response, much less three years later. It makes Hunter Strickland a thug. And whatever punishment Harper gets, Strickland deserves at least double the suspension. I'd argue that he should be waived immediately, but I don't see that happening. I also expect that his suspension will probably end up being a similar length to Harper's, which would be a weak showing by the powers that be.

Major League Baseball needs to put an end to this thug culture of retaliation by throwing at people. I said it a few weeks ago, and I'm saying it again. What Hunter Strickland did is assault with a deadly weapon, and the league needs to start treating it as such. We're lucky that no one was hurt this time, but at some point, someone is going to get hurt by these neanderthal tactics... or worse. This problem needs to be rooted out before that happens.