RYAN STIEG

Baseball has always been dubbed America’s pastime, but it’s hard to find a sport that is so attached to the “past” part of that label.

Earlier this week in San Francisco, a game between the host Giants and the Washington Nationals erupted into a bench-clearing brawl after Nats star Bryce Harper was intentionally hit with a pitch from Hunter Strickland.

The rumor is that Strickland was bitter over Harper trotting slowly after hitting a playoff home run three years ago. Three years ago! Apparently, winning a World Series title that year wasn’t enough to soften that blow to Strickland’s ego.

That wasn’t all that happened either, as during that battle on the mound, San Francisco pitcher Jeff Samardzija ended up leveling his own teammate and giving him a concussion.

This whole debacle was the dumbest thing that happened this week and that’s saying something after the New York Mets mascot flipped off a fan and a Nashville Predators fan got charged with possession of an “instrument of crime” after tossing a catfish on the ice in Pittsburgh.

The fight in Frisco wasn’t just an isolated incident. Earlier this season, pitches were thrown at batters over bat-flip celebrations. The reason for this has to do with baseball’s famous “unwritten rules” that apparently must result in drilling someone with the ball if those rules are violated.

Who came up with these rules? Clearly, it was some sensitive guys with anger issues. Here’s an idea. Instead of throwing at someone, pitch better. Perhaps you shouldn’t hang a breaking ball over the middle of the plate the next time you face that person.

That’s not the only “unwritten rule” that is mind-boggling. Another one is not running up the score when your team is dominating the other. The Sporting News found a good example of this situation. With his team up 7-0 during the first inning of a game in 2014, Oakland’s Jed Lowrie laid down a bunt and made it to first against Houston.

The other team, of course, flipped out over this and when Lowrie came up again, Houston pitcher Paul Clemens threw at him. Clemens drilled him again the next time he faced him. Way to hold a grudge, Paul. He must have been Strickland’s mentor.

Paul isn’t the only Clemens who has lost control on the mound. That Roger fellow also was notorious for being bitter and would get upset at people who did anything against him. Remember the infamous moment where he chucked a broken bat in front of Mike Piazza? I’m sure he’s a friendly guy off the field, though.  

These actions are all remarkably stupid and frankly hard to understand. I played baseball growing up and although my friends and I were all competitive and wanted to win, none of us thought the appropriate response to these supposed slights was to drill someone with a pitch or punch them in the face.

In fact, we’d get kicked out of the game and most likely, off the team. It just wasn’t worth it even if we thought about doing so. I guess if you’re a millionaire ballplayer, you can afford it.

There are a lot of things to like about baseball. The smell of the freshly cut grass, the quirky features of each ballpark and its fun traditions like throwing out the first pitch and singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch. However, the tradition of belting your opponent with a pitch over some slight ding to your ego needs to go. If you’re that fragile of a person, you probably don’t belong on a pitcher’s mound.

After Strickland hit Harper with his pitch, Harper tried to throw his helmet at Strickland that hilariously veered toward right field while Giants catcher Buster Posey just stood there and watched.

Some people went off on Posey on social media for not trying to stop it, but I don’t blame him at all. If my teammate held a grudge for three years and felt the need to act like a moron, I’d just stand back and watch, too. 

Major League Baseball trails the NFL in popularity by a wide margin and by holding on to these bizarre “rules,” that’s not going to help it gain any ground. So it’s time for it to stop living in the past and realize that being upset over something is understandable, but when you intentionally lose your grip on a ball and pelt someone, you’ve lost your grip on common sense as well.

That’s something that you should be more upset about.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.