Respect For The Game

 
   Recent actions by a certain hot prospect has left me thinking about how the young stars that are up and coming are treating the game. Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals has been touted as the best thing for sports since LeBron James came to the NBA, has been disrespecting the game of Baseball since he was young and now with spotlight on him he appears to be getting worse. Last week, during a Single A game, Harper was seen watching as his home run sailed over the fence. As if that wasn't bad enough, as he rounded third base he blew a kiss to Greensboro pitcher Zachary Neal. See Below for more.
Reports have come through that it was in fact the opposing pitcher who blew the first kiss. Regardless of who did what first, we should all acknowledge that there was a serious breach of respect by these two minor league players. Neither of them acted like a professional baseball player. Now Harper is playing under a microscope but the problem was with both players, if either of them had adhered to the code of Baseball I wouldn't even be writing about this.

  At the same time, I'm not sure it's completely their fault. I believe the influence of some players that have come before them has eroded a lot of what has made Baseball great. Unlike the NHL and the NBA, the MLB has been a sport dominated by etiquette. Players give each other a level of respect and that is why Baseball is so endearing. The trash talk is kept at a minimum and players don't try and show each other up.

Enter the likes of Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez to name a few. These players continually performed at high levels and at the same time showed up everybody on the field; and showed millions of fans and up and coming players how NOT to play the game. There was at one point a saying for the Manny Ramirez side show. "Oh that's just Manny being Manny."

Here are some links on "Manny being Manny":
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=13103953&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_13103953&v=3

Manny Ramirez translates Angel Berroa Interview

Manny Being Manny - high-fives a fan in the ...

Don't get me wrong, Ramirez was a great hitter, extremely talented and one of the best in the last three decades. But he took having "fun" on the field to a whole other level. I could go on and on about the stuff he has done, but I'll just let the above videos speak for themselves. The only thing Ramirez ever took serious about Baseball was hitting. That's all he wanted to do and when it came to being a teammate, fielder, athlete or role model he simply didn't care.

Barry Bonds is the epitome of a stuck up, selfish player and it showed on the field. He was a great hitter sure, but he figured he was God's gift to the world and in so doing he continually disrespected his fellow teammates, players and ultimately the game of Baseball. One unwritten code of Baseball is after a home run, you don't stand and watch it, you put your head down and run the bases. Did Mr Bonds ever do that? Maybe. But mostly he just watched and rubbed it in. It wasn't good enough that he won the battle, he always had to kick a guy when he was down, so to speak.

There are countless other players that deserve to be in this blog and I wish I could include them all, but these two were the touted as the best players and influenced more young players and fans than any one else in the league. When you promote players like this as the best , you're setting yourself up for problems with the next generation. Every kid who grows watching the MLB wants to be like the guys they see. And if it's players like this that their seeing then how can this bode well for the future?

Baseball, for the most part has been a gentleman's sport with each player giving another a certain level of respect which is a big reason why I and countless millions of others, love this game. As fans we should all demand more from these players and not just allow the game to slip into the trash talking garbage that NFL and NBA leagues have become. Just because some great players have abused the code of honour in the MLB does not mean we should continue to allow it to happen.