Quote:
Originally Posted by Vintageclout
Never said there aren't great pitchers today but what's your point? The major difference is that great pitchers TODAY have their hands tied because they are limited in brushing back hitters with respect to risking ejection. Do you really think that "Joey Bats" would ever get away with that juvenile crap if he could be legitimately brushed back at will....no way!!! in fact, watching "Joey Bats" over the past decade, he is one of the first hitters that will stare down any hurler for pitching him even remotely inside. Unfortunately, he is certainly not the only hitter that sends that message, proving beyond a doubt how much the game has changed over the past generation.
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I can't believe how many people think that it's acceptable to hit someone with a pitch just because they did something to annoy the other pitcher/ team. Instead of saying "the game has changed", maybe we should ask why that sort of behavior was allowed in the first place.
How many guys have had their careers shortened or ended by being hit with a pitch? Tony Conigliaro, Dickie Thon, Kirby Puckett, Mickey Cochrane just off the top of my head. And of course Ray Chapman. And yet we long for the days when Bob Gibson would hit someone for taking too much time circling the bases after a home run, or Drysdale would hit a guy just for digging in against him? I like that umpires will now throw a pitcher out of the game if they think that he threw at a batter intentionally.
I don't really care for bat flipping, but I really think that drilling a guy for "showing up the pitcher" is excessive. Get over it! A guy hit a big home run, off course he wants to celebrate.