This past weekend, fans in the Yankee Stadium bleachers threw objects onto the field and at the Cleveland Guardian outfielders.
I may be a New York Yankees fan, but I’m not a fan of throwing objects onto the field and especially at ballplayers. People who throw objects at defenseless human beings are damn cowards.
Lowlife, amoral losers.
This also means that most baseball pitchers are cowards, too. Even those pitching for my beloved Yankees.
Long ago, it became acceptable for a pitcher to throw a ball at an opposing batter for any number of ridiculous reasons.
Sometimes it’s in retaliation for a previously plunked batter, even if the previous incident was clearly accidental.
Sometimes pitchers hit batters because they don’t like the way the batter trotted around the bases after a home run or the length of time a batter spent admiring a home run ball or, most heinous of all, flipping the bat after hitting a home run.
Sometimes pitchers are upset because the batter stole a base when his team was leading by four runs or the batter has hit too many home runs in a single game.
Sometimes the batter has said something unacceptable to the media.
Pitchers stand 60 feet away from their nearly defenseless victims and throw a rock-hard ball 80-90 miles per hour at their victim’s legs, backs, elbows and shoulders. Sometimes their aim is not true and they hit a head.
Like I said:
They are all a bunch of damn cowards.
Can you imagine if this happened outside a baseball game?
My neighbor is offended by something I say or do, so in retaliation, he throws a rock – or even a baseball – at my back from behind his backyard fence.
Or my colleague is displeased with the way I’m boasting about a recent performance review, so in retaliation, he throws a shoe at my head from across the room.
A competitor in a storytelling competition is angry that I’ve won six slams in a row, so she throws a microphone at my chest.
These things don’t typically happen in the real world, not only because these actions would seem stupid, childish, and probably criminal, but because the real world is not populated with nearly as many prickly, thin-skinned cowards as you can find in a major league bullpen.
Is there anything less honorable than throwing a ball at a man who is forced to stand in a small, chalk-outlined box and wait for it to happen?
And then if the batter retaliates by charging the mound to fight the coward who just threw a ball at him, the batter is thrown from the game and possibly fined for his actions.
In baseball, you can throw a ball at a defenseless human being and continue to play ball, but you’re punished for facing your assailant head-on and attempting to at least fight fair.
I don’t condone violence in any form, but I especially despise any form of violence that doesn’t allow for a level playing field. Throwing objects at a defenseless opponent, ganging up on a single person, fighting someone much smaller or older than you, blindsiding someone when they least expect it… these are the actions of cowards who lack self control, self confidence, and the courage to stand toe-to-toe with their opponent and at least fight fair.
