Yup, I find too much celebratory garbage in MLB as well. Entirely too much standing and eyeballing your homer as it leaves the yard. That will still get someone hit occasionally, not like it used to be for sure. But a pitcher drilling a batter just because he hit a homer last time is bush too, but we don’t see it as much. Still nothing like as bad as NFL.
The 162 game season is why the MLB is able to self police itself, retaliation doesn’t have to even come in the same series or against the offending player himself. And all the players know it, so the guy being a jackwagon will have his own teammates getting him to knock off whatever he was doing. DH with no pitcher hitting or relief pitching or warnings issued don’t matter. Not as pure, but it still works.
Freegards
Sounds like you were around for the Sal ‘The Barber’ Maglie, Carl Erskine, Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale eras.
Today they ‘warn’ both benches if an Ump even thinks a close pitch was deliberate. AND after the first warning all a batter has to do is grimace on a curve and it can be deemed done on purpose SO the P and MGR get bounced...
Remember Bryce Harper’s 1st season when Cole Hamels hit him, Bryce retaliated with stealing home on HIM. Next at bat Harper bunted up the first base line - towards the moundish.
I still think that if all went as planned, HARPER would have run up HAMELS’ back - HARD, VERY HARD....I am sure the participants believed it also as Davey was ‘smiling’ and Hamels said after the game he hit Harper on purpose....Dumb remark that gave him a ‘mini-vacation’ in the middle of summer.