Thankfully I can’t see baseball going in that direction anytime soon.
For starters, all this showboating comes mainly from Black players and it’s the Black spectators* who are drawn to it.
Baseball is handed down from father to son and takes lots of commitment, so the number of black players and fans has extremely dropped off.
I hoping Manny was the last Manny being Manny.
* - Side note. Speaking of Black spectators. I am not a big fan, but I often get tickets from companies I work with and might go to 1 or 2 football games a year. Surprisingly, I’ve been to several different stadiums and no matter what stadium or game I never see any Blacks in attendance, ever. Even in cities like Philadelphia and New Orleans. The crowd is always 99.9% White. With hat kind of attendance I am surprised Blacks are that into football.
Tickets are too expensive....and football is better made for TV.
qam1, never underestimate PC, forced acceptance of culture and white guilt.
Last year there were legit complaints about the Dodgers OF Puig. Don’t remember if the gripes were showboating, lack of discipline, whatever.
Anyway, like clockwork some Pajama Boy “writer” on CNN/SI sobbed all over his enlightened article about “cultural” differences and youthful indiscretion. Excuses, excuses. How dare middle America voice their opinion towards a man of color and culture.
Same BS I saw last year with the Winnipeg press. I follow the Jets. They have 2 black guys. Dustin Byfuglien and Evander Kane. Dustin is a stand up, solid player.
Kane is a typical immature urban attitude player who has underachieved. Fans get on him because he doesn’t produce and his urban attitude - ex during the strike and with economy being rough, he’s tweeting pictures of himself in Vegas with a wad of cash bragging about his money. Not the end of the world but most hockey fans don’t go for flash and ego.
But sure enough, the lily white press writes that criticism of Kane is “racially tinged”.
I mean in my 40 years or so of watching and reading about sports figures, its so rare to see fans voice their displeasure over an athlete. Right or wrong, it just doesn’t happen much. SARC