Cole Hamels goes cold time baseball on Bryce Harper
Some things are just so outdated. Bell-bottom jeans, the stay at home mom, saving yourself for marriage, Polaroid cameras. The list is endless.
You can add old-time baseball to that list.
Apparently Cole Hamels did not get the memo because on Sunday Night Baseball, Hamels gave Bryce Harper a welcome to ‘The Show’ bean ball. He didn’t try to hide it either as following the game he told reporters “I was trying to hit him. I’m not going to deny it.” He went on to say that “I’m just trying to continue the old baseball. Some people get away from it.”
There lies the problem.
In a certain sense, Cole Hamels should be respected for the way he manned up to the situation. Unlike in the American League, Hamels had to come to the plate and was subsequently hit very close to his left knee. He wanted to make his point and understood the consequences.
However, the attempt to carry on the tradition of old time baseball for the sake of carrying on the tradition of old time baseball is nonsense. This is a different age and old time baseball has no place in the MLB anymore. Things have changed since the 1960’s in case Cole Hamels hadn’t noticed.
There isn’t any logical explanation for continuing the tradition of old time baseball. Old time baseball is assault with a deadly weapon. Considering how much we now know about head injuries, it is just silly to think that players still believe that there is a place for throwing intentionally at other human beings.
Hamels said that he’s “not going to injure a guy” but how can he be sure to prevent that. Does he realize he is throwing a baseball more than 90 mph from 60 feet 6 inches away? Bryce Harper got hit on the back but what if Hamels’ pitch had gotten away from him. Pitchers do not have pin point accuracy. Hamels may not have been trying to hit Harper but the risk of injury is still there. I don’t think Metta World Peace ever intended to hurt James Harden but look what happened.
What’s worse is that Cole Hamels hit Bryce Harper for absolutely no reason. Bryce Harper is a super phenom so Hamels felt it was his duty to send some sort of message. Too bad his message was in Morse code. His lesson to Harper got lost in translation. I can’t decipher it.
Maybe there’s nothing to decipher.
Hamels tried to justify his actions to the media. Apparently, this is how baseball is meant to be played and we should “let baseball be baseball.” Harper had done nothing to Hamels or the Phillies yet he believes that is baseball. Just because it was done in the past does not make it the way it should be now.
Slavery used to be an entirely acceptable concept in society. That’s the way it was. Times change.
Hamels said that he doesn’t “think umpires should interfere with it…I grew up playing the game hard and watching it, and that’s the way it was.” Yeah, last time I checked playing baseball hard doesn’t involve plunking a defenceless hitter. He also mentioned that “I’d hate for them to change it, which has kind of happened in recent years.” Truth be told, the MLB hasn’t done too much to prevent this. Both Hamels and Zimmerman stayed in the game after hitting their respective players. The umpires clearly decided not to interfere.
Contrary to what Cole Hamels thinks, the MLB should be doing more to protect their players. They are not doing enough. You might want to knock on some wood because it’s probably going to take a death or a severe brain injury before Major League Baseball takes a stance on this issue. Hopefully that day will never come around but this is an incident they can avoid before it happens if they so choose.
The whole idea behind old-time baseball is about as wrong as Sarah Palin being Vice President of the United States. It’s not about a transition from tough to soft. It’s about a transition from stupid to sensible. The tradition adds nothing to the game of baseball except for unnecessary risks.
James Harrison can’t comprehend why Roger Goodell has cracked down on his behaviour with such force. It is for the greater good of the game and the safety of his colleagues. Harrison doesn’t see anything wrong with spearing Colt McCoy in the head.
Cole Hamels is “just trying to continue the old baseball…It’s that old school prestigious way of baseball.” The only place it should be prestigious at is the Graterford State Correctional Institution. Sadly, this wasn’t even vigilante justice from Hamels. It was an action without a motive that Hamels considers baseball.
Old time baseball is an archaic way of thinking and Cole Hamels, like so many, have been brainwashed into believing otherwise. There is no mutual respect for opposing players in the tradition. Attack for the sake of attacking. Our ancestors did it so there is no reason for us to question it. Tradition for the sake of tradition.
Give. Me. A. Break.
This wasn’t Cole Hamels taking care of business, whatever that business was.
This was Cole Hamels trying to perpetuate a backwards thinking style of baseball.
Chris is a writer on Comedic Prose, and he also is the editor of Painting the Black.
You can follow Chris on twitter @paintstheblack or e-mail him at cross_can15@hotmail.com