Celebrating, Fun Now Frowned Upon in Baseball

In an effort to suck all fun and life out of a game that already struggles in those areas, baseballers are apparently no longer allowed to cheer on their teammates from the dugout or pump their fists in celebration. I’m not sure what sparked this sea change, but it started last week with Goose Gossage calling out Joba Chamberlain, saying “there [is] no place in the game" for pumping of fists. I can only imagine how appalled he is by fist pounds, chest bumps, high fives, forearm bashes, and, worst of all, butt slapping.

Yesterday, Joba responded to the old man with a little help from Brian McNamee’s favorite expression:

"It's going to continue to go on, but I am not going to change." … "Everybody has their own opinion," Chamberlain said. "It is what it is. I am not going to change."

There was more celebratin’ hatin’ (see what I did there? Those words rhyme) in the NYC this week when Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa took exception to the Nationals having the audacity to cheer on their teammates from their dugout:

“They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls,” Figueroa, the losing pitcher, said. “I’m a professional, just like anybody else. I take huge offense to that. If that’s what a last-place team needs to do to fire themselves up, so be it. I think you need to show a little bit more class, a little bit more professionalism. They won tonight, but again, in the long run, they are who they are.”

Actually, I must correct my previous paragraph: It was former Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa who made those statements Monday night. The team designated him for assignment yesterday. I guess being a “professional” just isn’t enough when you’re a horrible pitcher.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.