As you’ve probably heard by now, Red Sox radio broadcaster Will Flemming generated some controversy during Sunday’s Bosox/Yankees game by suggesting that the Sox should bean a Yankees player in retaliation for Yanks second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. stealing two uncontested bases during the 8th inning of a lopsided game. Flemming then indicated that the Sox pitcher at the time, Jovani Morán, should fight Chisholm.
Flemming’s on-air comments (for which he later apologized) echoed a lot of the chatter surrounding Mets reliever Jefry Jan’s airborne strikeout celebration, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. Lots of people, including one Uni Watch commenter, have suggested how lucky Yan is that pitchers don’t have to bat anymore, so he can’t be beaned in retaliation for his antics.1 Mets Police blogger Shannon Shark (full disclosure: a friend of mine) went further, writing, “If he does this to me, the next time I’m up I lose [the] grip on the bat and it accidentally goes flying at the mound.”
Some people refer to this type of retaliation as “the players policing themselves,” or “enforcing the unwritten rules,” or “on-field justice,” or “making sure the game is played the right way” or “making sure they respect the game.” Those phrases all sound righteous, but that righteousness, however good it may feel, really boils down to a simple point of view: “I think you’re a jerk, and therefore I feel entitled to physically assault you.” It’s the worst, most immature kind of Neanderthal behavior — much worse than the perceived slight it’s responding to.