Tim Benz: Josh Donaldson's antics vs. Pirates prove MLB players don't get it

If this is Major League Baseball’s idea of “letting the kids play,” then it shouldn’t.

Because the kids can’t handle themselves.

Whether it’s Derek Dietrich posing for every home run he hits, Max Muncy acting like a first-inning homer in June is a walk-off homer in October, Madison Bumgarner channeling his inner Crash Davis and chasing batters up the first-base line or Monday night’s debacle in Atlanta, one thing is for certain.

If you give Major League ballplayers an inch, they’ll take a mile.

And baseball needs to quickly get it back. Because things are going off the rails.

Last October, MLB instituted a “let the kids play” campaign.

to this ad

️to the unwritten rules

(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/DehFPGYuaK

— Yahoo Sports MLB (@MLByahoosports) October 2, 2018

At first, I liked it. Loosen up a little. Get in the modern age. A touch more personality. A little more individualism. Promote the stars and personalities. Move away from the old, dusty cannons of the game and replace them with a little bravado.

Based on how baseball’s fanbase is aging like Al Pacino in “The Godfather Part III,” I liked the idea.

Here’s the problem: The players need to learn how to handle their new-found freedom. They are doing an awful job of that.

What we are seeing is the MLB equivalent of what we used to see in the NFL. Showboating for the sake of showboating after tackles 11 yards down field on 3rd-and-10. Taunting disguised as celebration. Ostentatious machismo replacing true toughness.

Take Monday’s Pirates-Braves game, for instance. In the first inning, Atlanta’s Josh Donaldson wanted the stadium to think he was ready for a “Roadhouse” style brawl just because his jersey got brushed by an inside pitch from Joe Musgrove.

As @gbrowniepoints says here, “Like most baseball skirmishes, the guy never gets to the guy he is yelling at.” Donaldson shoves the catcher playing peacemaker, then reroutes when he sees the strongest guy on the field(Bell), goes around the pile,then plays “hold me back!” pic.twitter.com/ItpHp17eGW

— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) June 11, 2019

As I described in the tweet above — with a little assist from Greg Brown — Donaldson didn’t want to fight.

At least not once Josh Bell got there.

He just wanted to preen and look bold.

That’s what most baseball fights look like. Just picture about 60 other lynx scurrying in between, keeping those two apart as they screech at each other.

Look at the chuckling from Donaldson’s teammates and coaches. Even they were laughing at his overreaction.

Even Donaldson’s coaches and teammates are laughing at how stupid this was pic.twitter.com/abcifzXnLH

— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) June 11, 2019

No, Musgrove didn’t have to toss his hat and glove, either. And the umpires certainly didn’t have to eject both parties. That was an obscene decision by the crew, particularly ejecting a starting pitcher in the first inning when the batter instigated a situation because his jersey barely got grazed.

But in less than a year, MLB is already trying to figure out a way to put toothpaste back in the tube with this celebration stuff.

The players have interpreted “let the kids play” as “I’ll do what I want.”

Overwriting of the unwritten rules has quickly degenerated from relaxed protocol to a deterioration of decorum. Homer and strikeout celebrations have given way to chest-puffing contests and frequent verbal altercations. In baseball, that, of course, means every inside pitch has to be viewed as retaliation.

Pitchers hate batters worse than ever. Batters hate pitchers. And the umpires are the oldest guys on the field and apparently haven’t gotten the memo on their flip phones yet about how to manage the situation.

None of this was the hope.

The NFL realized its “No Fun League” reputation was a problem. But, within the last two years, it figured out that encouraging group celebrations was a way to scale back taunting. Post-score fun manifested in team choreography of “Duck, Duck, Goose” instead of Randy Moss hanging the moon or Odell Beckham Jr. urinating like a dog.

It appears baseball players have yet to figure out that balance. Showing more emotion on the field has unfortunately spun from expressions of excitement into spitting contests between the Jets and the Sharks.

“Let the kids play?” Sure. I’m not an old man. Let ‘em play. They can play on my lawn all they want.

But play. Don’t peacock.