Is there something to be said for gamesmanship?

Anyone that’s read any of my work in the short time I’ve been the editor of Birds Watchers (or anyone that’s read anything I’ve written on previous sites) knows my stance on showing up your opponent. Each time I see players watch their shots sail or gleefully celebrate their home runs to the point of showboating, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand up. Baseball’s always been a game of respect for your opponent and more importantly of respect for the game itself. When you do everything you can to disrespect your opponent, you disrespect the game. And as a purest of the game, I don’t appreciate that.

However let me play devil’s advocate for just a moment. Is there something to be said for what I term showboating but which the “offending players” would term gamesmanship? First off, the other side would argue that if you don’t like us celebrating you should beat us and we won’t do it. When Kevin Gregg and the Orioles took umbrage to some of David Ortiz’s actions in July, that was Boston’s stance after the game (they were mad we were beating them). However back to the point; does that kind of celebrating after something good happening make some guys play looser?

That’s really just a mask for the larger question; is baseball a job or a game? At it’s lowest level, it’s a game that kids play at 9 AM on Saturday mornings. However when you get to the big league level it’s also a job. We all get paid to leave the comfort of our homes each morning to go to work and do a job for our respective companies. Baseball players and all athletes are no different. That’s evident when we see guys holding out for more money and so forth.

The Boston Red Sox have been my most consistent target of criticism in terms of celebrating too wildly. Yet withstanding their recent September collapse (nailed home by their 11th hour loss to the O’s), they’re considered winners. But are they winners because they’re good, or because they play with a certain looseness that’s obtained by throwing caution, tradition, and (in my opinion) respect to the wind? They would probably argue that it’s mostly skill, but it’s also due to the fact that they treat the game as if they’re little boys out there playing for the heck of it and that gives them a certain looseness and thus an advantage over their competition.

Instead, I see the Orioles as a team which in that sense epitomizes what baseball’s about. When someone hits a homer he runs the bases, exchanges a few high-fives, and sits down on the bench. Traditionally, this is how baseball has always been. (This is not to say that there isn’t a time and a place to celebrate, but it’s after the game and in the privacy of your own clubhouse.) Yet the Orioles are considered losers. Are they considered losers because they simply aren’t very good, or because there’s more than meets the eye?

No matter how you look at it, your record is what it is. I personally disagree with any notion that being so overly-expressive of your feelings as a team helps you to win games. Furthermore, I don’t think that the Orioles just aren’t very good. They’ve been ravaged by injuries over the course of the past couple of seasons, which hasn’t given them the opprotunity to compete much less a chance to win. Again, I recognize that I’m probably in the minority here, and I welcome commentary on my opinions. However baseball has always been a stoic game, and regardless of their record or how they look in games I would argue that the Orioles do it the right way in that sense. People on the side of gamesmanship would argue that unless you’re physically cheating (based upon what’s written in the rules), nothing else really matters save for the final score. They may well be right to a point, however in my opinion baseball is a historic game and we owe it to our predecesors to hold the game in the proper context which it deserves.

Going back to the Red Sox example for just a moment, some people have told me that I’m in effect contradicting myself because the Orioles and the fans were extremely animated in beating them on that final day. Touche` I suppose. However I would say that Boston’s a team that’s beaten up on the Orioles for so many years and in every way thinkable. This somewhat began with the Mother’s Day Massacre at Fenway in 2007 when the O’s blew a 5-1 lead in the last of the ninth and lost to the Red Sox. As time’s gone on it’s seemed like it really never mattered that the Orioles had the lead going into the final innings, but Boston would always find a way to reach back and hit that walk-off homer or RBI-single. The Orioles would dejectedly trudge off the field while the Sox joyously celebrated at home plate. Again, did this happen because the Red Sox were good (and the Orioles weren’t), or because the Red Sox were a loose bunch of kids playing ball (and the Orioles were a bunch of stoic professionals collecting a paycheck)?

It’s up to you to decide where you stand, and there’s no right or wrong answer. It’s only an opinion. You know where I stand on the matter, but your opinion might be different; and that’s okay! However given what I said above about always watching the Red Sox celebrate, the fact that the Orioles  in effect “did Boston the same way they had done the Orioles” so many times in the past truly meant something. The Orioles hit back in the same manner when they had nothing to play for, and Boston had everything on the line.

Follow me on Twitter @DomenicVadala