Now here’s something I can get behind.
More often than not, sports analysts and other talking heads discuss how the sports of baseball can be “fixed.” Turn on any sports debate show this time of the year and you’ll hear the conversation tossed around. It’s funny really… we’re not even at the Spring Training portion of the baseball calendar and most people just assume that baseball will still be broken for the upcoming year.
Granted, there are some issues facing the sport. The slow play that comes with baseball isn’t as action-packed as other sports, so the younger demographic (with less of an attention span) struggles to stay interested. Attendance has gone down over the past couple of years, with some citing that a 162-game regular season is simply too many games… and not every contest feels as though it matters.
Then you’ve got the unlimited salary cap of the MLB that the Los Angeles Dodgers are completely exploiting, which makes each and every season feel a bit pointless. The Dodgers have bought up every star player in the game (for the foreseeable future)… why don’t we all just save a lot of time and trouble and just give them the World Series title for this upcoming season?
As you can see, there’s a whole lot going against the game of baseball. So it makes sense that sports fans and analysts alike are always asking how it can be fixed. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m happy to inform you that Philadelphia Phillies star outfielder Bryce Harper may have figured out how to fix his sport once and for all.
Allow fighting.
In a recent interview on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Harper sat down with hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan and talked about an infamous on-field brawl that he got into with pitcher Hunter Strickland. If you are a fan of baseball, you’ve likely seen the video.
Bryce Harper broke down the story behind it, and then afterwards, suggested that the MLB should allow fighting on the field:
“I think this should happen more often in baseball because I think it would eliminate guys throwing at each other. It’s just like hockey. If you want to go, you want to go… this is part of the game. Obviously I don’t want to fight anyone on the baseball field. But there comes a time where it’s like, you get drilled, it is what it is at that point. I have no bad blood with Strickland anymore. That happened and then we were done.”
Wonder what his thoughts would be on helmet-throwing though?
Listen… I think Bryce Harper is seriously on to something here. It works for hockey. If guys have beef out on the field, just let them duke it out for a minute. Obviously, you don’t want things to get out of control. Even the official in hockey step in at one point to break the fight up… and it makes for some electric moments in game for all parties.
The Phillies star finally cracked the code: If baseball is dying, bring it back to life by letting players punch the hell out of each other. All those for the idea say, “Ay.” All those opposed… just go watch something else so the rest of us can watch baseball’s best throw haymakers.
You can view the entire interview with Bryce Harper – and hear even more thoughts from him on the current state of baseball – below:
