Are we really at the point where baseball sees a fun thing happening and immediately thinks of a reason to kill it?
There's been a lot of that recently. After position players pitching became a quirky event, MLB limited teams to only using designated two-way players for this. The 2017-2019 Players' Weekend tradition was axed because Nike didn't wanna do it. Even the Freeze at Truist Park is beatable now. All these things, either from intervention or just somebody making a decision, end up changing and making the game more serious.
And that's where we're at with this oversized hat ban. Because of rules and decorum, the celebrations must end in Atlanta.
It's odd, because home run celebration items have become a staple of MLB dugouts in the past few years. Boston started it off with the cart, then the Blue Jays came up with their jacket, and now it seems like everybody has their own, from logical [a trident in Seattle] to inspired [a cheesehead in Milwaukee] to absolutely awesome [a sword in Pittsburgh and a viking helmet in Cincinnati]. And yes, some change and get phased out, like the jacket and the cart [Boston now has Masataka Yoshida's dumbbells], but mostly just because of changing whims and opinions. The Jays have basically said that they don't see themselves as flashy as they were when they had the jacket, and that's honestly fair.
But then there's the oversized Braves hat. Who is this harming? No one. It's a big goofy hat, Braves players look goofy in the big goofy hat. It's honestly the least inspired of all the home run celebrations. No ancient mythos, no Party City budget, none of that, just a really big hat. And yet that's the one that's breaking the rules. New Era basically came down and said that the Braves were only supposed to wear the smaller hats that they make rather than the big goofy one they wear whenever someone hits a home run.
How sensitive do you have to be to say no whenever someone wears a hat that isn't yours? Even for like, a minute. It's not like Matt Olson's denouncing the Braves by not wearing a New Era Braves cap for, like, a couple seconds. "Hahaaa, I no longer play for the Braves, I now play for the Atlanta COWARDS...with a hat by OLD ERA." Who frigging cares? And it's not like the Braves are rupturing brand loyalty. Nobody's going onto the field wearing the big hat. Nobody's signing autographs in the big hat. They're only wearing it in the dugout, which has always been the safe area where you can be off-duty, take your hat off, chew gum, curse, and not have to be Captain America for all the kids watching. Who cares if you put on a big hat that isn't the company in question's when somebody hits a home run?
The Braves should retaliate by getting an even bigger hat with a giant NEW ERA type on the back. Just to stick it to 'em.
All this to say that the Braves are still doing extremely well, and hitting a lot of home runs. If they weren't, this wouldn't have been an issue for New Era. Why couldn't the Tigers have done this? To give you an idea, Ozzie Albies has 7 homers right now. SEVEN. And he's usually a contact guy. He's hit 30 before, yeah, but he's not known for his long balls. No wonder New Era complained. If the second baseman's gonna have celebrations with the oversized hat, THEN we have to step in.
And Ronald Acuna's having another awesome season as well, hitting .352 with 14 RBIs, 4 homers and a 1.7 WAR. He's on the road to another excellent career year, and possibly his first ever MVP. I sincerely hope he keeps it up. But if there's any player right now who is tailor-made to smile widely in an oversized hat, it is, by far, Ronald Acuna Jr. Come on now. He was enjoying himself! Are you saying you don't like Ronald Acuna's JOY, New Era?? I guess you hate the Braves, then. Maybe you should do a contract for the other 29 teams, and get another company to do the Braves, and they can wear whatever oversized hat they please.
If this means Harper's Phanatic headband is next, I'm switching to the NBA.
Coming Tomorrow- Last year he was one of the best pitchers in the AL, and this year he is struggling along with the rest of his team.
They should have had an anti-New Era cap celebration afterwards, like Acuna grabs a garbage bag and runs down the dugout while his teammates toss their caps into the bag.
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