Sorry, Goose Gossage: Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred doesn’t want to do anything about players celebrating on the field.
In fact, Manfred likes it.
Gossage went off on some of baseball’s current generation in March, calling Jose Bautista “a (expletive) disgrace to the game” for the Toronto Blue Jays right fielder’s epic bat flip in Game 5 of the 2015 American League Championship series and saying Bryce Harper has no respect for baseball after the Washington Nationals star called it a tired sport. But Manfred thinks those things are what baseball needs to appeal to a younger audience.
“I think to the extent that you believe, and I actually do, that Bryce Harper is a spokesman for this generation, I suspect that you will see more exuberance from our players on the field,” Manfred said Thursday in a meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors, per ESPN.com
“I think it’s a good thing. I think that to the extent that you’re trying to market to a younger audience, our younger players taking control of the definition of those unwritten rules is a lot better than some guy who’s 67 years (old) saying I did it that way and you ought do it the same way.”
It also sounds as though Manfred might think Gossage’s ideas are the “tired” ones.
“He’s entitled to have his opinion,” Manfred said. “I don’t happen to agree with him on this particular topic. Goose and his peers developed a set of unwritten understandings about what was acceptable on the field when he played the game, and I think the generation of players that are on the field today are going to do the same thing. I think that it may not be exactly the same as it was when Goose played, and you know, from my perspective that’s good thing.”
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
