Free the Bat Flip

Folks sure do want to take the fun and joy out of Baseball.

I get it, though.  The game is steeped with tradition and honor, so god forbid someone comes out of the woodwork to disrespect the game and it's multitudes of players by throwing the bat in a wantonly direction.  It's as if Puig is personally throwing an proverbial sword towards the hearts of those who hold Baseball so dear.

Hearing those cries, Yasiel Puig recently promised to tone it down (as if he hadn't said this numerous times in the past), via a story by Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times:

Though acknowledging that some fans are entertained by his theatrics, Puig said in Spanish, “I want to show American baseball that I’m not disrespecting the game.”

Puig maintained that his bat flips aren’t intended to disrespect the game or his opponents.

“I don’t do that because I lack respect,” he said. “I do that because of the emotions that I have.”

Meanwhile, folks across the Pacific get to enjoy the emotion and wonder of the exclamation point that is the "bat flip," as evidenced by a video shared by Mike Oz at Big League Stew.  You can watch the tweet below.

Doosan hit 5 home runs tonight in their win against KT...including this one pic.twitter.com/23j1tFUh3M All 5 at https://t.co/doJxYzBHHQ
— Dan (@MyKBO) April 14, 2015

Seeing the unfairness of the criticism directed at our star Cuban outfielder, blogger and twitter savant Sarah Wexler decided to take some action.

Alright who's gonna sign my petition (that I haven't actually made) to demand Puig ignore the haters and batflip his heart out
— Sarah Wexler (@SarahWexler32) April 14, 2015

She actually did make a change.org petition, and I think any good natured Dodger fan should consider signing it. Check it out here. 

It begins with the headline, "ignore the haters and batflip your heart out."  She also adds:

You know who disrespects the game? People who feel that "respect" for the game means players should all be stiff, emotionless and, well, entirely uninteresting. People who insist that there's one right way to do things and, in effect, erase the many different baseball cultures throughout the world. How anyone can believe that a rigid, soulless game of baseball is one that is viable in the 21st century is beyond me.

After all, as Stacie Wheeler at Lasorda's Lair recently wrote:

The batflip: a symbol of freedom.

Emphasis mine.  BTW, I firmly believe that "batflip" is two words; "bat flip." 

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