Larry David once based an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on a simple question: Do you respect wood? The comedian was appalled by his friends putting drinks down directly on wooden surfaces and leaving marks, and he probably feels the same way when he sees a modern big leaguer throw an entire bat away because he thought he heard a crack. It wasn't always that way, though.
For most of baseball's history, equipment wasn't quite as plentiful. These days every rookie that comes up has a bag with a dozen bats in it, and he can easily order more, but back in 1989, one of the world's best players got caught in a jam.