Over the past month, there has been a wave of discussions around baseball about what it means to play baseball the right way. In the wake of MLB’s campaign to “Let the Kid’s Play” came Tim Anderson’s now-notorious bat flip, and the explosion of thought pieces that followed.
Is stoicism and emotionless resolve — the way of the old guard — how baseball is meant to be played? Or is it meant to be played with a cocky enthusiasm, with bat flips and glove spikes and overt, in-your-face antics that make it, dare I say, more fun to watch?