As a retiree, one of the great loves I have is watching the Pittsburgh Pirates' High Class A farm team, the Bradenton Marauders, play. I purchased a season ticked and have been to practically all the games this season. Part of my support for the Marauders is teaming with my good buddy, Craig, in cheering the Marauders on and heckling the opposition . The way I figure it, if the players can't take the heckling at this level, they surely cannot take it when they hit the Major Leagues, should they make it that far.
The day before yesterday an incident occurred that really got under my skin. Craig and I were sitting in our usual spots behind home plate, doing what we've done for the past two seasons--letting the opposition, in this case the Palm Beach Cardinals, have it. We enjoy what we do, as do the fans around us. One of the razzes I am known for is to march a batter, who has struck out, back to the dugout with a "left, right, left, right... sit down sucker!" cadence and the fans love it. I have had many compliments on my heckling, both inside the ballpark and on the way back to my car afterwards. Craig was exercising his First Amendment right of free speech and taunting the opposing batters, as well.
However, in about the third inning, as the Marauders were preparing to bat, their pitching coach, Mike Steele, came over to Craig and told him to take it easy in his heckling of the opposition. He said nothing to me and was specifically targeting Craig. Both of us, as well as Craig's girlfriend who was sitting between us, were at a loss as to why he took it upon himself to talk to Craig. Yesterday, before the ballgame, Trevor Gooby, the Pirates' Director of Florida Operations, searched me out and apologized on behalf of the Marauders. I told him I was not the person Steele was talking to, but my buddy Craig, a season ticket holder for the past two seasons and who purchased two season tickets this year.
Today I received an email from Craig, telling me he was through with the Marauders--no more games for the rest of the season and no season tickets for next year. I wrote him back and tried to convince him that it was not his fault; that Steele had no business admonishing him, since it wasn't his job. I did a slow burn on my way to the ballpark and when I got there I proceeded to search Steele out and got in his face, telling him he had no business getting on Craig's case and that he was paid to coach the players; not to police the fans. I further told him that, if he has a problem with any of the fans, he should contact Gooby or someone else in the front office and let them handle it. He seemed to be a bit stunned at being called out and all he could muster was an "Okay". One of my other buddies, Jared was there and told me that, as I was leaving, one of the pitchers told me to take a [friggin'] hike. That's fine. I love it because it tells me that there is a sense of camaraderie on the team. Hopefully, Steele will realize that his priorities are the players and not the fans.
In the meantime, GO MARAUDERS!!!
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3 comments:
I'm not a baseball fan and know very little about what goes on at games, but I was taught as a kid, not just by our parents but by every phys ed coach I ever had that heckling is show of poor sportsmanship. Now, I know it goes on and it's a part of certain sports and that the players and coaches expect it. Having said that, the fact that this one coach came over to say something might mean that the heckling has gotten out of hand and that he actually was looking out for his players and not trying to police the crowd. He's down there trying to keep his mind and his players' minds on the game and maybe the heckling was just a bit much. I know, I know, it's part of baseball, but really....how fair is it? Do the Marauders really want wonder if they won because the old farts in the stands heckling the other team distracted them enough so they COULD win? Where's the respect for the sport in general? What happened to "may the best man (team) win"? Is there heckling in golf? No, you'd get kicked off the golf course because it show a lack of respect for the concentration it takes to make a shot. Personally, I wouldn't want to distract a guy with a bat who has a ball flying towards him at 100 mph because I don't think I could live with myself if he got hurt because I distracted him. Even if he was on the other team. Just saying...
Very good comments MrsS2rt. I'm not sure why Dave thinks heckling is all in good fun. How about just cheering for your side. As someone from a long line of baseball fans (Milwaukee Braves, Chicago White Sox) I don't think I would like to attend a game like that. Somehow I can't imagine my grandfather, Clint, who always wore a suit, white shirt, and a vest with his gold pocket watch in the pocket, even when watching baseball games on tv, in the 50's and 60's, behaving like that. But it's been a long time since I've seen a minor league game where everything is much more up close and personal.
The performance of a team's fans might be considered by some as a direct reflection of the team itself. Maybe Coach Steele was concerned for what he perceived as an undesirable reflection on his team and his community.
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