Brett Lawrie Freaking Out Is A Metaphor For Baseball

So, Brett Lawrie will get suspended for the above. Most people - including most baseball people - will agree that the forthcoming suspension is warranted.

But what will umpire Bill Miller get? Probably nothing, or at least next to nothing; a warning or stern talking-to from the MLB umpire board of shadowy figures.

It's an imbalance that baseball continues to allow, for old-timey, prehistoric, bullshit reasons.

In virtually any other walk of life, Bill Miller gets reprimanded for being wrong. He gets held accountable for his mistakes, especially when they potentially change the outcome of an event.

But not in baseball.


It's really the one thing I can't stand about my favourite game: its outright unwillingness to adapt or change with the times.

Nostalgic baseball "purists" uphold this stubbornness as a virtue, as a part of what makes the game great. I say it's the part that holds it back from being excellent.

Yes, Brett Lawrie is mad. And he's justified. He got jobbed, and got frustrated. And he'll be vilified for losing his cool, and deemed deserving of whatever suspension he'll receive.

And yet, everyone will simultaneously acknowledge that yeah, the umpire made a mistake, but hey, whatareyagonnado, that's baseball.

It's pathetic, is what it is.