In baseball, a bat flip is the throwing of a baseball bat in such a way that it rotates several times before landing. It is typically done by a batter to show off after hitting a home run. This is in contrast to the usual practice of dropping the bat straight down as the batter begins running to first base.
Bat flipping is popular in Asian and Latin American baseball leagues. [1] In South Korea, the bat flipping tradition dates back to the 1990s, [2] and has become increasingly frequent in the Korea Baseball Organization. [3] [2] It is not considered disrespectful and there is no retaliation in the Korean League. In the Korean language, bat flips are referred as ppa-dun (Korean : 빠던), a portmanteau of the first syllables of the words for "bat" and "throw". [3] [2] The practice is also common in Japan and Taiwan. [3]
In Canada and the United States, bat flips have traditionally been considered rude and inconsistent with baseball etiquette. [3] Traditional etiquette and the unwritten rules of baseball espouse humility and discourage actions which may be interpreted as arrogant or showing up the opponents. [4] Torii Hunter, a retired Major League Baseball player and fan of bat flips in Korean baseball, has stated that a player throwing a bat in such a manner during a game in the United States would likely face retaliation in a subsequent at bat, such as being hit by a pitch. [3] In April 2015, Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig stated that he would flip his bat less frequently because he wanted "to show American baseball that [he's] not disrespecting the game." [5]
During Game 5 of the 2015 American League Division Series between the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto outfielder José Bautista executed what Andrew Keh of The New York Times described as possibly "the most ostentatious bat flip in MLB history" after hitting a go-ahead, three-run home run off Rangers relief pitcher Sam Dyson. [1] Bautista wrote an article about the bat flip published in November 2015 in The Players' Tribune . [6] He said he "didn't plan it. It just happened", and that he was "caught up in the emotion of the moment" when he flipped the bat. [6] Bautista was criticized for the bat flip, which he attributed to a failure to understand differences in cultural backgrounds of players. [7]
The Bautista bat flip became an internet meme. [7] Fans posted numerous responses to the event on Twitter, and shared videos on Vine and other social media websites and mobile apps. [1] It was etched onto jack-o'-lanterns for Halloween, [8] printed on T-shirts and Christmas sweaters, [9] [10] and was also the subject of a thigh tattoo for an Oshawa, Ontario man. [11] [12] It was also commemorated on a Topps 2016 Series 1 baseball card. [13] A corn maze in the Canadian province of New Brunswick was designed with the likeness of the Bautista bat flip. [14] In 2019, the Twitter account MLB GIFS posted a GIF of the bat flip after the Toronto Raptors won the Eastern Conference Finals to advance to their first NBA Finals in franchise history. [15] As is common practice in the United States, in retaliation for the bat flip, Texas pitcher Matt Bush hit Bautista with a pitch in the eighth inning of a game on May 15, 2016 in a game that Texas won 7-6. [16] Shortly after being hit by the pitch, Bautista made an illegally hard slide into Texas second baseman Rougned Odor. [16] [17] When Odor took exception to the slide, Bautista stepped towards Odor with Odor pushing Bautista, in turn. [17] Bautista cocked a fist, but Odor was faster and punched Bautista in the face knocking his glasses and helmet off. [17] [18] Like the bat flip, images of the punch stoked an internet meme. [18] Fans posted numerous images and references on Twitter, Vine, Reddit, and other social media websites. [18] Despite unverified reports to the contrary and despite relatively great demand for signed images, Odor refused to sign any image of the punch, but the image and related content has remained popular on the Internet. [18] [19]
In cricket, the term bat flip refers to the tossing of a bat, instead of a coin, to decide which of the 2 teams in a match will be given the option to decide whether it wants to bat or bowl first. [20] [21] Additionally, instead of calling "heads" or "tails", the player calling the toss will call "hills" or "flats" depending on which side of the bat they think will land facing up (i.e., the flat side of the bat or the raised side of the bat).
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games primarily at Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto.
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The Toronto Blue Jays came into existence in 1976, as one of two teams slated to join the American League for the following season, via the 1977 Major League Baseball expansion. Toronto had been mentioned as a potential major league city as early as the 1880s, and had been home to the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team of the International League, from 1896 to 1967. They have played their home games at Rogers Centre since 1989.
Alex Anthopoulos is a Canadian professional baseball executive, currently working as the general manager and president of baseball operations for the Atlanta Braves. He was the senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2010 to 2015, for whom he began as a scouting coordinator in 2003. Prior to the Blue Jays, Anthopoulos got his start in professional baseball with the Montreal Expos organization in 2000. In 2015, he was named the Sporting News Executive of the Year after the Blue Jays advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 1993, reaching the American League Championship Series (ALCS). However, his term with the Blue Jays ended on October 29, 2015, when he declined a five-year contract extension. He served for two years as vice president of player development for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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The 2015 American League Division Series were two best-of-five-game series to determine the participating teams in the 2015 American League Championship Series. The three divisional winners and a fourth team—the winner of a one-game Wild Card playoff— played in two series. Fox Sports 1 carried the majority of games in the United States, while Sportsnet primarily simulcast Fox Sports 1's coverage in Canada. MLB Network had exclusive coverage of Game 3 of the Kansas City Royals–Houston Astros series in both the United States and Canada, and Game 2 of the Toronto Blue Jays–Texas Rangers series in the U.S. only. The ALDS began on October 8 and ran until October 14. The Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals had home field advantage in this round of the playoffs. With the New York Yankees being eliminated by the Astros in the AL Wild Card Game, this is the first time in ALDS history that all four ALDS teams were expansion teams.
The 2016 Toronto Blue Jays season was the 40th season of the franchise in the American League East division of Major League Baseball, and the 27th full season of play at Rogers Centre. They advanced to the playoffs where they defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the Wild Card Game and the Texas Rangers in the Division Series, before losing to the Cleveland Indians in five games in the American League Championship Series.
The 2016 Texas Rangers season was the Rangers' 56th season of the franchise and the 45th since the team relocated to Arlington, Texas. The Rangers won the American League (AL) West championship for the second straight season, with the best record in the AL. However, for the second straight year, they lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in the Division Series, this time in three games. The Rangers set an MLB record by going 36–11 in one-run games. Because of this stat as well as the team winning 95 games instead of their projected 80 wins, baseball pundits viewed the Rangers as a "lucky" team.
The 2016 American League Division Series (ALDS) were two best-of-five game series to determine the participating teams in the 2016 American League Championship Series of Major League Baseball. The three divisional winners and the winner of a one-game Wild Card playoff played in two series. The divisional winners were the Texas Rangers in the American League West with the first seed by virtue of having the best record in the American League, the Cleveland Indians in the American League Central with the second seed, and the Boston Red Sox in the American League East with the third seed. The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles in the Wild Card Game, earning the fourth seed.
Rouglas José Odor is a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder and coach. Odor is the manager of the Akron RubberDucks, the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians.
There is a set of unwritten rules of baseball that some players and managers follow. The rules often concern gamesmanship and not disrespecting players on the opposing team. Incidents have occurred when one or more players interpret the actions of another player as violating the unwritten rules, which can result in beanballs and bench-clearing brawls. As the rules are unwritten, and in many cases vague, the interpretation is left to the players involved.
