It is easier for most parks to institute a blanket rule against throwing things onto the field, than it is for them to try and have a rule with known exceptions. It also helps keep other exceptions from getting started.
I truly hate this so-called tradition. What happens when a kid catches the ball? Are a bunch of drunks going to boo a kid?
Yes, and they do boo the kid. Not pleasant, but there you are.
It’s a great tradition - the idiosyncrasies of parks and teams are what makes baseball wonderful. I’d hate to see baseball become totally homogenized.
And chowder, no one is going to make you watch baseball or American football. You sit there happy watching your Arabian football. Maybe your boys will win a game or two before the end of the year if they throw another hundred million or so around. (coughs… 4-2 coughs)…
No, it’s a Cubs fan way of expressing disgust. I would prefer if other teams’ fans found new and different ways of expressing disgust.
Right on, Telemark! The rest of you guys can do the wave :rolleyes: but leave our Wrigley Field tradition to us thank you.
::ahem:: The 4-2 was before we started playing Arabian football;)
The hell? What else are they gonna do, Twitter about it?
:dubious:
Just because it originated at Wrigley doesn’t mean it’s yours. It’s a universal expression of contempt! You can’t copyright emotion!
How many more homeruns will you be returning onto the field at Wrigley this year, by the way?
Damn you Cubs, you were supposed to represent our division this year!
None of this stuff mentioned in this thread so far is nearly as moronic as another of baseball’s traditions… The “unwritten rule” that says it’s OK to bean an opposing player with the ball when someone has hit a home run, or stood around watching his home run for too long, or whatever…
It flies in the face of the phrase professional baseball player.
Is that any stupider than the fighting that’s allowed in hockey, though? Neither is integral to playing the game.
Someone clarify, please. So, this practice is acceptable only at Wrigley Field? It will actually get you kicked out somewhere else? WTF? This doesn’t even remotely make sense.
Different ballparks, different management, different rules. Cubs ownership loves to encourage Wrigley traditions, because that’s the kind of thing that keeps people coming to the games, even when the team sucks.
I’m a Red Sox fan, it’s not mine. Throwing stuff on the field will get you kicked out pretty much everywhere except throwing a HR ball back at Wrigley. It’s universally disallowed (with the exception of Wrigley). IMO, the tradition has a place and history.
I equally loathe the idea that they sometimes played “Sweet Caroline” at Shea in the past few years. That’s just wrong.
The stadium sucks. Without tradition and sentiment Wrigley would have been torn down years ago and the Cubs would have a new stadium to play in. Instead it’s the same old same old with every aspect of this team. And I mean EVERY aspect.
Throwing back another team’s homerun ball will not get you kicked out of Comerica Park, based on my experience. It’s not a big tradition here like in chicago, but I can recall it happening every now and then as far back as my childhood(the 80s).
I saw this once when I was 8 years old. I asked my dad why a fan tossed an Astros HR ball back and he said something like “It’d be a shame to take home a Houston ball.” So from then on, I chanted “Throw it back! Throw it back!” at every HR ball my section has caught. If I ever get my hands on an opposite-team ball, I won’t hesitate. It’ll be back on the field quicker than you can blink.
IS
Pirates Fan
Yes it was. But I haven’t mocked you about it yet.
There was an amusing incident at Fenway during the 2004 ALCS. The Sox were trailing the Yankees three games to none, everbody expected the Sox to lose, and fans were a little disgruntled. Early in game for Alex Rodriguez hit a home run over the Green Monster, out of the park and onto Lansdowne Street. Someone out there picked it up, figured out it was a Yankee home run, and tossed it over the Green Monster back into center field. Johnny Damon was in centerfield for the Sox; he picked the ball up and threw it back out of the park. Ten seconds later the ball came back.
Unfortunately, the ump picked it up and pocketed it. It would have been interesting to see how long that went on.