TORONTO – When Jose Bautista flipped his bat after crushing a go-ahead homer in the American League Division Series, critics flipped out.
Texas pitcher Sam Dyson, said Bautista “needs to calm that down, just kind of respect the game a little more.”
In post-game interviews, Bautista said “I can’t really remember what was going through my mind, to be quite honest with you.”
READ MORE: Jose Bautista drops mic on ALDS with ‘bat flip seen ‘round the world’
And on Monday, Bautista published his take on the flip on The Player’s Tribune, a sports website where professional athletes offer their take on their profession.
The piece, called Are You Flipping Kidding Me? elaborates on the emotion and adrenaline in a already-wild playoff elimination game and defends the emotional display.
“Come down to the Dominican Republic and experience it yourself. We’re loud. We’re emotional. To us, baseball isn’t a country club game. It’s our national pastime, and it comes packed with emotion.”
He also points out other famous home-run displays, including Joe Carter’s exuberant baserunning in 1993, or Carlton Fisk waving his ball fair in 1975.
He says his critics are “dinosaurs” who can’t embrace the growing diversity of the sport.
“But for whatever reason, there’s a small section of old-school, my-way-or-the-highway type of people who never want the game to evolve. They’re the dinosaurs who believe that everybody should play the same and act the same.”
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But he also acknowledges that some people still think the bat flip makes “me a jerk.”
“That’s fine. But let’s call it what it is. Let’s not have these loaded conversations about ‘character’ and the integrity of the game every time certain players show emotion in a big moment. That kind of thinking is not just old school. It’s just ignorant.”
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