Opinion: MLB Must Address Player-Fan Double Standard

Yankee Stadium incident; my personal experience at American Family Field show that fans are sometimes actually in the right.

May 18, 2022

Source: Google Images

In recent years, fan misbehavior has seemingly become all too common at major league sporting events nationwide. Streakers, hecklers, and other reckless fan behavior is all too common. A usual consequence of this behavior is fans thrown out of the game (and rightfully so 99 percent of the time). However, two examples of this young Major League baseball season show the need for players to also be held accountable for their actions and occasional mistreatment of the fans that play a huge role in funding their salaries. People need to wake up and realize that sometimes fans are actually the ones in the right and repercussions for players such as suspension, fines, and "firings" should be explored when appropriate.

In a game at Yankee Stadium this year, Cleveland Guardians outfielder Myles Straw jawed back and forth with Yankee fans thinking that he was just sticking up for his teammate. While Yankee fans were wrong for throwing stuff at Straw, they were falsely painted as being in the wrong for their actions. Upon personally watching the video of what was said and what happened, I think that Straw was actually the one at fault. Straw ran to the wall where the fans were and tried jumping up it which would only have increased the chance for something ugly to happen. He was heard as saying "Hit me! Hit me!" to fans which depicts how he was clearly in a mentally unstable state. This was concerning to hear and suggests that Straw should pursue counseling for some clear cut troubles he may be facing. After this first encounter at the wall, Straw ran towards the wall AGAIN after the game. Instead of cooling down the situation, Straw made it worse and this is what likely prompted fans to throw stuff at him. The appropriate thing to do in this situation would have been to point out the fans to an umpire and get them ejected; instead Straw decided to act like a two year old and looks just as bad as the fans that were trash talking him and fellow teammate Steven Kwan. Professional athletes are taught to block out everything they hear (unless it crosses the line which is a different situation altogether). Straw should have been suspended and fined in my opinion. Everyone was, of course, quick to pin it on Yankee fans on social media but there is so much more than meets the eye in this situation. At the very least, this looks bad on both parties. After the game, Straw called the Yankee fanbase "the worst on the planet". He is so misguided as just because a couple fans were acting up does that really pertain to all fans? I am a Yankee fan and that is the last way I would act. The dude is clearly charming ultra soft and might need to consider a different job. Hopefully he grows up sometime in the future. Rent free.

A second situation that exemplifies the need for players to face accountability for their actions and decisions towards fans occurred when I went to a game a couple weeks back at American Family Field. A friend of mine and I were standing in the outfield during batting practice and there was a Reds outfielder standing in right field catching BP. A couple of presumable buzzed Brewer fans were jawing at the Reds player teasing him about the teams record and saying that the player sucked. So, how did the player handle this? Instead of trying to throw out the fans or politely tell them to stop he pretended to throw the ball to our section and then threw it back towards home plate, flipped all of us off despite the fact that 90 percent of us including my friend and I hadn't said a word to him, and threw a ball as hard as he could into the crowd narrowly missing hitting my friend and I. I, along with most of the fans around me, were pissed. This player should have been FIRED and kicked off the team for his actions bare minimum. At the very least, a heavy suspension and fine would have been more than appropriate. He could have killed someone especially a little baby or kid. If he had hit me or my friend, I would have demanded that instead of a signed ball, bat, or whatever item the garbage Cincinatti Reds would have offered that they instead pay for my senior year of college tuition and medical bills. This indecent easily could have been all over the news and would it have been worth it for this hothead? In the future, he is running the risk of seriously hurting someone. I ended up getting the ball that he threw and you could see the dark black slash mark of where the ball hit the bleachers.

These two examples personify how the MLB needs to stop with the double standard of only penalizing fans for their actions. The diamond is players' workplace and they should also have to adhere to a certain code of conduct when they are interacting with fans and face consequences in situations like the Straw and Reds player incidents. These players should be embarrassed by their immaturity.