5/13 Bucs (Liriano) @ Cubs (Hammel) 1:20, WGN/MLBN

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Throwing the balls back is stupid. The Pirates announcers are butthurt but right.

[UMFan83]

Will the Pirates ever beat the Cubs?

 

Well the sun is expected to die and destroy all life on Earth in about 5 billion years so...maybe?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I saw that Rondon has a negative FIP. How is that possible?

 

FIP is a kludgy hack formula that involves calculating some ratios then subtracting a raw number to make it look like ERA.

[Cubbie Swagger]

Not sure if anyone else is watching the Pirates feed, but the commentators are talking about how stupid it is that we throw home run balls from the opposing team back onto the field. The one guy is ranting about how it's so sad that some kid just had to "give up" a McCutchen home run ball just because of "crowd pressure".

 

I dunno about you guys, but I would much rather throw the ball back and have a cool story to tell. Lugging around an old dirty baseball for the rest of my life doesn't sound like all that much fun. Unless we're talking about a ball that was worth money, of course.

 

That and I'm quite sure he probably didn't have to throw back the real one.

In this instance, he did, which is why it became a topic of discussion. They were watching the replay to determine if it was the actual ball or not.

[Andy]

Not sure if anyone else is watching the Pirates feed, but the commentators are talking about how stupid it is that we throw home run balls from the opposing team back onto the field. The one guy is ranting about how it's so sad that some kid just had to "give up" a McCutchen home run ball just because of "crowd pressure".

 

I dunno about you guys, but I would much rather throw the ball back and have a cool story to tell. Lugging around an old dirty baseball for the rest of my life doesn't sound like all that much fun. Unless we're talking about a ball that was worth money, of course.

Unless it's some Hall of Famer's milestone HR, it really doesn't matter, though I don't begrudge someone wanting to keep it.

 

You can probably find someone around with a spare ball to throw back if it comes to that.

[David]

Throwing the balls back is stupid. The Pirates announcers are butthurt but right.

 

agreed

[Cubbie Swagger]

Not sure if anyone else is watching the Pirates feed, but the commentators are talking about how stupid it is that we throw home run balls from the opposing team back onto the field. The one guy is ranting about how it's so sad that some kid just had to "give up" a McCutchen home run ball just because of "crowd pressure".

 

I dunno about you guys, but I would much rather throw the ball back and have a cool story to tell. Lugging around an old dirty baseball for the rest of my life doesn't sound like all that much fun. Unless we're talking about a ball that was worth money, of course.

Unless it's some Hall of Famer's milestone HR, it really doesn't matter, though I don't begrudge someone wanting to keep it.

 

You can probably find someone around with a spare ball to throw back if it comes to that.

I'm against throwing a different ball back.

 

I feel very strongly that you should either throw it back, or keep it. Nobody likes a bullshitter.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

Not sure if anyone else is watching the Pirates feed, but the commentators are talking about how stupid it is that we throw home run balls from the opposing team back onto the field. The one guy is ranting about how it's so sad that some kid just had to "give up" a McCutchen home run ball just because of "crowd pressure".

 

I dunno about you guys, but I would much rather throw the ball back and have a cool story to tell. Lugging around an old dirty baseball for the rest of my life doesn't sound like all that much fun. Unless we're talking about a ball that was worth money, of course.

 

That and I'm quite sure he probably didn't have to throw back the real one.

In this instance, he did, which is why it became a topic of discussion. They were watching the replay to determine if it was the actual ball or not.

 

Gotcha. Hopefully, the kid doesn't give into peer pressure all his life.

 

That said, I'd have kept it only because it was from Cutch. He's a good enough player and former MVP that it would have been cool enough to put on the shelf and point out how that was career homer number whatever for him.

[Cubbie Swagger]

 

That and I'm quite sure he probably didn't have to throw back the real one.

In this instance, he did, which is why it became a topic of discussion. They were watching the replay to determine if it was the actual ball or not.

 

Gotcha. Hopefully, the kid doesn't give into peer pressure all his life.

 

That said, I'd have kept it only because it was from Cutch. He's a good enough player and former MVP that it would have been cool enough to put on the shelf and point out how that was career homer number whatever for him.

Some kid in a Pirates jersey was tapping the Cubs fan kid on the shoulder asking for him to give him the ball, then some Cubs fans intervened and the kid's dad chucked it back onto the field. It was pretty funny to watch, actually.

[David]

I'm imagining some drunk idiot catching like Bonds' record breaking HR, not realizing what it meant or who it was by, and throwing it back on the field. I imagine it because I could possibly see myself doing something like that. And then I'd want to kill myself.

[Cubbie Swagger]

I'm imagining some drunk idiot catching like Bonds' record breaking HR, not realizing what it meant or who it was by, and throwing it back on the field. I imagine it because I could possibly see myself doing something like that. And then I'd want to kill myself.

When I watched that happen live, my first thought was that it was going to be almost impossible to get out of the stadium alive with that ball. We're talking about thousands of horsefeathers faced baseball fans fighting over a massive chunk of cash condensed into a few square inches.

[philosophizer75]

I like the whole "throw it back" notion. Despite it having no impact on the game, to me it's kinda like the fans are trying to pitch in their support and they're rejecting the opposing teams runs. It's meatballish, but I like it.

 

Also I'm with cubbie swagger, the story is probably cooler than the ball. As long as you throw back the real ball. Throwing back a different ball is half-assing it.

[Sammy Sofa]

A story you can tell in two seconds seems like pretty low standards for "cool."

[Cubbie Swagger]

A story you can tell in two seconds seems like pretty low standards for "cool."

Um.

 

I'm not sure why the length of the story has anything to do with anything. There are a lot of pretty sweet things that a person can do that don't require a lot of time to explain.

[Brian]

I'm imagining some drunk idiot catching like Bonds' record breaking HR, not realizing what it meant or who it was by, and throwing it back on the field. I imagine it because I could possibly see myself doing something like that. And then I'd want to kill myself.

 

I'm still amazed by what I witnessed in the bleachers once. Aramis hits a home run that gets to Waveland. A guy gets up goes over to the back of the bleacher area throws down some money the ball gets tossed back up. He gets back and says it was Aramis' 250th (maybe 200th?) HR, and sure enough a little while later a Cubs employee comes looking to find the ball. Not sure what the guy ended up with, probably not much maybe a bat or jersey or something but still pretty impressive to know that it was a round number HR and make the quick transaction to get it.

Edited May 13, 2016 by Brian

[David]

A story you can tell in two seconds seems like pretty low standards for "cool."

 

 

plus the story of being the guy who didn't throw it back and got heckled by idiots is way better. plus you get to keep a cool baseball out of it.

[David]

A story you can tell in two seconds seems like pretty low standards for "cool."

Um.

 

I'm not sure why the length of the story has anything to do with anything. There are a lot of pretty sweet things that a person can do that don't require a lot of time to explain.

 

acquiescing to peer pressure and throwing a cool momento on the field is not one of them...unless you're henry rowengartner or something.

[Cubbie Swagger]

If you went to a game and caught a home run ball hit by, say, Kris Bryant, and then you came on here and posted, "I caught that Bryant dong!" nobody is going to go, "Psh, what a shitty story. Way too short."

[Brian]

throwing a home run back got henry rowengartner a major league contract, so there's that

[Sammy Sofa]

If you went to a game and caught a home run ball hit by, say, Kris Bryant, and then you came on here and posted, "I caught that Bryant dong!" nobody is going to go, "Psh, what a [expletive] story. Way too short."

 

But that's catching a Bryant dong; that's naturally a cool story.

 

The alternative is "I caught the opposing team's dong and threw it on the field! The end!"

[Cubbie Swagger]

A story you can tell in two seconds seems like pretty low standards for "cool."

Um.

 

I'm not sure why the length of the story has anything to do with anything. There are a lot of pretty sweet things that a person can do that don't require a lot of time to explain.

 

acquiescing to peer pressure and throwing a cool momento on the field is not one of them...unless you're henry rowengartner or something.

For me, it's not so much peer pressure as it is just wanting to take part in a long-standing tradition. A tradition that we, as Cubs fans, started. That, and genuinely not wanting the baseball.

[Sammy Sofa]

A story you can tell in two seconds seems like pretty low standards for "cool."

 

 

plus the story of being the guy who didn't throw it back and got heckled by idiots is way better. plus you get to keep a cool baseball out of it.

 

No kidding. Unless you hit a seagull or something, who gives a horsefeathers?

[Cubbie Swagger]

If you went to a game and caught a home run ball hit by, say, Kris Bryant, and then you came on here and posted, "I caught that Bryant dong!" nobody is going to go, "Psh, what a [expletive] story. Way too short."

The alternative is "I caught the opposing team's dong and threw it on the field! The end!"

We just fundamentally disagree on how cool that story is. I would love to be able to tell people that I threw back a McCutchen dong.

[Sammy Sofa]

Wait until you hear my cool story about singing the stretch and waving a W flag.

[Cubbie Swagger]

Wait until you hear my cool story about singing the stretch and waving a W flag.

I think the primary difference there is that catching a home run ball is a much more rare and unlikely occurrence than something that happens at every single game.

 

I get your point, though. To you, it just isn't a big deal.