We talking about batting practice. Not a game. We talking about batting practice, man.
Yes, it might sound absurd, but the attire of the Los Angeles Dodgers players became the topic of criticism and consternation by the Atlanta Braves broadcasters Joe Simpson and Chip Caray on Saturday night at SunTrust Park.
For those that might have missed what happened, Simpson, the longtime voice of the Braves, discussed his opinions about what the Dodgers players were wearing during batting practice pregame, in the middle of the fifth inning of a one-run game.
The Fox Sports South broadcast aired a clip of Chase Utley, Max Muncy, and Justin Turner taking batting practice in t-shirts telling viewers that he felt it was "unprofessional."
The full clip is below:
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In the clip, Simpson noted that he "grew up" in the Dodgers organization.
"I grew up in the Dodgers organization, and certainly taught to play professional baseball and do the right things," said Simpson. "If I were a Dodger fan, I'd be embarrassed. I don't know how Major League Baseball allows such attire when the gates are open and the fans were watching."
It's true; Simpson was drafted by Los Angeles in 1973, and played six years (four in the Majors) with the organization before joining the Seattle Mariners in 1979.
After starting with the Seattle Mariners broadcast team in 1988, Simpson joined the Atlanta Braves radio network in 1992, and has been with the team ever since. In January of this year, he was inducted into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame.
Despite Simpson's track record, he still delivered a seething critique that not only felt out of touch with today's social media and modern age, but quite frankly, an absurd rendition of an old-school baseball player preaching to his audience that "back in my day, we did things like this…"
"I want you to look at some things that were going on in batting practice here with the Dodgers. What do you see, t-shirts? You see Chase Utley with no socks and pants up over his knees. This was prevalent with their whole team."
For the record, Utley was wearing a "K Cancer" T-shirt that is from the Jason Motte Foundation, a charity organization that raises money for the fight against cancer, using the motto: "Let's strike out cancer." (You can read about the organization and purchase your own shirt here).
While Simpson is right that Utley was not wearing socks, and had his baseball pants raised up just below his knees, exposing his shins, it's noteworthy to mention that it was 90 degrees at SunTrust Park on Sunday, which is located in the hot and humid Cobb County, Georgia.
Simpson poorly tried to make the point that Dodgers fans who arrived early to the game to watch their team take batting practice, would not be able to identify the players without wearing their official uniform with their names on it.
Not that Justin Turner and his long red beard are hard to mistake, but if that were the case, the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox would be in big trouble, because they have continued the old practice of not having their names on their home jerseys and the Yankees don't have their names on their road jerseys either.
Simpson believed that the players should be wearing official team "batting practice shirts with their name on the jersey," something that is a bit of misnomer, considering the Dodgers official batting practice pullovers do not have their names on them, but they do have numbers on the sleeves.
Simpson may have been confused, because the Braves are one of the rare teams in baseball who do have names on their batting practice shirts, but as seen in this official tweet from the team account on Jul. 20, they don't always adhere to it.
After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts took offense to Simpson's comments that his team was "unprofessional."
"I take it personal if people question our professionalism," said Roberts.
Dodgers' players Enrique Hernández and Justin Turner also chimed in after the game with Hernandez tweeting a picture of some underwear with his name and number on it, captioning it: "Tomorrow's BP attire," and Turner replying with a picture of Hernandez in overalls, asking him if he had a pair of overalls he could borrow.
Unfortunately for fans of baseball, the Dodgers did not partake in batting practice before their game on Sunday, as it was an afternoon game following a night game, with very little turnaround time, and a flight back to Los Angeles scheduled for later that evening.
Reports surfaced before the game that Simpson met privately with Utley to apologize for the comments, and that the Braves' front office sent an apology to Roberts through intermediaries and that the club considered the matter over.
"It's past," said Roberts before the game during his media scrum on Sunday. "I think, for us, it's water under the bridge. If he talked to Chase and Chase is good with it, that's good by me."
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